Julie visits Marek Group to see the production begin on The Journey into Egypt Tarot

Journey into Egypt Cards for the Full Moon March 27, 2013

The First Full Moon cycle after the Vernal Equinox
in the Egyptian season of Shemu
(Season of Deficiency)
The Egyptian Astrological Sign of Virgo
based on the symbolism from the ceiling mandala at The Temple of Hathor - Dendera

To understand the Egyptian interpretation of Virgo we first need to have a closer look at how they viewed this sign. The modern astrological Virgo/Virgin image is very different from the Egyptian sign that they illustrated as a woman likely a priestess carrying a sistrum and being followed by a horned god. The clues to the meaning of this card come from the work that a priestess would do with a sistrum. The sistrum in a ceremonial use would have been used to drive away negative energy. The repetitious sound would set up a vibration that would clear the energy of the space. The symbol of the Virgin would invoke purity in the sense that she was an individual who was her own person and was not an instrument of the religion she practiced. She may have been sexually active but she belonged to no man. The god behind her seems to resemble Set he carries the haunch of an animal on his shoulder indicating a rite of DIS-membering while her presence represents the power to RE-member.

The High Priestess
Full Moon Cycle of Virgo

In the image for the High Priestess we see a woman sleeping above her body is the star spangled body of the goddess Nut. The High Priestess is on an inward journey having a dream or vision. The role of High Priestess is found in the most ancient dynasties then her power wanes during the middle kingdom 2030-1640BC. Known as the Hand of God the high priestess comes back after the Hyksos dynasties begin to fall away. The job of the High Priestess required her to act and sing she remained single and did not have time to raise a family of her own but took young people under her tutelage.

A Dream for the High Priestess Card

“In April of 2011 I had a dream that told me I should use the sleeping Goddess for the High Priestess again. The dream is full of multi-tasking giving readings and being tested in doing a reading and interpreting messages, there is a request for morning prayer at sunrise, and a special request in feeding a guest. In the dream I learn to delegate some of the work I have been asked to do to another woman I know who is a priestess.

A dream symbol of an old fashioned vinyl record that gets shattered and left behind, when I remember and go back to it one of the pieces has a credit card stuck to the back of it that I nearly missed. I symbolically go back to a shattered record and am given credit for something. Then the dream shifts and I find myself looking at a new box of tarot cards in the box there is a note and it says “be a tarot extremist!” I find I am back stage from a performance. It hits me that I am working on the High Priestess and all of my tasks are part of that energy.

My mind begins to go through the energies of all the major cards I have already done. Here is where I usually trade in my dream for information on work I am doing, but I manage to hold on to the dream as well.

The High Priestess Full Moon Cycle of Virgo triggers memories of a more ancient 10 sign Zodiac. Sometime before the Greeks made revisions to the zodiac it may have been made up of only ten signs instead of the twelve. The idea was that the signs Virgo, Libra (the Scales) and Scorpio (which includes Ophuichus or Serpentarius) where just one long woman stretching across the sky, similar to the Goddess Nut. This becomes inspiration to put Nut in my High Priestess card. The goddess Ma’at and her scales are in the Justice card. The Egyptian goddess Selket a scorpion goddess of death and healing would also play apart in the symbolism of the third month. This idea of a triple goddess rang true. It also further fortified the choices of having only female courts representing these three months in the season of Shomu (Deficiency).

Nut or Nuit: Her name is translated to mean Sky may be the origin of our word for night. She is one of the oldest deities found in Egypt. Her origins being found in the creation story of Heliopolis in this story the goddess is the sky above and the god is the Earth below. Mostly depicted in human form, Nut was also sometimes depicted in the form of a cow.

Card meaning: A wise woman who keeps her own counsel. In a reading the High Priestess card tells you that this issue you will need to handle on your own whatever it is keep it to yourself and dream on it. The High Priestess as the full moon cycle of Virgo shakes things up she gets the energy moving, she flushes out the negativity. The High Priestess in your reading let's you know it's time to transform the dead inert into something bursting with life! Shake off the old dusty cover and find that essential nugget within. What's been hidden inside is ready to come out and be revealed.

