Ancient Egypt and Mars

Even though it’s scientific, not paranormal, I’m very excited about the Mars Rover Curiosity and its successful landing on Mars last week! Yay, NASA/JPL!!!

So I was thinking for this month’s blog  over here on Paranormal Romantics, I might talk about what the Ancient Egyptians believed about the planet Mars. (My paranormal stories are set in 1500 BC Egypt, in case you are wondering why I’m always referring back to that time frame LOL.) I usually start my research on any topic with a Google search, just to see what’s out there and suggest further avenues for me to explore.

Uh huh, according to the various search results I got, the Ancient Egyptians traded with the people of Mars, received instruction on building pyramids from the people of Mars, left artifacts on the surface of Mars and maybe even were from Mars. OK, can we say “Star Gate” ? This topic would be a whole other blog, also an entirely different series from the one I’m writing LOL. So I tore myself away from those fascinating search results…

The Egyptians were excellent astronomers, using the celestial mechanics to pinpoint the timing of the all important Nile inundations, and possibly orienting many of their pyramids and temples to align with astronomically significant points. Star maps and constellations were often painted on the ceilings of tombs. The Egyptians had their own set of constellations in the night sky, based on their complex mythology. Their name for Mars was Har decher, the “Red One.”

Admiring the tomb paintings of constellations got me lost in researching the theories about the Egyptian zodiac – this kind of thing happens to you a LOT when you’re a writer – one snippet leads to another thread and then something else and before you know it, you’re eons away from the original topic. Astronomy led me to astrology (with a short trip through Indiana Jones nostalgia - remember all the terrific Egyptian stuff in Raiders of the lost Ark?). Turns out we don’t know much about the Egyptian zodiac. There are two primary theories and dozens of other ideas (see “Egyptians on Mars” LOL). Under the so-called Traditional theory, my sign would be Bastet, the Cat goddess, which gives me love and music, charm and sensitivity.  So far so good…uh oh, the related color for this Sign is gray. So not me, purple please!

On to the next theory, entitled the Pharaoh’s Zodiac! Here, my birthday falls into the domain of the god Horus the Falcon. I like him – he’s a warrior and since he rules the sky, sometimes his eyes are the sun and a diamond moon respectively. He appears quite often in my stories.  People born under his sign are said to be courageous risk-takers, self-motivated, stubborn and sometimes impractical. Oh WOW, is that ever me!  Especially the stubborn and impractical part LOL.

But Horus doesn’t really have to do with Mars. See me reluctantly circling back to my original topic? I wish I could have found more relevant and fun facts to share…

Thanks for going on the somewhat meandering blog journey with me today! I’m giving away two autographed copies of  PRIESTESS OF THE NILE*, from the  literacy signing at the recent Romance Writers of America conference. Leave a comment to enter and I’ll randomly select two commenters (will need your e mail address to get your snailmail address) by midnight  on Wednesday ...what’s your favorite science fiction movie or TV show that touches on Ancient Egypt, or Mars, or both???

*comes on a cd with both the pdf and ePUB versions of the book