West Bank: ancient priesthood uses past to predict future

By Majeda El Batsh

NABLUS, July 4, 2011 (AFP) - In the northern West Bank city of Nablus, a small and ancient Samaritan community is managing to make ends meet by dabbling in the age-old practice of fortune-telling.

University Avenue, in the hill-ringed city of Nablus, is lined with white banners with the names of Samaritan priests, renowned among their Palestinian neighbours for astrology and divination.

Palestinians go to the Samaritans' booths along the avenue or to their homes on nearby Mount Gerizim hoping to find answers to their most pressing problems.

The Samaritans claim to be the true children of Israel who left Egypt with Moses and consider themselves the guardians of the authentic Mosaic tradition. They say it is the Jews who over time diluted the religion revealed by Moses.

Some 750 Samaritans live in the Holy Land, around half in the Israeli city of Holon near Tel Aviv, while the remainder reside on Mount Gerizim, which they consider a sacred place.

Hosni al-Samir, a 67-year-old Samaritan priest, says his people have been studying the stars for millennia.

"We have inherited astrology books for thousands of years," he told AFP. "The most recent one we use goes back almost 450 years."

The practice is restricted to the priestly class, which represents about a third of the total community, he says, adding that the use of astrology and numerology should not be confused with witchcraft or parlour tricks.

"We do not believe in sorcery, reading palms or coffee grounds or performing exorcism," he said. "All this is baseless quackery."

"We practise astrology by asking the name of the mother, the husband or wife, and we predict illness, marital breakdown or loss of work."

Samir, who started studying the ancient arts at the age of 12, says that each letter of a person's name has meaning and that the 22 letters of the ancient Hebrew alphabet used by Samaritans each correspond to a body part.

"The Samaritans have astrology books that are found nowhere else and are able to predict the beginning of each lunar month, and lunar and solar eclipses," he added.

The Samaritan capability for divination, he says, comes from their reputed descent from the Israelite tribe of Levi -- the tribe of the biblical character Joseph who, according to scripture, interpreted dreams for the Egyptian pharaoh.

-- For villagers, forecasts are unbeatable --

The priest says the split between the Israelites and Samaritans occurred when King Solomon built his temple in Jerusalem while the Samaritans insisted that the proper site of God's presence is Mount Gerizim in the biblical district of Samaria, from which they take their name.

Egyptian Zodiac Signs

People always think of western or Chinese while speaking about astrology and zodiac signs. However, the Egyptian Zodiac signs and astrological system is an ancient system discovered in the Temple of Hathor situated in central Egypt. The Egyptians discovered the zodiac of dendera, and it depicts the Nile valley astrology, astronomy and calendar. There are a number of interpretations of Egyptian zodiac and there are twelve astrological signs in this system. A god or goddess is depicted for each sign of the zodiac and the Egyptian zodiac signs as professed and recorded by the pharaohs were lately discovered at a museum in Paris according to Egyptian government sources.

It is very informative and so much fun learning about the Egyptian zodiac. There are excellent information about the Egyptian zodiac signs in many of the links and you will excited to know all about the twelve zodiac traits and about your personal zodiac signs and traits. According to Egyptian astrology, you have a personal trait or your character is influenced by the god under the zodiac in which you were born.

The people born form the period of August 29 to September 27 come under the zodiac sign of Thoth, who is the god of learning. They are outstanding organizers, and are perfect and proficient problem solvers. Their weak points are that they are self-rigorous and rash at times. The assumed jobs for this sign are lawyers, teachers and journalists.Horus is the god of the shining sun ,and people born under this zodiac are courageous, optimistic and are motivated to win everything in their life. Those born between September 28 and October 27 belong to this sign and their assumed jobs are media men and politicians.

Egyptian zodiac signs can be worn as a beautiful pendant or you can also sport an exciting zodiac tattoo on your body to show your birth zodiac. There are also colors associated with each zodiac sign and the color attached to Thoth is white for female, rose for male. The color for Horus is gold (female) and red carmine (male).those born between October 28 to November 26 belong to Wadget sign and Sekhmet is the Egyptian zodiac sign for people born from November 27 to December 26.Wadget is the symbol of knowledge and is the goddess of royal cobra. That born under this sign are cautious, ambitious and loyal to the family.Sekhmet are the god of war and rivalry and those born under this sign are eloquent in all fields. Many of the champion sports stars are born under this sign and their strength is that they can adjust very hard times.

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