Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. It belongs to the constellation Canis Major, which accompanies the mythical hunter Orion, and its name derives from the Greek σείριος (séirios) meaning "blazing."
For the ancient Greeks and Romans, the rising of the star "canicula"—another name for Sirius, meaning "the little dog"—marked the arrival of the hot season and was feared as a harbinger of drought, which was an enemy of the crops. For the Egyptians, however, the appearance of Sirius coincided with the imminent arrival of the annual flooding of the Nile, which was beneficial for the fertility of their crops.
Since the dawn of human history, the fiery brilliance of Sirius has been shrouded in symbolic and magical meanings of great fascination. Sirius is the "sun of the night" that illuminates the path through the mysterious spiritual world just as the daytime sun brightens the earthly dimension.
