The mythological story of the Dogon's (Mali, West Africa) Cosmic Creation says Amma, the creator of all things, cast the sun and the moon as pots and hung them in the sky. Afterwards, he took a handful of small clay pieces and hurled them into space, creating the stars. Regardless of how the stars came to be in the sky Very Ancient African "Hour-Priest" astronomers' astro-mathematical research led them to observe in the night sky the "Ikhmu-Seku" (stars around the Pole Star). These "Imperishable Stars" never set when seen from the latitude of Egypt and thus are visible in the night sky at all times of the year. As it occupies the polar position it does not move. Still, the changing nature of the Pole Star indicates the philosophy related to "Imperishable Stars" is not about a physical location.
Rather, African Sages said the mystical intent is to open the mind so as to render it universal, all-encompassing, infinite, and beyond fluctuations of egoism. According to the Pyramid Texts, these circumpolar stars were believed to be the souls of those who had achieved perfection in the Afterlife. The "Hour-Priest" inferred that underlying and inside stars in the sky were messages of the Divine Will--an inference based upon their Faith (Nehtyu, what one possesses) in the one almighty Creator producing laws out of the Spiritual Elements. So, the first purpose of studying the Lucky Stars was to mystically acquire God's messages designed to open and sharpen the people's minds to Truth and Unconditional Love while expanding their awareness to Reality and the Natural. Second, the abode for the goal of all souls is not in the stars but rather in that place where no changes or fluctuations occur, the Absolute (Ashby, Anunian Theology p116). Finally, stars served to maintain an Image connection with the Ancestors.
Because African Sages had determined God exists by circumstantial proof using the uniformity and consistency manifestations in the Stars to represent God's Substance, this was the basis for African people's "Knowing Faith" in God. People assumed the halo around a particular Imperishable Star (godly spirit)--the Family Lucky Star--to be the residence of eternal blessedness--the star to which all living family members longed to be in contact--the star their outstanding deceased family Ancestors returned to for the living family's awareness--and the star each would go to after death by living a good life. Here, such Faith became the complementary equal of Trust (the opening of ones Selfhood to what one has Faith in), as in the Substance (God) being throughout the Lucky Star. That same Faith also let them "Know" their Hopes would be realized without effort. Twinkling, the feature of the Lucky Star, was a reassuring clue indicating their Ancestors' eyes were looking down on the family in a protective manner--a protection that would guide them into good and away from bad.
To have "Good Luck" in discovering this holy star meant all the stars and planets had to be positioned just right. Thus, an affluent family would engage the help of Astrologers and Seers in finding the Family Lucky Star, not only for the family's benefit, but also because each individual believed him/herself to be personally influenced by a particular star--ones Personal Lucky Star--and perhaps the same one as the Family Lucky Star. To find ones Personal Lucky Star was to shed Hopeing and revert to Faith and Trust in the Divine Will manifesting through it so as to guide the "Lucky ones" through the maze of life + be enriched from an ever closer relation with the Divine--satisfying their Spiritual Faith and Spiritual Trust. Meanwhile, the family would always be alert to the numerous Astrologists and others practicing Divination for the purpose of foretelling the dictates of a family's fate and supposedly revealing the wishes of God. Of course, some Astrologers and Seers were less competent than others and to these ends, the family would use the Spiritual Elements as guides and standards as well as Critical Thinking to strain the advice they were given.
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