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There were two schools of astronomy operating and evolving in ancient Egypt, which was really a battle for supremacy between a solar or lunar year calendar that synchronized with a star map or zodiac. This division of thought was basically an attempt at solving the mystery of whether life and natural phenomena had a male or female origin. It was also a fundamental issue regarding an accurate seasonal reference for agricultural purposes. Their astronomical observations later formed the basis of druidic starlore and its associated religious beliefs that centred upon the eight-fold druidic year and a thirteen-lunar-sign zodiac.

The early Egyptian astronomer priests had been integrating their astronomy and religious beliefs with a Mesopotamian source since around 5400 BC. Mesopotamia was a neighbouring region of south-west Asia centred on the middle reaches of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and reckoned by archaeologists to be the site of several of the most ancient civilizations – the Sumerians, Babylonians, Chaldeans and Assyrians. Prior to this date, around 6400 BC, Egypt was invaded by a race of people coming from the south who were Moon and tree worshippers of Osiris, Thoth and Knonsu, with the exception of a Sun god called Chnemu. They found a population worshipping Ra and Atmu, who were Sun gods identified with the rising and setting Sun.

The southern invaders brought with them a lunar year of 360 days and, though Osiris remains a Moon god, the axis of their temples determined the Sun’s place at the Autumnal Equinox and the start of their New Year. This factor suggests the invading people from the south came from a country below the equator where the seasons are reversed – central or southern Africa. The Mesopotamian people who invaded Egypt in around 5400 BC came from the north-east, Red Sea area and founded temples at Redisieh and Denderah. Others appeared to have come over the land isthmus and founded temples at Annu and introduced the worship of Anu and the divine dynasty of Set.

Their temples were aligned with Draco, the Dragon constellation, and their religious beliefs were also associated with Ursa Major (the Great Bear) and the northern star Capella – all circumpolar stars. The Egyptians at that time believed that circumpolar stars represented the powers of darkness associated with the Underworld Kingdom of the Dead, for they were always visible at night and never appeared at sunrise. Astronomically speaking, circumpolar stars never rise and set, but can move around the celestial pole during the precession of the equinoxes, which is basically what the ancient Egyptians were observing at this time.

The evolving Osiris and Set myth corresponds with the displacement of Ursa Major by Draco, which the early Egyptians had always referred to as ‘the Mother of Time’ because it was their earliest observation of a group of stars that appeared to have a fixed position in the sky. Osiris therefore became displaced for a time, having been mythically murdered by Set, but around 5000 BC his son, the hawk-headed god Horus arrived in Egypt from the south to avenge his father. Horus killed Set and the northern people were defeated, but the southern people by then had become Sun worshippers, in that Osiris became both a Sun and Moon god.

The cult of Set was retained, with Anubis (Anu) the son of Osiris in charge of the Underworld Kingdom. Set is known as the dark twin or brother of Osiris, and their wives, Nepthys and Isis, are also twin sisters, representing the dark and light phases of the Moon. Anubis is the son of Osiris and Nepthys, and Horus is the son of Osiris and Isis. This appears to be an incestuous relationship, but as a divine family they each represent various aspects and cycles of the waxing (increasing) and waning (decreasing) light of the Sun and Moon. The Winter Solstice and the northern star Capella came to mark the rebirth of Osiris as a Sun god.

The astronomically based myth of Osiris and Isis is a prime myth which has many parallels around the world. In Celtic myths, the original legend of King Arthur and Guinevere was also based upon the same astronomical principles. Arthur was primarily a Sun king who was identified with Ursa Major, the Great Bear, and the powers of darkness which he battled against were identified with Draco, the Dragon constellation. Capella marks the northern and southern horizons and it held a special place in Egyptian and druidic starlore because it marked the return or rebirth of the Sun at the Winter Solstice and its death or descent at the Summer Solstice.

Egyptian astronomy and its associated religious beliefs continued to evolve and another invasion from Babylon took place in around 3700 BC. The Babylonian priests worshipped a Sun god as well as Anu, and the axis of their temples determined the Sun’s place at the vernal or Spring Equinox, and the start of the New Year. This period coincides with the building of pyramids, which are orientated east to west. Temple building began on a much larger scale as the blending of southern and northern cults was reconciled at Thebes, or modern-day Luxor. Osiris was identified with the Spring Equinox as a Sun god and Isis with the Autumnal Equinox as a Moon goddess. King Arthur and Queen Guinevere were also associated with the same astronomical positions and archetypal gods.

The year 3200 BC marks the rise and worship of Amon-Ra, King of the gods, whose name means ‘The Hidden One’, for he concealed his name and soul. The Celtic god Celi, whose name means ‘concealing’, closely resembles Amon-Ra, who was associated with the golden realm of Amenti, the land of the Dead, which the druids referred to as Annwn. Both of these realms were aligned to the western horizon, the place of the setting Sun. From this time onwards temples built in Egypt were aligned to all four points of the orbital relationship of the Sun with earth; the solstices and the equinoxes.

There were also galleries orientated to both southern and northern constellations as well as adjacent temples to the Moon. The Egyptians retained their lunar calendar of 360 days that was divided into twelve months of thirty days each with five extra days now added for religious festivals and agricultural rites. Their New Year now began at the Summer Solstice, which coincided with the heliacal or rising of the Sun with Sirius (Sothos) and the seasonal rising of the Nile.

This lunar calendar of 365 days, however, did not take into account the extra quarter day, which meant it lost one whole day every four years. Though this defect was eventually corrected over a period of time it did cause havoc regarding their chronological record of the early dynasties. Nevertheless, their lunar calendar was imported into pre-Hellenic Greece and then Rome where it was mathematically adjusted to the exact duration of the solar year and it became a Sun calendar and Sun zodiac, which is still in use today.