Wandering with the Stars
By Xepera maSet
“But the symbols Of the Invisible are the loveliest Of what is visible…”
- Cain: A Mystery
PDFs: https://xeperamaset.wixsite.com/xeper/post/wandering-with-the-stars
Introduction
What is the value of studying the stars? As the wise Shrek once said, “the stars don’t tell the future, donkey, they tell stories.” Stellar Magic is not about reading someone’s horoscope, or trying to predict the future by looking to the stars. The stars do not tell us where we are going, but rather where we have been. The ancients associated stars and constellations with gods for specific and intentional reasons, same as the animal associations they also made, color associations, relations to specific geographies, etc. The study of the stars is therefore the study of the gods, as well as esoteric symbols which can teach us about the reality we inhabit.
Stellar Magic is a rediscovery of knowledge from the Stellar Tradition and Sky Religions of early humanity, and then an application of this to the modern day and especially one’s own life. It is both magic and academia, a place where the line blurs beyond recognition. Why was value once given to the circumpolar stars, but is now placed upon the zodiac and sun? How does the property of never setting compare to something which sets everyday or for months at a time? Why was one specific alignment of the stars so much more important to the Egyptians, as opposed to those stars being in a different position? Why were certain gods associated with certain stars, constellations, planets, etc. instead of others, surely it was not arbitrary? How did our ancestors treat these heavenly bodies, and how do we integrate that into our own lives? Which stars are you going to look for first if you are lost in the wilderness? The Egyptians knew all knowledge was simply rediscovery, it is what Plato called anamnesis. This is Stellar Magic.
To start, it is important to try and identify the important stars of Egyptian Astronomy. (If you are familiar with my work on this, feel free to skip past this part.)
Identification
The architect Senenmut created the first complete astronomical map on the ceiling of his tomb. Over time many more would replicate or create a similar map in their own tombs, including Seti I. Here is the section of the northern skies from both of those tombs:
Astronomical Ceiling, Tomb of Senenmut MET DT207429 - Image by Charles Wilkinson (Public Domain): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_ceiling_of_Senenmut%27s_Tomb#/media/File:Astronomical_Ceiling,_Tomb_of_Senenmut_MET_DT207429.jpg
KV17, the tomb of Pharaoh Seti I of the of the burial chamber, Nineteenth Dynasty, astronomical vaulted ceiling Valley of the Kings, Egypt (49867418546) - Image by Carole Raddato: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:KV17,_the_tomb_of_Pharaoh_Seti_I_of_the_of_the_burial_chamber,_Nineteenth_Dynasty,_astronomical_vaulted_ceiling_Valley_of_the_Kings,Egypt(49867418546).jpg ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode
It is important to note that while these were based around the Stellar Tradition of pre- and early historical Egypt, the designs come from the New Kingdom 18th and 19th dynasties, and so reflect later traditions including those where the role of Setesh can differ greatly. This is why in these drawings the bull, Setesh, is always being killed/sacrificed or held down by other means. They knew of this ancient association but had to account for it in their modern understanding, and especially the Setesh worshiping 19th knew not to push tradition too much after Akhenaten.
These ceilings would lead to what is called the Dendera Zodiac, possibly the first zodiac as we would become familiar with it. It is important to note that the Egyptian constellations did not exactly match ours, a mistake most seem to make when trying to identify them. The only astrological bodies matching ours, outside of the solar system, are the Big Dipper as Setesh the Great Bull, Orion as Asar, and the star Sirius as Aset. The Big Dipper was called Meskhetyu, and as we know was the inspiration for the adze tool, but aside from that the identity of their circumpolar constellations remains a mystery. However, there are a few certainties based on the images provided:
- Our Big Dipper is the bull.
- In the tomb of Senenmut the star Alkaid in the Dipper is highlighted. It is this highlighted star which the longest “mooring post” is attached to.
- The most sacred position of the northern sky was with the Big Dipper “pouring out” onto the earth, at the highest point in the sky.
