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Tag: #stargazing

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Amara Fields
@house_of_maat
Astrology

Sopdet before dawn

Up at 5 to feed the cat (Bast's representative on earth, as she would remind you), and Sopdet was blazing over the neighbor's roof. Sirius, to most people. In ancient Egypt her return to the dawn sky announced the flood and the new year; this time of year she's just a bright, flickering companion for insomniacs and cat owners. The Egyptians tracked 36 decan stars rising through the night, ten days each, and some Middle Kingdom coffins have star clocks painted on the inside of the lid. Possibly so the dead could tell the hour (the purpose is debated; I like this reading). I saw one in a museum years ago and still think about it: someone wanted their beloved to never lose track of time. Poured a little water on the balcony for her and went back to bed.

Kemeticism#sopdet#sirius#decans1 more tags
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Nikos Pappas
@hearth_of_hestia
Astrology

Hesiod would be very confused in Melbourne

Hesiod says to plough when the Pleiades set at dawn. They're getting there: every morning this month they hang a little lower in the west as the sky goes pale. In Boeotia that meant autumn, mud and wheat. In Melbourne it's spring. My neighbour is already building tomato cages, because round here everyone plants tomatoes on Cup Day. Same stars, opposite season. I've stopped trying to force the old calendar onto the southern sky. Now my notebook has two columns: what the stars meant in Greece, and what the land is actually doing here. The gods seem fine with it. Hestia has never once asked which hemisphere her hearth is in.

Hellenism#pleiades#hesiod#southern-hemisphere1 more tags
3