Sirius
credit: Akira Fujii, European Space Agency
Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris) 14°24’ tropical Cancer, 20°13’ sidereal Gemini
Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris) is a binary blue-white star marking the mouth of the Greater Dog and is found at the projected zodiacal longitude of 14°24’ tropical Cancer, 20°13’ sidereal Gemini. Sirius is the brightest star in our night sky with a visual apparent magnitude -1.46.
Mythos & Star Lore
Sirius was known as the “Star of Stars” and the “Propitious Star of Heaven” in ancient Mesopotamia. Other names given were the Semitic Lisan Kalbi, which translates to “the Tongue of the Dog” and is possibly derived from the Akkadian Ka-lik-ku. Another disputed epithet is “Star of Bow” or “Bow-Star” which some scholars argue is a mistranslation of the Assyrian syllables for “bow” and “dog” that resemble each other.
The Dogon of the Sahel in West Africa were the first peoples to record Sirius as a binary star system. In their cosmology long predating modern telescopes, the Dogon view Sirius as the principal star of a two star system around which their ancestral planetary home revolved.
Mother of the Gods and Mother of Venus
Known to the Egyptians originally as Sopdet, the heliacal rising of Sirius heralded the Egyptian solar civil calendar's New Year. Her return signaled the annual flooding of the Nile, who birthed forth life.
By the Hellenistic era Sirius' heliacal rising became the fundamental root of the Thema Mundi, the horoscopic chart for the birth of world that in turn was implemented as the theoretical foundations of planetary diginity and the schema of the traditional aspects.
Sirius is the brightest fixed star in our night sky, outshined only by the wandering stars of Venus and our Moon. The Ancients associated the brightest objects in the Night with each other, tieing them to divine fecundity. As a creator mother goddess, Sopdet was revered also as the consort of Sahu, the father of the gods. Their presence in the stellar firmament was seen to be the celestial gate through which all the sky deities incarnated down to earth. Sopdet and Sahu’s union birthed, among others, the god Sopdu who was deified as the planet Venus.
Various temples were erected in alignment with the heliacal rising of Sirius for worshipping Sopdet (and later Isis). Egyptian sky priests would observe the rising of Sirius to foretell the coming year, whether it would portend bountiful harvest seasons or strife.
Temple of Isis aligned with the heliacal rising of Sirius at the Philae Temple Complex, Island of Philae
Maya Astronomer in the Madrid Codex
Similarly, the Maya also observed the heliacal rising of Sirius to signal a shift in their agricultural seasons. At the end of their harvest season, the reappearance of Sirius from the Otherworld would mark the canícula (Latin, "dog days"). This was a short dry spell when farmers would bend the dried corn stalks and prepare the soil to receive the second rainy season. Thus the heliacal rising of Sirius was recognized as the period presaging the replenishing of the earth for Mesoamerican peoples too.
El Caracol Observatory at Chichen Itza, Yucatan, where the heliacal rising of Sirius, Venus and other stars, including the solstices were tracked by Maya astronomers
The name Sirius comes from the Greek Σείριος (Seirios), meaning "glowing” or “scorching”, and refers to the “Dog Days of Summer”. Sirius is known today as the Greater Dog Star, the brightest in the Canis Majoris constellation and brightest of all the visible night stars. The heliacal rising of Sirius was also observed for predictions in the Greco-Roman world. The Syrian-Roman poet Manilius wrote in Astronomica:
At Orion’s heels the Dog eagerly follows, running switfly; no constellation comes on humankind with greater violence or leaves it with more oppression. It may rise bristling with cold (evening rise in early January), or leave a smoldering world open to the heat of the Sun (evening setting in early May); thus it takes the world to either extreme, with contrary effects. Those who observe its lucida (Sirius) at its first return to rise are able to tell how crops will fare, what the weather will be like, and how healthy the year will be. It causes war, restores peace, and in its different returns affects the planet with its glance and governs with its bearing.
Alpha Canis Majoris, credit F. Espenak
Astrological Magic
Ptolemy classified Sirius to have the nature of Jupiter and Mars combined, giving honor, renown, wealth, ardour, faithfulness, devotion, passion and resentment.
Sirius is one of the Behenian Stars and talismans of Sirius were prescribed for peace and reconciliation. The Bodleian MS says, "it grants the favor of the spirits of the air and the peoples of the earth, and brings peace and concord between kings and their potentates, and between husbands and wives." Agrippa reiterated ascribing the power of Sirius talismans to the bestowment of honor and good will, for gaining the favor of men and Aerial spirits, and the power to pacify and reconcile.
When invoking Sirius, we may call upon the stellar daimones here by “Star of Stars”, as well as Sothis or Sopdet, Isis, Queen of the Crown of Osiris above all names.
Sigil for Sirius as drawn by Agrippa
Plants & Gemstones
Sirius has plant sympathies with Savin (Juniperus sabina), Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) and Dragonwort (Persicaria bistorta), pictured below. Among animals, the tongue of a snake. Its gemstone is Beryl, also pictured below.
Candles & Incense
Blue, sea blue-green or white candles and frankincense are appropriate for workings with Sirius.
Beryl
Ritual Communal Hours
Approximately an hour before sunrise the stars making their heliacal rising will begin their ascent on the eastern horizon. This is the star deities' rebirth or return from the Otherworld and as such is the most appropriate time to commune with, make offerings and petitions to said deities. The heliacal rising hours are considered to be one of the most potent times, depending on all other astrological factors, for creating talismanic materia imbued with the star's influences and powers.
Heliacal Rising Dates of Sirius for 2024
June 9: Wellington, New Zealand 41°15’ S
June 12: Melbourne, Australia 37°52’ S
June 17: Perth, Australia 31°50’ S
June 21: Brisbane, Australia 27°30’ S
July 13: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 03°08’ N
July 15: Cotonou, Benin 06°24' N
July 21: Dakar, Senegal 14°45' N
July 29: Miami, FL 25°47' N
August 2: Cairo, Egypt 30°00’ N
August 3: Jerusalem, Palestine 31°46' N
August 5: Los Angeles, CA 34°03' N
August 6: Nicosia, Cyprus 35°09’ N
August 7: Santa Fe, NM 35°41’ N
August 8: Oakland, CA 37°48' N
August 9: Athens, Greece 38°00' N
August 11: New York, NY 40°45' N
August 16: Portland, OR 45°31’ N
August 18: Seattle, WA 47°37' N
August 24: London, UK 51°30' N
*Dates reflect the first visibility of the star and are calculated through Alcyone Astronomical Software
Sirius, credit Rogelio Bernal Andreo
References:
Rosenberg, Diana K. Secrets of the Ancient Skies. Ancient Skies Press, 2012, New York, NY.
Warnock, Christopher. Fixed Star, Sign & Constellation Magic. Renaissance Astrology, 2019, Middletown, DE.
Vivian Robson.The Fixed Stars & Constellations in Astrology. Astrology Classics, 2005, Abingdon, MD.
Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book II, translated by Eric Purdue. Inner Traditions, 2021, Rochester, VT.