Queen of Wands
Full moon in Virgo ( Real Sky Astrology full moon  of March 27, 2013)

The image of the Queen of Wands is Neferure meaning “The Beauty of Ra” daughter of two pharaohs Thutmoses II and Hatshepsut. She was given the highest female stations within the court her titles include Lady of Upper and Lower Egypt, Mistress of the Lands, and God's Wife, this was the normal role of a royal princess to the pharaoh prior to Thutmosis IV. As her mother Hatshepsut acquired the role of pharaoh Neferure took on duties her mother had as queen in ceremonies and rites. Many wall carvings and paintings of Neferure in the Red Chapel at the Karnak Temple show her functioning in these roles. All of the religious and ceremonial duties illustrated on the walls of the Red Chapel that were performed by Neferure would be fulfilled by the royal queen in later generations. Hatshepsut played a strong role in the administration of Thutmosis I she also held these titles for her father while still a princess. Scholars today look back at this as if it seems unusual but perhaps it was not so unusual at the time and only seems unusual in hindsight because of misogynist changes within the Egyptian laws that were instated after their reign. This early 18th dynasty period seemed to be very egalitarian perhaps even showing higher favor toward royal born women. Since until the reign of Thutmoses III unless you were born of a royal queen or married a royal you were not allowed to be pharaoh.

We know that Neferure’s gender did not inhibit her from being given the best education of her day guided by Hatshepsut's most trusted viziers starting with Ahmose Pen-Nekhebet, who had served under several of the earlier pharaohs and was highly regarded, then by Senemut who was believed the architect of her mother’s mortuary temple and finally by an administrator named Senimen.

Neferure had a half brother; Thutmose III born to a secondary wife only a marriage between Neferure and her half-brother assured his place in the royal succession. In later generations after the changes in laws he would have unquestionably succeeded as the only male heir. It seems that something occurred during this generation that instituted a new gender bias.

No record has been found recording Neferure’s marriage to Thutmoses III, however, there are some authors who believe that Neferure was still alive in the first few years of Thutmose III's rule as pharaoh, and that his eldest son, Amenemhat, was her child. On two depictions the name, Satiah, is recorded as the wife of Thutmoses III, and seems to have replaced that of Neferure. Neferure is found in several places, among them in her mother's Mortuary Temple at Deir el-Bahri, on several statues with Senemut, on stelae in Karnak, and in the Sinai.

The cat found in most images of the Queen of Wands may be a reference to the goddess Bast (Bastet, Ubasti): Egyptian cat goddess of joy and dancing, of the home and of the domestic cat, twin sister of Horus. She sometimes took on the war-like aspect of a lioness as Sekhemet daughter of the sun god Re and was associated with the 'eye of Re', acting as the instrument of the sun god's vengeance. As Sekhemet she is the wife of Ptah (god of craftsman and the primordial mound) and mother of Nefertum (god of healing and beauty). As Bastet her cult was centered on her sanctuary at Bubastis in the delta region. She was depicted as a cat or in human form with the head of a cat, often holding the sacred rattle known as the sistrum.

Card meaning: The Queen of Wands shows us that all magic begins in the mind. Once you can imagine the way something will go it is easier to see it though. The Queen of Wands will show you where your hidden talents are as she is able to walk between the worlds of what is and what could be. She has the ability to start from scratch and create something beautiful with very little resources. She may hold the key to the hidden creative places in your mind. She is the keeper of lost secrets.

The Full Moon this month falls on the second week of the Full Moon cycle of Virgo this year, this highlights the 3 of Wands as the minor card of the month.

