by  Andy Lloyd August 2000 from DarkStar1 Website Spanish Version       Let us look more closely at the ancient Egyptian mythology relevant to the Dark Star Theory, and explore the mythology central to an understanding of that sacred part of the sky, the Duat.   In doing so, it will become clear why I have proposed that this sacred area of the sky dominated by Sirius and Orion marks the perihelion passage of Nibiru. Osiris is represented in the heavens by the constellation of Orion, and the goddess Isis is represented by the star Sirius. (1)   We have already looked at the idea that Horus, born of Isis, represented Nibiru, born in the sky near Sirius during the time of its heliacal setting and rising (DS6). But what of the other major figure in this mythological drama, the evil god Seth?   There is some evidence that he was associated with the planet Mercury.   He is clearly identified in ancient Egyptian mythology as a dark or invisible serpent, as well as a red-haired man: "Seth, the red-haired god of prehistoric invaders, who slew Osiris, became the Egyptian Satan, and he was depicted as a black serpent, a black pig, a red mythical monster or, simply, as a red-haired man" "A similar myth represents the Sun as a great cat, which was originally a female but was identified with Ra as a male. It fought with the serpent Apep below the sacred tree at Heliopolis and killed it at dawn. In this myth Seth is identified with the serpent." (2) None of the above rules out a connection between Seth and Mercury, but the mythological identity of Seth as an invisible, red 'star' akin to a serpent seems more in keeping with what we know about Nibiru. The other difficulty with the idea that Seth was associated with Mercury is the solar aspect identified with his worship.   Whilst discussing the magical rituals of the Egyptians, Seligmann described this gruesome ceremony aimed at Seth: "To make an enemy harmless, the magician would smear his own feet with clay, placing between them the severed head of an ass and rubbing his mouth and hands with its blood. He turned to the Sun, and having put one arm forward, the other back, he addressed Seth-Typhon, the Evil One, in magical rhythmic speech: 'Thou terrible, invisible, all-powerful one, god of gods, assailer and destroyer…'" (3) Here we have a solar god revered for its might and dominance, yet described as invisible.   Mercury lies close to the Sun, and one could argue that this religious outburst may have been aimed at the 'invisible' Mercury of day-time. But why worship Mercury in the day? Why not carry out the ceremony at dusk or dawn, when Mercury appears as an evening or morning star?   Not only that, but the concept of terrible destructive power associated with Seth seems at odds with Mercury’s low celestial profile. This presents us with a quandary, and opens up the possibility that Seth has been associated with the wrong planet. A more powerful identity is called for. It is not Venus, the other planet that is associated with the Sun.   Could this imagery again be alluding to an invisible solar deity which is, at times, hidden behind the Sun?     The Duality I am proposing that Nibiru can be understood as a mixture of the battling deities, Horus and Seth.   They represent a duality of good and evil, and the myths surrounding them attempt to explain the bizarre nature of the Dark Star; sometimes fiery, mostly invisible. In this way, Nibiru was also understood as both a force for good - the heavenly domain of the gods - but also represented great potential evil, whose arrival in the heavens could signal coming apocalyptic destruction. Seth is a black, celestial serpent, as well as a red-haired deity, which fights the Sun.   This fits the notion that Seth represents our brown dwarf in cometary motion; a dark star with red appearance and halo, which challenges the Sun with its opposite motion in the heavens. The dark star is associated with evil-doing and the death of gods, in keeping with the cataclysmic role of Nibiru in the Enuma Elish.   It also indicates the dread with which the appearance of the brown dwarf was held by the ancients. Yet Nibiru’s appearance was also a time of great celebration, as Anu visited the Earth on one of his epoch-making ‘state visits’.   One would expect the myths surrounding Nibiru’s appearance to reflect this mix of terror and hopeful expectation in the human populations of the prehistoric world. Horus was born of Isis, returning to avenge his father’s death at the hands of Seth. Horus appears to be associated with the Messianic Star, appearing by Sirius.   The following poetic rendering of the appearance of Horus nudges us in the direction of a celestial object appearing miraculously from the depths of space: "Another myth represented the newborn sun as the child Horus rising from a lotus bloom that expanded its leaves on the breast of the primordial deep" (2) Yet Horus is not itself identified with our Sun, as many Egyptologists claim, but is both a stellar and solar son of Isis, who is represented by Sirius.   