1.3. El ‘legado de la guerra’
1.3.1. Las víctimas. La verdadera guerra
Ancient timekeeping may have initially arose out of the necessity for ensuring that a predictable order exists and a method for understanding that order could be employed on a regular basis. In the temple, the ending of the dark hours and the appearance of light was one such requisite, as the deity was believed to awaken to the world of life and descend into the Divine House in periodic episodes dictated by the cosmogony of the temple tradition. This could be hourly;
1. Heliacal rising: a star or planet that rises before the Sun, allowing it to appear pre-dawn in the east
ern sky for a brief period before it becomes obscured by the Solar light.
Usekh-t Shu
The Hall of Shu, sky, space
Ikhem Sek
"Not knowing destruction,"
a name of the polestar
·-Shet ·-Shet
Vulva of the sky, Nut's body, the place where the Sun is born
Gerh en Hatuiy
Night of the Teardrop (near the Summer Solstice), bringing the
rain that causes inundation
Sah
The constellation Orion
Figure 38-Stellar Phenomena
Usekh-t Geb The Hall of Geb, Earth
Wep et Renpet
Observance of the "Opening of the Year," marked by the heliacal rising
of Sirius
Meshtiu
Great Bear constellation; abode of the soul of Set. Also represented by (and referred to as) "the Bull's Thigh"
Pert Sopdet
"Going forth of Sothis," the New Year marked by the heliacal rising of Sirius
*Ill
Shedju
The eight morning stars, constella
tion of the Tortoise
104 Cosmic Resonance
daily, monthly, or annually-but the return of the Neter from its celestial abode at an appointed time ensured the embodiment of divine life, and this was the es
sential function of the temple in ancient times.
As a result, the observation of the passage of the Sun took place during day
light, and the monitoring of stars moving across the vault of the sky throughout the night established the protocol of astronomer-priests who practiced their art in observatories on temple roofs. These specialists brought into being a system of timekeeping that we have inherited, along with the renowned sacred astronomy of Egypt. It is the latter system we have overlooked in modern times, resulting in our loss of knowing the periods and cycles of celestial powers that await our un
derstanding and use.
As the Earth rotates daily on its axis, the full circle of stars passes overhead, though for approximately only half that time are the stars visible to the naked eye. The Egyptians recognized that certain groupings of stars appeared at differ
ent times on the horizon at dawn or dusk, depending on the time of the year.
They were then followed by other stars, which shifted across the sky in a pre
dictable manner. Careful observation revealed that the appearances of these stars were consistent with the passage of time, and so they became chronocrators
markers for a system of timekeeping that was associated with the appearances of divine forces. In this system every star is regarded as a Ba, or "divine appearance"
of one of the gods, and this appearance has an influence on the world below. As such, the stars are indicators of beneficial or detrimental conditions for certain actions or enterprises, in both the sacred and secular realms.
Thirty-six star groups which lie in a belt at the southern expanse of the eclip
tic (the Sun's path) became incorporated into this system. Each group acquired a name and associated spirit guardian, although the order and names vary some
what according to the historical period when they were inscribed in tombs or on papyri in the temple archives. Nevertheless, a number of thirty-six remains in
variable, and since these figures divide the 360° circle of the ecliptic into ten-de
gree segments, they are collectively referred to as dekanoi, the Greek term for
"groups of ten." The time between the appearance of one dekan and the next on the horizon-at the equinoxes, when day and night are equal-would translate into forty minutes; this changes with the season and latitude of the observer. In this manner, the dekans served as markers for nocturnal hours as they transited the horizons.
cause daylight obscures the stars for half the day. But they would have their turn on the night horizon at some point in the year, which to the careful observer will signal the beginning or ending of a season. Thus, the dekans also served as mark
ers for the weeks (decades) and months of the year. The appearance of each dekan successively at dusk in the eastern sky at ten-day intervals signaled the be
ginning of a new week.
These two observational systems ("transit dekans" and "decades") were in use during pharaonic times, the former used at night (achronychal risings) to mark the hours, and the latter used at dawn (heliacal risings) to determine the begin
ning of the year and hence, the seasons and weeks. Each used a different star or asterism to mark its beginning.
The Hermetic writings of the Graeco-Roman period emphasize the influence of the dekanoi:
The force which works in all events that befall men collectively comes from the Dekans; for instance, overthrows of kingdoms, revolts of cities, famines, pestilences, overjlowings of the sea, earthquakes-none of these things, my son, take place without the working of the Dekans.
