In Hamlet's Mill, a comprehensive book about myths associated with precession, Giorgio de Santillana, former professor of the history of science at MIT, and Hertha von Dechend demonstrate that the folklore of more than thirty different ancient cultures contain stories of a long cycle of time alternating between dark and golden ages that move with the precession of the equinoxes.

One precession-related story tells about a huge mythical mill that ground out gold in one age, salt in another, and sand and rock in a third. Two giant maidens, Fenja and Menja, ceaselessly turn the mill, as no human force is able to move it. Cruttenden associates these two mythical giants with our sun and her companion star, whose motion around each other creates the turning of the ages.