Egyptian astrology was also bound up in their religion. The priests held the secrets of the heavens. Within a complicated hierarchy of gods and deities, each god had a specific power and ruled over a particular kingdom of influence. For example, Osiris was god of the dead. Isis was Osiris’s wife and sister, protectress of the dead. Thoth was the god of learning, inventor of hieroglyphs, and scribe of the gods. Many Egyptian symbols and deities reappear in the present-day occult study of Tarot cards.
The Egyptians were the first people to foretell a person’s character by the date of birth. They also gave to each month, and indeed to each day, a special deity who ruled that day and that month.
The River Nile was the focus of Egyptian life. The river made their barren region fertile, and so it is not surprising to find the imagery of water used again and again in their mythology. The sky was a goddess named Nut, who was also an enormous river. Lesser gods crossed the sky-river in their individual boats. When an Egyptian pharaoh died, he was provided with everything he needed for the journey across a great river into the afterlife.
At first, Egyptians divided the sky into thirty-six sections. (The Greeks later called these sections dekanoi, meaning ten days apart, from which we get our words decan and decanate.) These thirty-six decanates remain unchanged to the present day (see chapter 3). Later, the sky was divided into twelve parts, and each part was given a form and a name. Each part of the sky was assigned three stars to call its own, and each was given a boat in which to cross the sky. See how similar the twelve Egyptian sky gods are to our modern astrological signs:
The Egyptians believed the Sun, another powerful deity, controlled the waters of the Nile. The Sun brought the Nile to flood stage, providing needed irrigation to the surrounding countryside and making the deserts fertile.
The Moon was also a special deity. The Egyptians designated several gods to represent it. The famous Eye of Horus, sometimes worn as an amulet to protect against danger, was a picture of the Moon. When the eye of the hawk-god Horus was completely open, the Moon was full.
Venus had her honored place among the gods. The planet Venus is a brilliant, silvery star that at times is seen in the morning and at other times in the evening. She was pictured by the Egyptians as a two-headed goddess, each head wearing a different crown.
One of the most famous astrologer-kings in ancient Egypt was Ramses II (nineteenth dynasty). At his death in 1223 B.C., Ramses’s body was placed in a sarcophagus covered with astrological symbols, and put inside a pyramid at Abou-Simbel. There the great pharaoh lay, like Merlin, in his room of wonders. Some of the wonders are still being discovered. For example, we have learned that Ramses’s tomb was constructed so that on a certain date the rays of the Sun would find their way into the very pit of the grave. To this day, and on that very date, they do. When Ramses VI (a successor to the great Pharaoh) died, a star map drawn in the shape of a seated man was placed on his tomb. Modern scientists discovered that by using this map, they can chart the journey of the stars for each hour of the night throughout the year.
Not until human beings are replaced by a civilization of machines run by a great computer are we likely to get any
greater precision than that!
The Egyptians were the first people to foretell a person’s character by the date of birth. They also gave to each month, and indeed to each day, a special deity who ruled that day and that month.
The River Nile was the focus of Egyptian life. The river made their barren region fertile, and so it is not surprising to find the imagery of water used again and again in their mythology. The sky was a goddess named Nut, who was also an enormous river. Lesser gods crossed the sky-river in their individual boats. When an Egyptian pharaoh died, he was provided with everything he needed for the journey across a great river into the afterlife.
At first, Egyptians divided the sky into thirty-six sections. (The Greeks later called these sections dekanoi, meaning ten days apart, from which we get our words decan and decanate.) These thirty-six decanates remain unchanged to the present day (see chapter 3). Later, the sky was divided into twelve parts, and each part was given a form and a name. Each part of the sky was assigned three stars to call its own, and each was given a boat in which to cross the sky. See how similar the twelve Egyptian sky gods are to our modern astrological signs:
| Egyptian | Modern |
| The Sheep | Aries the Ram |
| The Bull | Taurus the Bull |
| Two Men Clasping Hands | Gemini the Twins |
| The Scarab | Cancer the Crab |
| The Lion | Leo the Lion |
| The Maiden | Virgo the Virgin |
| The Horizon | Libra the Scales |
| The Scorpion | Scorpio the Scorpion |
| He Who Draws a Bow | Sagittarius the Archer |
| The Goat | Capricorn the Goat |
| The Water Man | Aquarius the Water Bearer |
| The Fishes | Pisces the Fishes |
The Egyptians believed the Sun, another powerful deity, controlled the waters of the Nile. The Sun brought the Nile to flood stage, providing needed irrigation to the surrounding countryside and making the deserts fertile.
The Moon was also a special deity. The Egyptians designated several gods to represent it. The famous Eye of Horus, sometimes worn as an amulet to protect against danger, was a picture of the Moon. When the eye of the hawk-god Horus was completely open, the Moon was full.
Venus had her honored place among the gods. The planet Venus is a brilliant, silvery star that at times is seen in the morning and at other times in the evening. She was pictured by the Egyptians as a two-headed goddess, each head wearing a different crown.
One of the most famous astrologer-kings in ancient Egypt was Ramses II (nineteenth dynasty). At his death in 1223 B.C., Ramses’s body was placed in a sarcophagus covered with astrological symbols, and put inside a pyramid at Abou-Simbel. There the great pharaoh lay, like Merlin, in his room of wonders. Some of the wonders are still being discovered. For example, we have learned that Ramses’s tomb was constructed so that on a certain date the rays of the Sun would find their way into the very pit of the grave. To this day, and on that very date, they do. When Ramses VI (a successor to the great Pharaoh) died, a star map drawn in the shape of a seated man was placed on his tomb. Modern scientists discovered that by using this map, they can chart the journey of the stars for each hour of the night throughout the year.
Not until human beings are replaced by a civilization of machines run by a great computer are we likely to get any
greater precision than that!