There’s no denying that people have been fascinated with the sky and astrology for a very long time. Ancient Egyptians were the ones that studied the stars and planets, their positions, and how they moved as well. Although other nations were interested in astrology, Egyptians, in particular, had their share of exciting ideas and methods, which is why Egyptian astrology is fascinating for many people worldwide due to different reasons.
What’s interesting here is that, for the most part, temple priests were the ones that recorded star movement and also monitored planets. They were focused on figuring out how other planets and even the sky would influence the environment. This stuff made it easy for them to predict floods, famine, and other things similar to that solely based on the solar movement.
If you check the Egyptian temples, they had an arched ceiling with the idea of imitating heaven. Every ritual was created according to the planetary activities. The Egyptian zodiac appeared during the Ptolemaic dynasty when they borrowed the Greek Zodiac and replaced the Greek gods with Egyptian ones. That way, they made it easier to have a proper set of Egyptian zodiac signs without using any existing options.
The interesting thing to note about the Egyptian calendar is that it was very close to the Gregorian one, which is the calendar we use these days. The year had 365 days, similar to the current calendar, but they only had three seasons, with 120 days per season. Every season had four months in total; as you can see, five days were left over. Interestingly, they had an extra five-day month that was seen as something outside the regular year.
Regular months were numbered in the season. However, there were times when these were named by the festivals. That made it incredibly interesting and showed the importance that Egyptian astrology had over the way the calendar was created. Every month was split into three 10-day periods, which were named decans. During the last two days of the decans, royal artisans could take some time off. With 36 decans yearly, Egyptian astrology showed that 36 asterisms appeared every 24 hours. That alone truly made a huge difference.
It’s important to note that even from an early time, Egyptians were focused on finding a great system to account for time. To do that, their approach was to split the day into temporal hours. These days would have a different length, depending on the season. Summer hours were usually longer compared to winter; as you can imagine, it had to do with the amount of daylight available.
However, as time passed, Egyptians agreed on a 24-hour day system. They were the first in the world to bring in such a system. They had water and shadow clocks, designed as methods suitable for tracking and managing time.
The interesting thing about the Egyptian zodiac is that they had 12 signs, just like the western zodiac has. The thing that makes Egyptian astrology different is that it covers precise dates, unlike the zodiac that we have at this time.
The first Egyptian zodiac sign was named after the Nile. It doesn’t represent a deity. However, the vital thing to note is that the Egyptian zodiac sign Nile took place between January 1–7, June 19–28, September 1–7, and November 18–26. Anyone born under this would have a good intuition, and they might even be influenced by their passion. They work hard to maintain peace and have a strong sense of practicality and logic.
The dates for this Egyptian zodiac sign are January 8–21 and February 1–11. People born under this sign are filled with optimism but also polite and confident. They are great leaders who make intelligent decisions, pondering and not rushing.
Mut takes place between January 22–31 and September 8–22, representing a female deity that protects our society. People that are born under the Mut sign are generous but also loyal and sensitive at the same time. They tend to have a lot of goals and also protect others.
Geb represents the god of Earth, and it’s celebrated between February 12–29 and August 20–31. People born under this Egyptian zodiac sign tend to be sensitive, open, and faithful. Shyness is another common trait between them.
Osiris, known as the 5th zodiac sign, takes place March 1–10, November 27 – December 18. With that in mind, people born under the sign of Osiris are very independent, vulnerable, intelligent, and strong too. In addition, they are prone to become leaders, which is something to keep in mind. But, on the other hand, they can also be selfish and quite aggressive sometimes.
It’s celebrated March 11–31, October 18–29, and December 19–31, and she is the goddess of nature. The Egyptian zodiac sign of Isis tends to bring those born under it a perfect sense of humor, and these people are also very romantic. Those persons also tend to work very well as a team, which is something to consider.
The Thoth zodiac sign is celebrated between April 1–19 and November 8–17, and it’s known for being the god of wisdom and learning. So if you were born under it, that means you were courageous, filled with energy, romantic, and wise.
The Egyptian zodiac sign of Horus is celebrated from April 20 – May 7, August 12–19 and covers people that were motivated, optimistic, and filled with ambition and lots of courage. These are hardworking people that tend to get along very well with others.
Anubis was the guardian of the underworld and also the god of mummification. The zodiac sign was celebrated May 8–27 and June 29 – July 13. People born under such Egyptian zodiac signs were curious, confident, creative, and hardworking.
Seth was celebrated May 28 – June 18, September 28 – October 2, and he was the god of violence and chaos. People born under this sign were perfectionists. They always liked to be the center of attention and also enjoyed communicating.
Bastet was the god of pleasure, fertility, and cats. July 14–28, September 23–27, and October 3–17 are when the zodiac sign would be celebrated. People born under this sign had sensitive, affectionate, and charming personalities. They were also loyal.
July 29 – August 11, October 30 – November 7 was when Sekhmet was celebrated. This was the god of war. Usually, people born under this sign had two sides to their personality. They were also very focused on perfectionism and having great justice.
Egyptian astrology is fascinating, and it just goes to show its uniqueness and powerful features. It was something different and unlike anything that you would find out there. It’s also great to see that the current western astrology is very similar to what the Ancient Egyptians were doing and seeing at that time.