-Hermes to Tat, Excerpt VI: 8
Such conditions are denoted by some of the dekan descriptions, others by the deities with which they were associated. Each dekan possesses a spirit guardian who characterizes its action, a Neter who governs it, and certain minerals or plants that embody its powers. For the most part, the Neter is often one of the deities of the Heliopolitan (Solar) rhythm, or one of the four genii of the Funer
ary Quaternary. Associations with the genii convey the elemental character of each asterism, in the realms of Fire (Qebsenuf ), Earth (Daumutef ), Air (lmset), and Water (Haapi). These attributes exemplify the essence of Egypt's sacred as
tronomy, which later disseminated to Greece and Rome as astrological magic.
Unlike the Zodiac (the twelve constellations that lie along the ecliptic, or Sun's path), the Egyptian dekanal belt was measured along the celestial equator, which is south of the ecliptic and parallel to it. Thus, only portions of the west
ern Zodiacal constellations fall in the Egyptian system. We are not certain which stars comprised each dekan, as the lists vary in the description of the sky where
106 Cosmic Resonance
they are located. However, the fiducial (starting point) is always indicated, and it usually falls in the region of the constellations Orion and Canis Major, parallel the constellations of Gemini and Cancer.
The marking and enumerating of the dekans was an important activity in the temples, as temple records show. These confirm that the observation of stars was integral to the timing of certain rites throughout the day and night, but the dekans had another magical purpose. Some tombs and funerary papyri include lists or representations of the dekanal hours as "guides" to mark the passage of the soul through the Duat, or night sky. The dekan spirits inscribed in the tombs symbolically assisted the deceased through the darkness so that the soul could make its way to be reborn with the Sun barque at dawn. It was believed that even in the heavenly regions nefarious forces could block the journey of the Sun, but the dekan spirits possessed the powers to dispel such obstacles. Given the proper timing, the soul could likewise proceed through the regions of the sky and be
come a celestial being.
The dekans, each representing �6th of the celestial sphere
(36
x10
=360°),
marked time at night as they appeared in the east, culminated overhead, and set in the west. Approximately half(18)
of the transit dekans would pass overhead on a given night(18
dekans x40
minutes =720
minutes). And since the Egyptians used a sexagesimal system of mathematics
C%o
=12
hours), it became obvious that the Solar phases of night and day fell into
24
periods(12
hours x2),
the origin of our own system of timekeeping.The calendar weeks commenced with the appearance of a new dekan rising in the night sky every ten days. The last day of each week was generally regarded as a "day of the dead," and funerary offerings could be presented on those days without deviating from the Lunar calendar of offerings. At Philae, the mourning of Auset for her dead husband was reenacted on these days, with a journey by a priestess of the temple to the adjacent island of Biga (the Abaton, Greek for "re
served place"), where the god was believed to have been secreted prior to his re
constitution at Abydos. Offerings of milk were made, and ancient inscriptions dis
close that
365
offering bowls were filled in the sanctuary at each ceremony.Dekans on two astronomical ceilings-that of the unoccupied tomb of Sen
mut at Deir el Bahri
(1473
B.C.E.) and the Osireion temple of Seti I at Abydos(1303
B.C.E.)-represent the system used to mark the beginning of the ten-dayianel
side tombs represent the system used to mark the hours ("transits"). The latter are also called "star clocks" because they visually depict the marking of time by the passage of stars from east to west in reference to an observer and a seated human figure-a valuable representation of the manner in which ancient astro
nomical observation was conducted.
The transit dekans begin with Sopdet, the star whose heliacal rising marked not only the beginning of the Sidereal year, but the legendary beginning of the hours in timeless time. For this reason it stood apart from the rest of the dekanal stars as
"leader" or harbinger of cycles. The foregoing list of transit dekans begins with the position of Sirius in 2780 B.C.E. along with the current era. It is divided into ten-degree increments from that reference point. It is important to note that the Egyptians recorded their stars as they gradually shifted from the vernal equinox over the ages , and did not use a stationary (tropical) system as most modern as
trologers do. The position of Sirius for epoch 2000 is 19°15' of Gemini in the Side
real (moving) Zodiac or 13°30' of Cancer in the Tropical (stationary) Zodiac.