Astrology from Ancient Egypt
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| Astrology from Ancient Egypt
Robert Tulip 30 November 2011 Osiris, Isis, Horus, Thoth, Anubis, Nephthys, Set, Maat, Ra. Names of Egyptian Gods are at the origin of our sense of natural cycles. And yet the meaning of these mythical names is largely unknown. Osiris is the God of the afterlife. With his green skin, Osiris is also a god of fertility, celebrating the return to life each spring after the death of the old year in winter, marked also in Egypt at the rising of the Nile in early summer. Osiris is one of the dying and rising saviours who formed the myth of Jesus Christ in the passion celebration of the annual triumph of light over dark, and of life over death. Easter is connected to the equinox because its natural meaning is the annual change from dark to light at the turning point from winter to spring. Isis, the cosmic mother, the bride of Osiris and virgin mother of Horus, continues today in the form of the Blessed Virgin Mary, adorned with her celestial crown of twelve stars as described in Revelation 12. These twelve stars represent each month of the year in the cycle of the zodiac. Horus, god of the rising sun, son of Isis and Osiris, gave many of his qualities to Jesus Christ. Thoth, God of Wisdom, was a principle source, through his priesthood, of the theology of the word in the gospel of John. Anubis, a god of the dead, was the jackal embalmer who continued as Saint John the Baptist. Nephthys and Set, queen and king of the underworld, morphed into Greek myth in Persephone and Pluto, and continue in Christianity as Martha and Satan. Amun-Ra, God of the Sun, is at the origin of the Judeo-Christian idea of God the Father, whose etymological cognates also stretch to India, through Deus Pater, Jupiter, Zeus Patera and their common origin in the Indian sky god Dyaus Pita. Maat, the Egyptian cosmic order, continued to inspire the New Testament in the name of the Gospel of Matthew. The main Egyptian Gods are shown in the Hall of Judgment. 
Egyptian myth is far closer to us than we often see. Egypt thrived for three thousand years or more as a stable and prosperous kingdom, building immense pyramids and other temples in honour of their worship of the stars and the annual cycle of life. The loss of Egyptian lore, buried beneath the rubble of Christendom, has seen a degradation of human thought, with supernatural dogma replacing the deep wisdom of nature as a basis for community and identity. Not much is known of the detail of Egyptian astrology, before the Greek invasion, although Egyptian gods were at the centre of the mysteries that embedded the wisdom of the stars. It is unclear how much and what the Greeks borrowed from Egypt, compared to their other main source in Babylon. Illustrating the scale of Greek tribute to Egypt, Euclid of Alexandria, founder of geometry, clearly obtained much of his mathematical knowledge from Egypt, as he lived all his life in that country as a leading Greek in the wake of Alexander’s conquest. Ptolemy, whose astrological system provided Western cosmology from early Christian times until Galileo, was Egyptian. Dendera Zodiac 
An example of Egyptian astronomy is the Dendera Zodiac, from the temple of Hathor on the Upper Nile River, known to date at least to the Greek invasion after Alexander. Now in the Louvre Museum in France, this large sky map shows the stars of the sky, with the zodiac constellations forming a ring around the ceiling, around the rest of the main constellations. Much of the rest of the sky map of Dendera shows an Egyptian code that has not yet been fully deciphered, including the decans around the rim which the Egyptians used to mark every ten days, three per month and 36 in the year, plus the five epagomenal days of the old 365 day calendar of Maat. Precession of the equinox, the slow movement whereby the sun shifts its stellar position against the seasons in a cycle of about 25,765 years known as the Great Year, is a theme embedded in Egyptian cosmology. Understanding precession is essential to understanding Egyptian thought, in its ideas and its fate. The Greek astronomer Hipparchus, writing in the second century before Christ, based his estimate of precession of the equinox on Babylonian star records, from observation of the shift of the star Spica in Virgo. We now know that precession is caused by the gravity of the sun and moon applying torque to the equator of the earth, making our planet wobble like a spinning top. The Egyptians did not know the scientific cause of precession, but they were very aware of its effects on the earth in changing observation of the positions of stars over time. 
The Egyptians were very familiar with precession, although records of Egyptian knowledge of precession are largely lost, except for a few fragmentary ruins and codes. It may yet be possible to reconstruct more of the Egyptian worldview, starting with their approach to precession. Directory: yahoo site admin -> assets -> docs docs -> 12 Step Retreats For Everyone in Twelve Step Recovery Ratner Fellowship docs -> 12 Step Retreats For Everyone in Twelve Step Recovery Ratner Fellowship docs -> Central Government is expected to ask the seventh pay commission to consider merging 50% dearness allowance docs -> Newsletter of the gfwc of Holden Beach P. O. Box 902, Supply, nc 28462 Volume 8, Issue 5, September 10, 2013 Julie Wolfe, President Judy Brock, Editor docs -> Richard M. Dishman docs -> John Cane Curriculum Vitae docs -> Novice Junior Bush Ballad docs -> Chemical Corps csm/sgm roster docs -> Real time project docs -> Outfitter/Client Contract Download 3.12 Mb. Share with your friends:
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