- In Senenmut’s tomb there is a scorpion goddess attached to the Dipper, and in the tomb of Seti I it is a man.
- The falcon god, Anu or Heru, is “below” the bull spearing upwards.
- Anu/Heru rests at a right angle to the mooring post.
- Myths tell of a chain by which the hippo goddess held onto the leg of the bull/Setesh in the northern skies.
- There is a consistent imagery of a crocodile on the back of a hippo to the right of the mooring post and the bull’s leg in its sacred position. This was associated by Lull and Belmonte with the area between Lyra and Bootes, and Serpens Caput.
- Thuban was the pole star in early Egyptian history, slowly moving to Polaris.
- The Egyptians did not draw every constellation exactly as they saw it, for instance even individual planets were drawn as whole gods, while in other cases the larger image was assumed from a small one as with the bull.
Based on all this information, here is my personal proposal (this is specifically using the tomb of Seti I, there are slight difference from Senenmut, such as the placement of Vega and Altair as a knife and crocodile in the latter’s):
All images of the night sky are from Stellarium unless otherwise noted. Please see the end of the paper for licensing info.
Same images as above, cropped and written on
Now that we have an idea of what we are looking at, let’s dive deeper into all these stars/constellations.
Alpha Draconis
Around 3,000 BCE our pole star was Thuban, Alpha Draconis, meaning it was our north star when spiritual/religious traditions were really starting to settle in and civilization began to form. Of all the pole stars, Thuban is the closest any comes to true north, even our current Polaris is further off the mark than its predecessor. It was an unmoving point in the sky which never set below the horizon, remaining fixed in its place. As such it was symbolically central to our early beliefs regarding the immortality of the soul, the gods as stars in the sky, and so forth. This is why we have earlier Egyptian kings becoming immortal gods instead of identifying, setting, and rising with the sun god or Asar.
Due to the precession of the equinox however, the sky slowly began to shift and Thuban “fell” from its spot in the center of the sky. Between it and Polaris there are no proper candidates for the pole star, the center of the sky would have been inhabited by nothing, the god’s throne empty. Dates of heliacal risings and such also changed, the stars always being overcome by the sun and horizon. It would have appeared as though the gods themselves were changing, or the universe unraveling. Lovecraft illustrates this emotion well in his poem Nyarlathotep:
“A sense of monstrous guilt was upon the land, and out of the abysses between the stars swept chill currents that made men shiver in dark and lonely places. There was a daemoniac alteration in the sequence of the seasons—the autumn heat lingered fearsomely, and everyone felt that the world and perhaps the universe had passed from the control of known gods or forces to that of gods or forces which were unknown.”
It was during this lull we saw the leaps forward by the Solar/Agricultural Traditions. The sun absorbed the light and often roles of the others, becoming the central focus. Instead of an afterlife of eternity and immortality, like the sun spirituality became about death and rebirth, and a reliance on something greater for sustenance (in this case, the sun). As a star ceased to rise ahead of the sun, it was symbolically joined with the sun until its time of rising adjusted. The focus shifted off of Heru and Setesh (who we will see were circumpolar) instead to the likes of Ra (the sun), Aset (Sirius), and Asar (Orion), much like the shifting of the stars themselves. This has been represented in more recent mythology by the fall of the serpent (Draco) in Eden, matching up nicely with the replacement of Draco in the center of the sky with the Little Dipper.
The path of the north celestial pole among the stars due to precession, with the years of the Gregorian calendar shown. Image by Tauʻolunga: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=891838 ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en
Ursa Major
Of arguably even greater importance than Thuban was what we now call the Big Dipper, which the Egyptians envisioned as a bull or bull’s leg and as the realm of Setesh. At the time the Dipper was even more central than it appears to us now, more closely circling the north star, still never setting below the horizon nor having to be reborn.
The most sacred position of the Dipper, as illustrated in numerous sky-maps, was with the bowl “pouring out” onto the earth. It began taking this position after sunset around the winter solstice, with it being at that “highest point” in the sky during the spring, and “lowest point” in the sky during the fall.
