The Star and Magic
In the eastern churches, Jan 6 is an important holiday as it celebrates the coming of the wise men to worship Jesus. What is often glossed over or frankly, translated to obscure the text, is who they were.
A quick scan of the original Greek text will show that this word "magi" appears 2 more times in the New Testament, one in singular form of the same exact word. This is attributed to Simon the sorcerer, the disciples confront in the book of Acts.
It stands to reason these "wise men" were not mere people. They could walk into King Herods courts. You don't do that unless you have a status which they did. Offering wealthy gifts show they were well off. As my pastor said yesterday, some suggest they were pagan witch kings. And since their title in greek is directly linked with sorcery and they were wealthy... Let that sink in. Translators obscured this to make it more palatable for English readers. These were sorcerers most likely from Babylon. Theories say Daniel had a key role to play in the past for these events as he was given the title as chief over the magi because of his interpretations of dreams.
The interesting thing here is that after visiting King Herod, they find Jesus and bow and worship Him. There's very little to go on with the text but it says they had dreams and God told them to return home another way, dissing Herod. And they did it.
How far we can take this understanding isn't much but I'd think that something happened in that brief time.
We have evidence in roman documents this star and its meaning was known, that a king would be born that would rule the world. This is what was told of in the astrology of the stars. Even the famous Josephus talks of this. This was a major event that was recorded in history by those who practiced magic.
That star was divinely appointed for the pagan nations, calling them home.