Dave L Wrote:
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> Yes, but they didn't try to predict the future in
> the way that Augurs did in later times - the
> geometry and numbers usually had a sensibly
> symbolic meaning attached to them, such as to
> bring unity to the country or some such practical
> message.

The jury seems to be still out on whether the AE used a vertical alignment of two stars to align pyramids to north, but the fact that one of the Khufu shafts was aligned to one of the stars in question suggests a primary 'magical' purpose. Predictive astrology is concerned with the movements of the planets and there is little evidence that the AE cast horoscopes. But the essential idea of astrology is that the stars influence us and the shaft evidence suggests that the AE saw things along such lines. This year Easter came early, because arcane moon phase calculations required it to be so. In today's language we might regard the trappings of religion as 'symbolic' but in earlier times they may well have been taken as having a real influence, and how should we describe such practise if not 'astrological'?

poundr17