THE EGYPTIANS AND THE MOON.

The moon has played an important role in Egyptian religion. The moon was commonly represented as a combination of the full-moon disk with the crescent moon and shown as traversing the sky in a boat.
In the relationship between the moon and the stars, the lunar god was designated as the ruler of the stars. Unlike the solar god Aten, it is uncertain that the disk of the moon was itself ever worshiped as a deity. Rather, like animals, it was regarded as a symbol or manifestation of specific deities.
On account of the similarity in shape of the crescent moon and a bull's horns, the moon was compared to that animal. Lunar gods were shown with the lunar symbol with sharp horns on their heads. At times the full-moon disk could have the lunar eye of Re which was stolen by Seth, and associated with Thoth who healed it upon its return (wadjat eye, either the left or the right), or a lunar god depicted within it. It was also used as an amulet. A pair of Wedjat eyes on a coffin or a tomb were used to protect the dead against the evil eye.
The most complete depiction of the entire lunar cycle is found inside the temple of Edfu's sanctuary.
Edfu was the capital of the second nome (Horus) of Upper Egypt. The town was known as T'Bot by the early Egyptians. It is the best preserved ancient temple in Egypt and the second largest after Karnak, dedicated to the falcon headed god, Horus. The temple was built on the site of the great battle between Horus and Seth. Hence, the current temple was but the last in a long series of temples build on it. The original structure housing the statue of Horus was a grass hut built in prehistoric times, and during the reigns of 6 Ptolemies,  a temple was designed and built on the site. The construction begun in 237 BC by Ptolemy III Eu-Ergetes I, and finished in 57 BC. Most of the work continued throughout this time with a brief interlude of 20 years while there was unrest during the period of Ptolemy IV and Ptolemy V Ep-Iphanes.
The predominant myth concerning the moon relates its cycle to the battle between Horus and Seth over the inheritance of Osiris. Seth steals the eye of Horus and divides it into 6 parts, thus damaging it. Thoth later restores it with his fingers, or spiting on it. This restored eye is called wedjat beginning in the New Kingdom. Another much older myth says that Onuris, Thoth, or Osiris as moon returns the complete eye to Horus. Thoth may also be said to catch the lunar eye in a net, acting together with the god Shu.
This act, which was performed by Thoth together with a specific group of 14 gods, was performed on the 6th lunar day. Together with Thoth, these gods represented the 15th days leading up to the full moon, and again the days of the waning moon. Because of the identification of the moon with the god, Horus, the birth of Horus was celebrated on the 2nd lunar day in the ancient Egyptian month of Phar-Muthi. Therefore, at Edfu where it is stated that "when Horus completes the half month, he assumes control of the sky rejuvenated," the full moon could be equated with the adult Horus. At the moment of the full moon, Horus was declared "true of voice" and "joyful" because of his victory over Seth in the divine tribunal of Helio-Polis. Based on this theme, the lunar cycle was linked to the renewal of royal powers at Karnak.
The beginning of the lunar cycle was the New Moon, and it ended with the moment of the Full Moon. The moon only became visible on the 2nd day of the lunar month. The lunar cycle is represented either as a 6 day evolution up to the sixth day, or as a 15th day evolution up to the ideal day of the full moon.
The importance given to the 6th day is explained by the increasing intensity of moonlight at this stage of the cycle, though sometimes the 7th day is mentioned instead.
There are numerous reliefs inside the Edfu temple, including a depiction of the Feast of the Beautiful Meeting, the annual reunion between Horus and his wife Hathor. The reliefs spiritually connects this temple with Hathor temple at the Dendera complex. A symbolic relief where staircase with 14 steps supports the 14 gods of the waxing moon is shown there. Also a list of a different group of 30, mostly male, deities associated with the days of the lunar month, is present there. In these legends, the first 15 gods are said to fill the wedjat eye with a fraction each day, after the moon's reduction is recorded up to 24th day, when the intensity of the moonlight has all but disappeared.
The opposition of the Sun and Moon in the sky (both Re's eyes) in the sky on the 15th or 16th day of the month was the most important moment of the lunar cycle. It was known as "the uniting of the two bulls."A ritual was celebrated with the offering of two mirrors, symbolizing the 2 eyes at this precise moment of rejuvenation of the sun god Amun-Re at Thebes, and also when the moon god Khonsu (a young man in the posture of a mummy with the royal side-lock and punt head, wears the moon disk on his shoulders), received his heritage of cosmic rule.
During the 3rd month of summer, the priests at Dendera would place the statue of Hathor on her barque (a ceremonial barge) and bring the statue to the Edfu temple, where Horus and Hathor shared a conjugal visit. Each night the god and goddess would retire to the berthing house (mamissi). There is still an entrance colonnade to the house, and reliefs with considerable color are placed just outside the main temple portraying the ritual of birth of Har'Somtus, son of Horus and Hathor.
Interruptions in the usual lunar cycle was feared by the ancient Egyptians. A lunar eclipse was seen as a bad omen, describing the sky being swallowed by the moon. The lunar cycle also influenced the daily life and the Egyptians dedicated a stone slab with an inscription used as a monument or grave marker (stele) to this events at Deir el-Medina.
Deir el-Medina, like Kahun (pyramid-town), and the town being uncovered at Giza, is a community of workmen and their families, supervisors and foremen and their families, all dedicated to building the great tombs of the Egyptians Kings. The image of thousands of toiling slaves, whipped by overseers,  gives to the modern consciousness a vivid life picture of the despotic manner of the ones who ruled Egypt with iron greedy fists, building their wealth and glory on the bleeding backs of this tortured laborers. The more work being done on these villages sounds a clear message from the past that, while they worked hard, these villages were made up of mostly free and willing citizens, doing their part to ensure the afterlife of their King.
In time, the moon became a symbol of rejuvenation. Later texts describes the moon cycle as "the one that repeats its form."
In funerary beliefs, the lunar cycle was an image of cyclical renewal. The feast of the 6th day was associated with the victory of Osiris (a green-sinned man dressed in the raiment of a pharaoh or in the form of a mummified pharaoh wearing a crown with a pair of ram horns at its base). By the time of the Pyramid Texts, the deceased is already identified with the moon. During the Middle Kingdom, beliefs were concerned with the night sky. The Coffin Texts from Deir el-Bersheh accord an equal place in the after world to the lunar god Thoth, next to Osiris, and Re.
Edfu was known by the Greeks as Apollo'Inopolis Magna, a religious and commercial centre.  During its period, the metaphor of comparison about the lunar cycle and the bull's horns also developed by  calling the crescent moon the "rutting bull, who inseminates the cows," but it was also said that "you unite with young women, you are an inseminating bull who fertilizes the girls," indicating a perceived relationship between female fertility and the moon.