These notes were drawn from knowledgeable people
from several Astrology lists, email me if you want the links to join or
recommendations for Astrology programs or services. LadyCatheann
In the early cultures of Egypt and Babylon, the
position where we designate as the seventh house was the precursor to death - the setting
Sun was "dying" and night was beginning to descend upon the earth. In a later
epoch, both the second and seventh house positions were considered the "death
houses." This came about when the spring equinox was still seen in Aries. Naturally
the ancients couldn't see the stars during the day and so the first day of
the equinox began at sunset. Consider: The setting sun in the constellation Aries gives us
Libra rising; placing the Mars ruled Scorpio on the second and Mars ruled Aries on the
seventh. Mars was always considered the planet of death and was much reviled. In the
Egyptian culture, the Egyptians would inscribe the planets inside the sarcophagi as part
of the burial ceremony. Often the planet Mars was left out altogether and, if not, it was
placed in an extremely compromising position. The Egyptians viewed existence from this
standpoint, that different combinations of intersecting energy patterns permeated the
universe. The result of these intersecting energy vibrations was the world of material
form. As the Egyptians saw it, existence came from three distinct energy patterns
pre-existing outside the world of matter. These patterns were: active, passive and
neutral. The active energy patterns were considered "life force or
consciousness," the inactive patterns were considered inert and
non-conscious. The
interplay of the active against the inert created the third neutralizing effect on both
patterns. This "neutral" effect, the third
force (the node), was created by the interaction of the other two, the result was physical
matter...the world of volume and "things." Entertaining the Egyptian point of
view, the Node may also be related to Rupert Sheldrake's treatise on "Pre-existing
archetypes" which are genetically coded, predetermined forms lying dormant in the
form of "seeds"
or eggs. These codes are what makes a horse a horse or a tree a tree... the DNA that any
living form fashions itself after. With this outlook we can say that the node in the
astrological chart is the pre-existing archetype, the coagulating force and the indicator
of the current incarnation. Thank you Arthyr
The Kemetiu (Ancient Egyptians), as far as I know, focused on the
transformation and rejuvenation of the physical life form to everlasting life in the duat,
the netherworld. They dealt with dualities in many aspects of their religion and
culture. One interesting concept are two types of eternity: "niheh" (often
abbreviated as "heh"), which was the eternity of recurring cycles, such as the
Sun continuously rising in the East, and "tcheta", a fixed unalterable state of
being, such as death. Often these two terms niheh and tcheta, would be used together to
mean "forever and ever". They also drew a similar distinction
between the circumpolar stars, which were viewed as eternal, and where it was desired for
the soul to go, and the stars that rose and set. Both of these sets of stars have an
eternal
quality, the circumpolar were fixed in the heavens, while the rising and setting stars
moved in continual, recurring cycles. For a third and neutral point it
was recently noted that they used the hieratic sign (hieratic was sort of a script form of
the written language) for "nefer", which meant good, beautiful, in mathematics
for "zero", when balancing accounts. Thus zero was equated with a good or
beautiful state, residing between the + and - zones. In Kemet the Nile was
more predictable, flooded at the Summer Solstice, and that was their new year. The the
star Spdt (Sepdet, Sirius the dog star) had its heliacal rising at the time of the Nile's
flooding during Kemet's classical age. This harmony between the cycles of that
bright star, the Nile and the Sun at Solstice gave the Kemetiu a sense of the continuity
life. Thank you Amir
According to Mark Vidler, "The Star
Mirror" (1998), the Great Pyramid has 10 or 11 stellar alignments, via several shafts
and the slopes of its sides. As well as two alignments with the polar region, Draco,
and the North Star at the time (Thuban), [and not counting the basic orientation to the
cardinal points of the compass which integrates both 'eternities' -- Pole &
meridian plus equinoctial east/west], there are other alignments not only to bright stars
in and near Orion/Osirus (The Duat), but also to other bright stars whose zenith passages
mark key geographical points, local and global. For example, there's an isosceles
triangle of mountain peaks in the Sinai Peninsula over which three bright stars pass, and
these are spotlighted by Pyramid alignments. (Near one peak: the famous St. Catherine
Monastery). Thank you Rab