The Egyptologists have once again reduced everything down to the Sun, which is their standard way of analyzing ancient Egyptian mythology. Yet, if the Egyptians were describing two ‘Suns’, one the life-giver, Ra; the other a dark, hidden ‘sun', Horus, then the myths begin to become more clear.   Horus can be identified as a ‘sun’ that is born out of Sirius, appearing periodically from the primordial deep. Its appearance is momentous, marking the passing of an era.       Horus In the Island of Fire Horus is identified with a fiery throne by Ra himself, whilst discussing mankind’s coming destruction by the Flood; a clear celestial depiction of Nibiru’s fiery countenance: "For lo! I wish in my heart to destroy utterly that which I did create. All the world will become a waste of water through a great flood, as it was at the beginning, and I alone shall be left remaining, with no one else beside me except Osiris and his son Horus. I shall become a small serpent, invisible to the gods. To Osiris will be given power to reign over the dead, and Horus will be exalted on the throne that is set on the island of fiery flames." (2) The myth is describing the Flood, occurring simultaneously with the disappearance of the sun god into the primordial darkness. The cataclysmic consequences of the sun-god's journey go beyond the familiar assertion that these myths describe the annual flooding of the Nile.   The discussion is more Biblical in content. The sun god becomes invisible in the heavens, decreasing in size to a ‘small snake’, and finally ‘invisible to the gods’. This seems to denote Nibiru’s exit from the Solar System at the end of the catastrophic perihelion passage that flooded the world.   Horus' depiction of being set in the 'island of fire' is reminiscent of that other Egyptian myth, the Phoenix, which is also identifiable with the Dark Star.     Duat and the Star Clock Egyptologists perceive of the Duat as the snake-like path undertaken by the Solar Disc, Ra, as it moves through the underworld during night-time. It is understood to be divided into 12 hourly divisions, and each 'hour' sees Ra battle with new demons of darkness.   He enters the domain of Osiris, the divine judge of the dead, in the 7th hour, and finally emerges at dawn, the 12th hour division, entering the ‘tail of the mighty serpent, which is named 'Divine Life’. This final gate is guarded by Isis and Nepthys, and signifies the Sun rising at dawn with Sirius (Isis).   But there is a problem of scale with this interpretation: Sirius and Orion are practically adjacent to one another in the heavens. So if the Duat were describing the celestial journey of the Solar Disc through the constellations under the horizon at night, then they should be adjacent segments, certainly not the 7th and the 12th. A partial answer to this problem is found in the concept of the Egyptian ‘star clock’. They divided the sky into 36 equal sections, and nominated a star in each segment to be the heliacally rising ‘decan’.   Each section represented one ten-day interval, or Egyptian week. As E.C Krupp describes: "The Egyptians used a star or a group of stars to signal the beginning of one of their ten-day "weeks". Such a star or group of stars is called a "decan". Just as the Egyptian civil calendar evolved into our present calendar, the decans generated a system of time-keeping that led to our use of a twenty-four-hour day. Because the duration of the night is not constant throughout the year, the Egyptians allowed the hours to vary in length. The pattern of Sirius at the summer solstice became the plan for the entire year, for all the decans were chosen from stars located in a band south of and parallel to the ecliptic." (4) Of particular interest was the heliacal rising of Sirius, the decan associated with the Summer Solstice during the Pyramid Age.   This shortest night is about 6 modern hours long in Egypt. The night-time was divided into 12 intervals, which represented the fact that only 12 of the possible 36 decans could be seen that night. So at this crucial time of year, when the Duat was ‘activated’, the Egyptian nocturnal variable hour was only ½ modern hour long.   The Duat, according to this way of thinking, comprised one third of the total Solar Cycle in the sky, rather than one half. In contrast, some Egyptologists consider the Duat to be active all year-long. But the star clock hypothesis goes some way to explaining the anomalous number of divisions between Sirius and Orion in the Duat. Saying that, it is still difficult to understand why as many as 6 intervals should exist between adjacent star constellations.   There are more difficulties with the conventional understanding of the Duat.     Problems with the Duat Why did the Egyptians choose decans which lie off the ecliptic at all?   