The stars form an asterism rather than a constellation, which generally means that they are even easier to see and naturally group together than constellations proper, which is why despite many cultures seeing different constellations, some like the Dipper are usually the same across time. This only adds to the connection between those “seven” stars and concepts such as deification and immortality.
It is quite possible the importance of the number seven partly comes from these stars, and it would mix well with the observation of seven heavenly bodies in early astronomy (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn). The two reflect each other. However it is important to note the asterism is sometimes called a 7+1, for the star Mizar (middle of the handle) actually has a very close partner, Alcor. An ancient test of one’s eyes was to see if they could identify two stars there rather than one, but they are so close together we count the Dipper as seven. Again this can be mirrored in the heavenly bodies, where earth would be the +1.
These stars are also possibly the most important for both navigation and northern astronomy. They shine much brighter than the pole star and most children in the northern hemisphere learn early how to use the Dipper as a guide to Polaris. It also acts as a guide to Thuban as well, and many other relevant stars including Deneb, Vega, Altair, Arcturus, Spica, and Antares. You may notice all of these stars in our images above!
The scorpion goddess/man with four stars quite likely makes up the rest of Ursa Major, as can be seen here:
Cepheus, Little Dipper, Draco
Setesh was part of a critical divine pairing, the other half of which was Heru. In the imagery we see this falcon either spearing the bull/Setesh or holding it in place via a rope. In the “most sacred position” Heru is spearing upwards to Setesh, resting on the greatest mooring post. Taking that proper position of the Dipper, Heru lines up best with Cepheus, the Little Dipper, and parts of Draco.
It is interesting to note that Cepheus is easily identifiable with the head of a falcon, with Draco acting as the body and the Little Dipper as the spear or rope going through Thuban and connecting with the Big Dipper. The pole star likely stood on its own or as a reference point, rather than as part of any one of these constellations in specific. Remember that the Dipper appears to have been much more important than Thuban anyways. Cepheus holds past/future pole stars as well, though they are much further off the mark than both Thuban and Polaris.
Setesh and Heru were the divine balance, the light and dark, yin and yang, before one side of that was deemed “good” and the other “evil.” Indeed as the Dipper rises in the sky, Cepheus is already on its way down, and vice versa.
Consider for a moment the two theories on the myths of Heru and Setesh: that it describes a historical unification, or otherwise symbolically represents the unification of Egypt. I posit it is far greater, deeper, and older than that though, it is an illustration of how these constellations cycle. It also reflects a reality of dualism/pluralism, rather than any form of monism or reductionism.
Deneb, Vega, Altair
Sometimes these are all posts, sometimes it is a post/knife/crocodile, sometimes there is just one post and then the feet of the hippopotamus. However, there are always three distinct points as we can see in the above tomb art. These three points likely represent some of the brightest stars in the sky, who happen to match up well when laid over the star maps.
In fact these three stars are so tightly related that today they are an asterism known as “the summer triangle,” which as the name suggests takes over the northern night skies in the summertime. They also appear to rise out of the waters of the milky way, and are the easiest way to locate that beautiful stretch of sky when you are somewhere dark enough to observe it. The pole approaches Deneb and Vega as well, but again comes nowhere close to the alignment of Polaris and especially Thuban. Vega is so bright it was actually the first photographed star, and it is used as the zero point for magnitude of visibility.
Much like the mooring posts, these three stars may be seen symbolically keeping the bull’s leg in place. A straight line can even be drawn from Deneb to Alkaid, the star moored and called out in the tomb of Senenmut.
Their orientation here also matches the position of the hippo with the crocodile on its back, with Acturus being directly above the three stars.