3 of Wands
Second 10 days of the Full moon cycle of Virgo

The image for the 3 of Wands is the return of Hatshepsut’s ships from the mysterious land of Punt. No one today knows the location of Punt it is assumed Punt was somewhere easy to navigate from the Red Sea someplace to the south like Yeman or Somalia. What if Hatshepsut had circumnavigated the continent of Africa and made it all the way around Africa to Mali and visited with the Dogons? What if this trip recorded on the walls of her mortuary temple was not just some arbitrary female shopping trip but a feat of great magnitude. She is noted as a successful pharaoh whose reign expanded trade with neighboring countries and as well as contruction at home we see her support of ship making and seafaring. During this period there is evidence of Minoan residents whose artistic style decorated some buildings of the period. Hatshepsut brought home myrrh trees to grow her own resources for the precious incense keeping her priesthood happy. Hatshepsut built a fleet to facilitate trade between Egypt and Punt to bring mortuary goods to Karnak in exchange for Nubian gold. Hatshepsut personally went on this most famous herself. When she arrived home her ships were full of copper, carved amulets, incense, ebony and short-horned cattle, gold, ivory and animal skins and other goods usually transported great distances overland. The carved reliefs at her mortuary temple show that there were 5 ships on her journey According to the temple reliefs, the Land of Punt was ruled at that time by King Parahu and Queen Ati. This well illustrated expedition of Hatshepsut occurred in Year 9 of the female pharaoh's reign with the blessing of the god Amun.

Hatshepsut's successors, such as Thutmoses III his son Amenhotep II continued the Egyptian tradition of trading with Punt. Did Neferure play god’s wife to her mother while Thutmosis III was on extended and continued trade and exploration missions to Punt? Punt was called Ta netjer, Ta Netjer is Arabic for Dendera the temple dedicated to Hathor the Lady of the West.

Card meaning: The 3 of Wands in a reading is an adventure into unknown territory using new technology and discovering new ideas. This is the card that says your ship has finally come in and what you have been waiting for has just arrived. Because this is a card of air, inspiration and seeing things from a new perspective you are most likely to be coming into new ideas rather than monetary gains. Putting the past behind you and moving into the future. Coming home to yourself. 

The Journey into Egypt Tarot is now available for Pre-Orders! A Sneak peek on the inner workings of this new deck

At first glance you all are going to think I have completely lost my mind, but bear with me on the system there is a learning curve, The Journey into Egypt Tarot is still using the full moon cycles like in MAAT but they are precessed to the real sky. The deck is structured around the ancient Egyptian calendar year (and this rocked my world) was 12 months with 3-ten day weeks. Picture the horoscope with its 12 houses. These houses are broken down into thirty "degrees" in an astrological and typically subdivided into 3 decants ('deca' latin for 10). For example in traditional western Sun Sign Astrology on vernal equinox the sun moves into Aries in the real sky (check any astronomy app) the sun Moved into Pisces on March 11th and it will be there until April 17th and the full moon is in Virgo on March 27th. I started using Astrology in the 1970's long before I had even heard of tarot and after using the Real Sky since 2009 I have found Real Sky to be very deep especially when viewing it through the ancient Egyptian Zodiac. My website has a whole page on the Egyptian zodiac symbols the designs are based on the ceiling medallion at DenderaTemple.

http://www.newmoontradingco.com/real_sky_moon_cycles.html

 I have separated the deck into 3 Gates- The First Gate is The World and the 4 aces This is the First of Three gates in the Journey into Egypt. It is a simple overall view of our universe. The Earth Geb and the Sky Nut as the primordial couple, The World card takes center focus in The Journey into Egypt Tarot. I think the best card meaning for The World card is the personal myth or personal worldview. When this card comes up in a reading it is time to take a look at your personal worldview. Ask yourself “What is my personal myth?” The World card is surrounded by the 4 elements and the 4 directions which in Egypt is quite different than it is here.But I tried my best to get myself into an Egyptian state of mind.

 

The Second Gate is the cross quarter days illustrated by Trials of Isis. The Second Gate in the Journey into Egypt Tarot is The Trials of Isis A personification of the solar/seasonal cycle. 8 cards play out the the passion plays of Osiris and Isis.