A more precise method surely would have involved choosing stars in the zodiac to be decans. There are perfectly adequate stars on the ecliptic near Sirius and Orion in the form of Pollux, Castor and Alhena in Gemini; and Aldebaran and the Hyades in Taurus! Egyptologists point to the heliacal rising of Sirius during the Pyramid Age being coincidental with the summer solstice and the flooding of the Nile. But this symbolic coincidence does not necessarily explain the ancient importance attached to Sirius. The timing of the flooding of the Nile tended to vary, and the heliacal rising of Sirius wasn't necessarily a strong indicator of the coming Nile flood.   But there is a more important point here; the Isis/Osiris/Horus mythology predated the Pyramid Age considerably, and represented the most ancient of Egyptian mythology. As one goes back in time, then the precession of the equinoxes take the heliacal rising of Sirius further away from the solstice, occurring earlier in the year as you go back further in time.   Therefore, the more ancient source of this mythology cannot have arisen based upon the Nile flood timing, or indeed the Summer Solstice, because these religious notions pre-date this calendrical coincidence Sirius lies well south of the ecliptic, and its dominance of the Duat must indicate another important factor at play here than simply part of a zodiacal sky clock. The same goes for Orion.   The Duat mythology involves the barque of Ra traveling through the various decans and encountering the monsters and deities associated with each. Which begs the question: How can Ra, as the invisible serpent, encounter the God of the Dead, Osiris, if the Sun doesn't actually pass through Orion?   This is a fundamental problem with the Egyptology position, and casts their interpretation of the nature of the Duat into doubt. To encounter Osiris, our celestial traveler must pass through Orion, and therefore travel off the ecliptic. Up until now, that point has been unanswerable, as all the visible planets travel along the ecliptic. But Babylonian texts indicate that an entirely different body passed through Canis Major and Orion in the form of Marduk, or Nibiru.   My contention is that Sirius marks the perihelion position of the Dark Star, and that the choice of decans south of the ecliptic indicates the Winged Disc’s appearance in the Duat.     Journey Through the Duat If Sirius marks the endpoint/rebirth of the Dark Star’s journey (Decan 12), and Orion is the half-way mark (Decan 7), then the Egyptians were describing a very different motion in the heavens.   The conventional dawn divisions fit neatly with the initial appearance of Nibiru as it approaches Sirius in its opposing trajectory to the Sun: "The god Horus burns great beacons in the eleventh hour division. Ruddy flames and flames of gold blaze on high in beauty- the enemies of Ra are consumed in the fires of Horus…The sun god is reborn in the twelfth hour division…The last door of all is guarded by Isis, wife of Osiris… " (2) This point of rebirth of the Dark Star near Sirius also marks the beginning of the cycle of the Duat, and the fiery sun-god is Horus, returning to the skies after its era-long absence.   It overcomes a high wall, which signifies Nibiru’s swing around the Sun and change of celestial direction, and enters the gate of the Duat in the 1st division. The red star Horus battles with the great serpent Apep from that point on, as it moves on through the next few divisions, signifying how the bright red orb could again be made invisible by the Serpent Seth at any time. But it fights through a mass of flying monsters to pass near the Drowning Pool (signifying the point where the Flood was unleashed on the Earth in a previous Nibiruan passage), and then enters Orion in the 7th division.   At this point of the Duat, the souls of the dead are judged by Osiris and a great fight ensues with the serpent, showing how Seth, the invisible black snake, begins to overcome Horus and establish himself as the sun-god identity. In the 10th division onward the monsters that the sun god encounters take on a more watery character, showing how it has again become submerged in the primordial deep, and fully taken on the guise of Seth. From the perspective of an Earth-based observer gazing at the fiery orb of Nibiru as it moves through the night sky, it seems to move through an arc, in the opposite direction to the Sun’s motion.   It appears faintly near Cancer, and brightens significantly as it moves towards Sirius. This rebirth by Sirius (Isis) denotes its character as Horus, and shows Horus’s victory over the evil darkness of the Seth identity. The perihelion marks the point of rebirth, the movement past the high wall (around the Sun) and thus through the ‘gate of the Duat’.   