Egyptian decans

Annotated astronomical procession from the ceiling of the tomb of Seti I showing the Egyptian decanal stars

The Egyptian decans are a series of stars or small groups of stars used in ancient Egyptian astrology. These stars were worshipped as part of Egyptian religious practices.

Motion

The decans each appear to rise consecutively on the horizon throughout each daily earth rotation. The rising of each decan marked the beginning of a new decanal "hour" (Greek hōra) of the night, and they were used as a sidereal star clock beginning by at least the 9th or 10th Dynasty (2100 BCE).

Because a new decan appears heliacally every ten days, thus marking the start of a new 10 day week in the Egyptian calendar, the ancient Greeks called them dekanoi (δεκανοί; pl. of δεκανός dekanos) meaning "tenths".

History

Decans first appeared in the 10th Dynasty (2100 BCE) on coffin lids found in tombs of noblemen in the region of Asyut. The sequence of these star patterns began with Sopdet, the star Sirius, and each decanal star had a corresponding deity. As measures of time, the rising and setting of decans marked 'hours' and groups of 10 days which comprised an Egyptian year. The ancient Book of Nut covers the subject of the decans.

After Alexander the Great invaded Egypt, Egyptian astrology melded with Greek and Persian astrology and the original system of decans gave way to a lunar division of 27 or 28 lunar stations, also known as manzil (lunar mansions) and to a zodiac of 12 signs, based on an anthropomorphic pattern of constellations, and their use can be seen in the Dendera zodiac dated to circa 50 BCE.

Decans continued to be used in astrology in medieval Islam, Renaissance, 17-century astrology, 19-century Theosophy, and in cosmology, theurgy, and hermeticism, as well as in religion and ritual magic.

In 2021, occultist Travis McHenry created a system of divination based on the Egyptian decans. He incorporated this system into a deck of cards called The Egyptian Star Oracle.

Number of decans

Although it is commonly believed that there are only 36 decans, in fact, there are around 100 decanal stars, although only 36 were used in the course of any given Egyptian year. The reason for the large number of stars has to do with the Sothic shift and the fact that the 365-day cycle of the star Sirius does not perfectly align with earth's 365.25-day solar cycle. To compensate for this minor variation, the Egyptians allowed for subtle shifts in the decanal stars they used throughout the year.

Additionally, five days were added to the end of the Egyptian calendar each year, and these days had their own decan in addition to have a specific deity rule over each individual day.

Identity of the decans

Studying the decans in a practical sense is complicated because the actual stars that were observed by the Egyptians and regarded as decans are mostly not known. Many scientists have attempted to determine which stars might be decans, but these theories have failed to gain broad support from their peers. Some decans have been conclusively identified. In his 2022 book, Cult of the Stars, Travis McHenry states that without further sources being revealed from the Middle Kingdom Period, the stellar identities of the decans are likely to remain unknown; however, he also proposes that a few decans can be identified with a high degree of certainty:

• Sopdet - Sirius
• Sah - Stars in Orion
• Khau - The Pleiades
• Tepy-a Sopdet - Procyon and Gomeisa

List of decans

This is a list of the 37 decans that were most commonly used across a broad time period from 2100 BC until the demise of the Egyptian religion in 356 AD, owing to the religious policies of Roman Emperor Constantius II. The order presented here represents the order in which each star's heliacal rise occurs over the course of the Egyptian calendar. The end of the year coincided with the rise of Sirius, followed by the five epagomenal days, after which the cycle would start again with the rise of Tepy-a Kenmet on I Akhet 1 at the beginning of a new year.

Decade	Image	Transliteration	Translation	Astrological Meaning	Group	Mineral
1		Tepy-a Kenmet	Predecessor of the Cow	New Beginnings and Jubilation	Cow	Unknown
2		Kenmet	The Cow	Development and Growth	Cow	Garnet
3		Khery Heped En Kenmet	Under the Hind Part of the Cow	Change in Circumstances	Cow	Glass and Gold
4		Hat Djat	Beginning of the Crane	Construction and Building	Crane	Glass and Gold
5		Pehuy Djat	End of the Crane	Accomplishment	Crane	Galena and Gold
6		Temat Heret	Upper Wing	Care and Nurturing	Crane	Gold
7		Temat Kheret	Lower Wing	Death and Endings	Crane	Gold
8		Weshati Bekati	The Pregnant Twins	Fertility and Sex	Twins	Turquoise
9		Ip-Djes	Recovered Senses	Being of Service	Twins	Iron and Gold
10		Tepy-a Khentet	Predecessor of Khentet	Truth and Justice	Khentet	Hematite
11		Khentet heret	Upper Khentet	Chaos	Khentet	Smoky Quartz and Gold
12		Khentet kheret	Lower Khentet	Conflict and War	Khentet	Red Jasper and Gold
13		Tjemes en Khentet	Red one of Khentet	Restraint or End of Conflict	Khentet	Glass and Gold
14		Qedty	Band of Reeds	Sowing Seeds	The Boat	Flint
15		Hery-ib Wia	Middle of the Boat	Journey Through Life	The Boat	Glass and Gold
16		Seshmu	Guides or Winepress	Spiritual Struggles	The Boat	Glass and Gold
17		Kenmu	Secret Stars	Rest and Repose	The Boat	Carnelian and Gold
18		Tepy-a Semed	Predecessor of the Horn	Tree of Life and Wisdom	Sheep	Gold
19		Semed	The Horn	Celebration and Merriment	Sheep	Copper and Gold
20		Seret	The Sheep	Melancholy or Sadness	Sheep	Dark Flint and Gold
21		Sawy Seret	Children of the Sheep	Healing	Sheep	Carnelian and Gold
22		Khery Heped Seret	Under the Hind Part of the Sheep	Love and Romance	Sheep	Glass and Gold
23		Tepy-a Akhuy	Predecessor of the Two Spirits	Mixed Blessings	Two Souls	Garnet
24		Akhuy	The Two Spirits	Harvesting of Rewards	Two Souls	Gold
25		Bawy	The Two Souls	Abundance	Two Souls	Gold
26		Khentu Heru	Upper Khentu	Destruction of Enemies	Khentu	Gold
27		Khentu Kheru	Lower Khentu	Authority and Power	Khentu	Jasper and Gold
28		Qed	The Potter	Creation and Artistry	The Potter	Gold
29		Sawy Qed	Children of the Potter	Possessiveness or Sharing	The Potter	Glass and Gold
30		Khau	Thousands	Respect and Admiration	The Potter	Carnelian and Gold
31		Aryt	Roll of Papyrus	Writing or One's Legacy	Sah	Granite and Gold
32		Remen Hery Sah	Upper arm of Sah	Purification	Sah	Quartz and Gold
33		Remen Khery Sah	Lower arm of Sah	Illumination or Revelation	Sah	Quartz and Gold
34		Sah	The Father of the Gods	Protection From All Dangers	Sah	Gold
35		Tepy-a Sopdet	Predecessor of Sopdet	Destruction of Chaos	Sopdet	Ebony and Gold
36		Sopdet	Goddess of the Flood	Inundation	Sopdet	Gold
37		Shetwy	The Two Tortoises	Removal of Obstacles	Epagomenal	Carnelian and Gold

See also

• The Egyptian Star Oracle
• Egyptian calendar
• Egyptian astrology