Arcturus, Spica, Antares
Arcturus is one of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere, and is distinctly red in color. In both above tombs we see the color red given great importance, and in Seti’s specifically we see an isolated red star in the shoulder of the hippo. Arcturus also has no bright neighbors, being a somewhat isolated star in the sky. With the help of Alkaid and Arcturus we can locate Spica, another of the brightest stars. It appears some temples of the ancient world were aligned to Spica, and in more modern times the star was used to help calculate the precession of the equinox. We can also find Antares, another red star that appears quite similar to Mars under the right conditions. Antares further sets along with Arcturus, and the latter was so associated with the Dipper it is called “the keeper of the bear.”
As touched upon, myth tells us this hippo/crocodile held the bull/Setesh in place in the northern skies. This is clearly illustrated in both of the discussed tombs, and we can possibly see it illustrated in the sky as well:
But if Heru spears or holds down Setesh to the left of the mooring post, why would the hippo goddess be needed to hold down the sky and god as well? If we continue with the idea of these myths tying to the stars, it may be that when Heru “sets” below the horizon, the hippo goddess rises. This would ensure that one of the two was always present to keep Setesh managed in the sky. Prior to the changes Setesh underwent, it would have represented these beings as deeply connected, and indeed Setesh has a relationship with Heru, Tauret, and Sobek. Again remember that while this is all rooted in some of the earliest traditions, Setesh had gone through much turbulence by the 18th/19th dynasties.
Intermission
The myth told by the stars is rather clear when all laid out, and may sound strangely familiar. The early form has Heru and Setesh infinitely balanced and circling around the center of heaven (the sky). Also nearby are beings associated positively with Setesh - the hippo and crocodile. Together with Setesh and Heru, these two beings (sometimes seen as his consort and offspring in Tauret and Sobek) help hold the sky up in place, stabilize the cosmos. Holding the sky up was intimately associated with Setesh as illustrated in images of was scepters holding up the sky in the same manner. This would have been of central importance, at the very least Setesh and Heru would be, with the hippo and croc possibly coming in later.
What does it all mean though? As stated in the beginning, these are not a guide to the future or any such thing, but rather stories that tell us of our past and being. They are a key to anamnesis. From them we learn of the balance between light and dark, of the immortality of the Self and all spiritual things, of the foundational role in existence and being the gods play, of the value in the night sky as opposed to the sun. And here we must directly compare this ancient tradition to the modern worship of the sun most are engaged in, intentionally or otherwise. For instance, rather than seeing individuals as gods, recognizing divinity in everyone, anything of a similar nature, most either see individuals as subservient to a god (monotheism) or perhaps even a deterministic illusion (physicalism) under solar traditions. Rather than eternal we are reliant on the light of the sun/matter, our light is only an emanation of it, instead of its own independent thing. Eternality has fled the thoughts of most, instead having ingrained in us a tradition of death and rebirth, the former always guaranteed, the latter usually with a catch used to control and manipulate us. It preaches an eternal victory of the light, rather than the endless cycle of Heru and Setesh, and there is now only one single deity grounding the universe against chaos (monism), rather than a pantheon of them (pluralism/polytheism).
The later form of this story has Heru constantly battling Setesh, always ending with the victory of Heru as seen here:
“Wall relief of fight between Seth and Horus where Horus, helped by Isis, kill Seth (hippopotamus), temple of Edfu, Egypt.” Image mirrored and cropped. Picture by Rémih: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edfu47.JPG ; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
When Heru was not victorious, Setesh was restrained by the hippo and crocodile, ensuring he could not cause too much havoc despite being a necessary “evil.” It was also when Setesh was “down” that the majority of our other important stars were all visible:
This better describes the story as most know it, and likely became the focus after the Big Dipper “fell” due to the precession of the equinox. Despite still being circumpolar, it is further from perfect north than during the reign of Thuban. We also come to see the very literal tale of the supposed “fall of man” in the falling of our own Draco/Serpent constellation from true north. As Kenneth Grant said (and I often love to quote): “The degradation of the Star Sothis, of the Great Bear, Draco, and other types of eternity proved to be the creation of Hell…” This is the true origin of myth as opposed to human events or mere symbolism, and symbolizes the esoteric reality we find ourselves in.
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