True North (Star)?

Being a land-loving imbecile for most of my life I've never really taken much notice of nautical things like this blue star I stumbled across at the Port Macquarie lighthouse on my last road-trip.

Port Macquarie lighthouse

I knew it represented the directions of the compass, but it was the blue star that caught my eye, as being a fan of Kubrick movies I remember a Christmas decoration of an eight-pointed star hanging on a wall in the movie 'Eyes Wide Shut' that seemed a bit out of place as far as any Christmas decorations I had ever seen.

Draco Constellation?

The eight-point Scientology Cross?-)

Knowing Kubrick, I knew this star in 'Eyes Wide Shut' had to be more than the Star of Bethlehem, or if it was it had to have some sort of deeper meaning.

 Focal point is the eight-point Scientology Cross,
representing the Eight Dynamics

Sterling Silver North Star 

Compass Charm

When looking at the blue star near the lighthouse I noticed that every direction had letters of the alphabet at its point except the north, so obviously the blue star represents the north star, or pole star ... which we can't see from the southern hemisphere, by the way.

compass rose pendant

So, I looked up on the internet to find out what the North Star actually represents. 
It turns out it is a star named Polaris.

"Polaris (α Ursae Minoris, α UMi, commonly the North Star or Pole Star) is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor. 
It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star. 
The revised Hipparcos parallax gives a distance to Polaris of about 433 light-years (133 parsecs) while calculations by other methods derive distances around 30% closer.
Polaris is a multiple star, comprising the main star, α UMi Aa, which is a supergiant; two smaller companions, α UMi B and α UMi Ab; and two distant components, α UMi C and α UMi D. 
α UMi B was discovered in 1780 by William Herschel."
So Polaris is only the "current northern pole star", so what was the pole star before Polaris then I wondered?
Polaris is the North Star
"History of Polaris. 
Polaris hasn’t always been the North Star and won’t remain the North Star forever. 
For example, a famous star called Thuban, in the constellation Draco the Dragon, was the North Star when the Egyptians built the pyramids.
But our present Polaris is a good North Star because it’s the sky’s 50th brightest star. 
So it’s noticeable in the sky. 
It served well as the North Star, for example, when the Europeans first sailed across the Atlantic over five centuries ago.
And Polaris will continue its reign as the North Star for many centuries to come. 
It will align most closely with the north celestial pole – the point in the sky directly above Earth’s north rotational axis – on March 24, 2100. 
The computational wizard Jean Meeus figures Polaris will be 27’09” (0.4525o) from the north celestial pole at that time (a little less than the angular diameter of the moon when at its farthest from Earth).
Meanwhile, there is no visible star marking the celestial pole in the Southern Hemisphere.
What’s more, the Southern Hemisphere won’t see a pole star appreciably close to the south celestial pole for another 2,000 years. 
At one time in human history, people literally depended on their lucky stars for their lives and livelihood. 
Luckily, they could trust the Big Dipper and the North Star to guide them. 
People could sail the seas and cross the trackless deserts without getting lost."
So the Egyptians would have had Thuban as the pole star when they built the pyramids.
"Thuban (Arabic: ثعبان‎‎, thuʿbān, "snake"), also known by its Bayer designation Alpha Draconis (α Draconis, α Dra), is a star (or star system) in the constellation of Draco. 
A relatively inconspicuous star in the night sky of the Northern Hemisphere, it is historically significant as having been the north pole star from the 4th to 2nd millennium BC. 
It is sometimes known as the Dragon's Tail and as Adib."

Draco Constellation 
"Draco (Latin for Dragon) is a far northern constellation that is circumpolar for many northern hemisphere observers. 
It is one of the 88 modern constellations, and one of the 48 constellations listed by Ptolemy.
The star Thuban (Draconis) was the northern pole star around 2700 BC, during the time of the ancient Egyptians. 
Due to the effects of precession, it will once again be the pole star around the year 21 000 AD.
Draco represents the dragon killed by Cadmus before founding the city of Thebes, Greece. 
In a third legend, it represents the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece and was killed by Jason. 
The fact that the stars of this circumpolar constellation never set plays an important part in its mythologies.
There are many myths behind Draco, due to its resemblence to a dragon.  
Dragon symbology represents human DNA."

There be dragons, as well?!

"In the first legend, Draco represents the dragon killed by Cadmus before founding the city of Boeotia. In the second legend, it represents the dragon that guarded the Golden Fleece and was killed by Jason.
The Persians have regarded Draco as a man-eating serpent called 'Azhdeha'.
In early Hindu worship, Draco is given the form of an alligator known as 'Shi-shu-mara'. 

The legend of Marduk is repeated in many cultures with similar tales of dragon slayers. 
Perseus, Hercules, Cadmus, Siegfried, Beowulf and St. George are all examples." 

Dragon Slayer

So, what I'd like to know after all my research on the North Star is whether the party throwers in 'Eyes Wide Shut' have that eight-pointed star on the wall to say ..."ha, ha, ha, we control the high seas", or "If we were to choose houses in the Harry Potter novels, we would be in Slytherin which is why Draco is on the wall";-)

The Garden of Eden

With all these stars meanings to navigate through, no wonder I'm lost at sea ... even on the land.

Bowie's Blackstar CD lyric book and a blackstar.

Eyes Wide Shut?

Sterling Silver Find Your 

True North Charm

UPDATE:

I ended up getting the star tattooed on my right wrist a few years after writing this post ... and not because I'm into that Scientology, Illuminati or Devil crap, either.