This is the end of the 12th division and the start of the 1st. On towards Orion it goes, fading as it does so. (The memories of the Flood are captured by the monuments of Giza, and their age-long vigilance, denoting the celestial point of Nibiru's journey through Orion when the world was once destroyed by the sun god). From there, the red orb fades rapidly as it swings towards Taurus and Aries. Finally it is lost to the darkness, and becomes the dark serpent, Seth, once again.   Like a serpent biting its tail, the invisible path of the dark star eventually leads back to Isis, creating an Ouroboros in the sky.     Horus Versus Ra Some might argue that, despite the astronomical difficulties I have cited, the evidence remains strong that the Duat was simply the region of the sky that the Sun moved through during the night. They will base this argument upon the predominance of the cult of the sun god Ra. But Ra was not Horus, and there is strong evidence that these two solar deities were entirely separate entities.   The problem has been the previous lack of another ‘sun’ to pin one of them on. Naturally enough, everything has been reduced to the one Sun. The cult of Ra arose after the Osiris/Isis/Horus cult. Egyptian religion was a conglomeration of different pantheons of deities, many of them imported, and the Egyptians were loath to discard any of the ‘old gods’ in favor of the new.   As such, their mythology grew by molding one god onto another, and this is what eventually happened with the Horus sun god: "Horus was united with Ra as Harmkhis, and the sun god of Heliopolis became Ra Harmakhis. The hawk god was thus symbolized as the winged sun disc." (2) This point is crucial. Horus was depicted by the ancient Egyptians in the same way that Nibiru was depicted by the Sumerians. Given that the Sumerian culture pre-dated Dynastic Egypt, and that the Egyptians were fond of importing foreign religious ideas, it is evident that the appearance of the Winged Planet was worshipped by the Egyptians as Horus. Egyptologists are in a state of denial about the stellar origin of the ancient cults, particularly of Osiris and Isis. This is despite strong evidence in favor of this interpretation given us in the Pyramid Texts. But the import of the ‘Winged Planet’ religion gives us a very clear and simple picture of what these star cults were really all about.   The Sun cult absorbed the star cult during and after the Fourth Dynasty, in the same way that Christianity was so adept at absorbing the polytheistic religions it replaced, forming a pantheon of saints to make up for the lost gods. In the Egyptological text dealing with this absorption of the Horus identity into the Ra identity, it is clear that they were not one-and-the-same, but rather two separate solar identities: 'Then Horus flew up to the Sun as a great winged disc, and he was afterwards called ‘the great god, the lord of the sky’. He perceived the enemies of Ra, and went against them as a winged disc.’ (2) Here is clear proof that the Horus identity was that of Nibiru, and became a second sun in the sky on the rare occasions of the Winged Planet’s perihelion passage. The slaying of the enemies denotes the defeat of those who had ceased to believe in the celestial home-world of the gods. Horus had a number of different names, depending upon the time-frame and Egyptian sect worshipping him.   This creates difficulties of interpretation for Egyptologists, but the scenario given above accommodates them all with ease. His identity as Harmakhis was that of ‘Horus of the Two Horizons’, depicting Nibiru’s appearance at a different level of the sky than that of Ra.   The Pyramid Texts emphatically state that the gods are born with ‘Horus of the East’: "The doors of the sky are thrown open for Horakhti… the doors of the sky are thrown open at dawn for Horus of the east … go to … Horakhti at the horizon … on the eastern side of the sky where the gods are born." (5) Other forms of Ra see Egyptologists grasping at planetary identities for Horus, despite their own insistence that the Egyptians were totally uninterested in astronomy as a basis for their gods: "The planet Saturn was Horus the Bull, Mars was Red Horus, and Jupiter ‘Horus, revealer of secrets’. At Letopolis a temple was erected to Horus of Not Seeing. In this form he is supposed to have represented the sun at solar eclipse…" (2) One must ask why the Egyptians would identify Horus with so many different planets, as well as the Sun? If Seth is truly Mercury, how can Horus be simultaneously Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and various aspects of the Sun’s appearance? This is a complete mess. It seems far more likely that these various aspects of Horus represent a different traveler in the heavens, and identify its route.   ‘Horus of Not Seeing’ is presumably Nibiru traveling back into the ‘primordial deep’, whilst Horus the Bull is the winged disc as it disappears into the Taurus constellation. (Interestingly, bulls were a strong part of ancient religious beliefs, and references to them eating snakes or eels in myths is not uncommon. This alludes to Nibiru, the disappearing dark serpent, being consumed by Taurus as it departs from our skies. The same goes for Aries, as the sun god touches upon this constellation also as it departs, and this might explain the emphasis on rams in ancient Egyptian mythology.) The reference to Horus, the ‘revealer of secrets’, as Jupiter, is derived from the earliest known astronomical ceiling in the Tomb of Senmut, around 1473BC. E. C. Krupp identifies Jupiter as ‘Horus Who Illuminates the Two Lands’, a slightly different rendition, but one which reveals another aspect of the Dark Star’s passage. (4)   The Two Lands could signify the zodiacal twins, Gemini, illuminated by the star as it passes by, but not through, this constellation. Or it might refer to its bright countenance shining down upon the Two Lands of Egypt.     Summary This solution to the meaning of the Duat overcomes the problems faced by the standard Egyptological interpretation. The Duat describes the rare passage of the Dark Star, not the daily passage of the Sun (which doesn't even go through Canis Major or Orion).   It is little wonder, then, that the sun god 'avenges' himself during this rare passage in the myths. In the intervening millennia, the memories of Nibiru have all but disappeared, as is clear in our modern age. Why believe in what is entirely invisible? The difference now is our technology, the use of which could allow us to rediscover the invisible serpent as it moves through the primordial deep of the Oort Cloud. This hypothesis regarding the Duat and Nibiru's perihelion passage has been instrumental in showing that Nibiru should currently lie in the opposite part of the Celestial Sphere from Sirius/Orion. This is in the area of Aquila and Serpens. It is where Murray identifies the location of his giant planet/brown dwarf (DS2).   But we still don't have an historical account of Nibiru's last passage, which fills the following criteria: An anomalous bright, red star observed in the Duat Its appearance during the life-time of Christ, which the New Testament portrays as the Star of Bethlehem A clear, astronomical reference of this sighting, contemporary with Christ     Nibiru in The Duat   This fascinating image features in Andrew Collins' book 'Gods of Eden'. He describes it thus: "The central part of the Fifth Hour, or Division, of the duat-underworld, showing the hawk-headed god Sekri (a form of Sokar) standing on a winged cosmic serpent, which is itself surrounded by an ovel-shaped island protected by twin sphinxes. Above it is the mound of creation, capped with a human head, as well as the bell-like bunt (embryo, seed) or benben-stone. On this are perched twin pigeons or doves - symbols of geographical centers or omphali." (6) This image contains a lot of symbolic information pertinent to our investigation. The cosmic winged serpent appears to be traveling around the perimeter of this 'island in the Duat'. The island takes the shape of an elongated ellipse, the orbital shape of Nibiru.   The winged serpent takes much of the symbolism we have explored for Seth and Horus; a dark serpent, a Hawk-headed god and a pair of celestial wings. The three heads of the serpent are reminiscent of the three heads of the alchemical dragon Azoth. The most crucial piece of imagery, however is the ankh-like cross leading the right-hand head of the winged serpent. This, I have suggested, is the multi-facted symbol of the appearance of Nibiru. This curious imagery links Nibiru with the Fifth Hour of Duat, and connects it with the omphalus, primeval mound and 'benben', all central to ancient Egyptian iconography. Zecharia Sitchin notes that the Fifth Hour is the place of the the hidden god Seker, that the actual identity of Collins' 'benben' is actually the beetle symbol (Kheper), and the female head on the mound that of a goddess (7). Is she Isis, representing Sirius, below the scarab beetle (Cancer)?   The Fifth Hour is the one immediately preceding the realm of Osiris (Orion), so this position in the heavens would fit well with this assumption. Since the Fifth Hour is the 'deepest sub-terranean' part of the secret ways of Seker, are we not being shown the point of Nibiru's perihelion in the southern constellations?   From Cancer, the hidden path of Seker leads to its lowest point in Duat near Sirius, before turning back towards Orion.       References 1.) R. Bauval and A. Gilbert "The Orion Mystery" p202 Mandarin 1994 2.) Geddes & Grosset "Ancient Egypt: Myth and History" pp32-33, Ch1, pp145-147 The Gresham Publishing Co, 1997 3.) K. Seligmann "The History of Magic" p69 Pantheon Books Inc 1948 4.) E.C. Krupp "In Search of Ancient Astronomies" pp192-194, Penguin 1984 5.) R. Bauval & G. Hancock "Keeper of Genesis" p183 Mandarin 1996 6.) A. Collins "Gods of Eden" pp167, 184 Headline 1998 7.) Z. Sitchin "The Stairway to Heaven" pp55-7 Avon 1980   Return to Andy Lloyd