 The Fool -Osiris(Vernal Equinox)

 The Devil- Set (mid-point between Equinox and Solstice the beginning of the season of the Deficiency in Egypt)

 The Drowned Man-Isis's search for Osiris (Summer Solstice)

 The Lovers-( Isis finds Osiris and brings him back to life the Nile Floods life returns The season of the Inundation begins /Set discovers the Lovers and DISmembers Osiris, the Nile runs red with fertile silt from the heart of Africa/ Isis REmembers Osiris Horus is conceived.

 Judgment Osiris becomes the God of the Dead (Autumnal Equinox) The Tower The djet pillar the season of Emergence begins the power of Osiris in the Duat can not be contained it emerges from the earth in the form of new vegetation.

 The Sun -Horus is born (Winter Solstice)

 The Wheel of Fortune Horus triumphs over Set the cycle begins again.  

Trials of Isis

The 8 cards aligned with the cross-quarter days tell a personified seasonal story of Osiris and Isis. These 8 seasonal cards lined up to the cross quarter days  also cover many of the main issues people have questions about when they come for a reading.

These cards start at the Vernal Equinox with the Fool~The Fool at due EAST is the new beginning the first set on an adventure.  

The Fool is Osiris/ Orion followed by Isis the dog star. This card represent that leap of faith this tricked by his jealous brother. Osiris is foolish he trusts his brother because he judges his heart against his own. This is the innocent Fool who rushes in but if he had been cautious and kept himself safe there would be no story to tell and no experience to learn from. And this is the case with anything untried, the new does not come fully formed it is a risk it comes in bursts of knowledge that must be pieced together like a coat made out of patches... arranged and rearranged until it is just right. Set is next  

The Devil representing the antagonist of the story. Another topic of a reading the reading about the one who has done us wrong, stolen our innocence, the nemesis, the villain The Dis-memberer... Set is also the one who takes us apart helps us see ourselves more clearly. He is necessary in the process he is the compost the rot the filth that also makes the garden grow. He is the shadowy stinky, "growlie" slightly scary bits we don't want to face. He makes us fight he gives us purpose he wakes up the sleeping ones. He lands in the seasonal calendar of Egypt between vernal equinox and summer solstice at the end of the Egyptian harvest season as the sun begins to grow too hot again and the Nile started to recede dangerously low, the desert would start to encroach. With this card the question about "mine enemy" is asked.  

The Drowned Man-(typically the Hanged Man) comes the question about stagnation, when nothing is happening and you are waiting suspended for something to happen in your life. The Drowned Man is illustrated as Isis searches for her lost husband who has be floated down the Nile in a gem encrusted sarcophagus, trapped, drowned, floating, waiting to be found. The time of the year is the Summer solstice the sun crosses the Milky Way sits suspended in the same spot in the river of the sky then slowly loses light.

The Lovers midway between Summer Solstice and Autumnal Equinox the story goes that Isis is finally reunited with Osiris the Nile Floods and she is about to bring him back to life. When an angry Set discovers what she is up to and he Dismembers Osiris cutting him into 14 pieces (like the waning moon). At this time of year the blue green flooding Nile would turn to red from the silt of central Africa. The Nile would turn the color of blood. Isis would REmember Osiris and conceive Horus who would be the new life that would avenge his father. DISmembering and REmembering is a shamanic practice a ritual for finding the essential self. On a mundane and yet very important level this card is about the readings we ask for regarding relationship. It is not until we REmember who we really are that we are remotely ready for the kind of relationship The Lovers card represents. Lovers play this our for each other all the time as we project our shadow on each other. The Lovers card of the Second Gate represents the readings we do regarding relationship.

  

The Judgment card falls on the Autumnal Equinox the story of the Trials of Isis continues as Osiris becomes the Judge of the dead. Here the sun sits at the balance of light as the daylight hours become shorter. This card covers the readings we do about ourselves when we dig deep for the judgments about our own behavior or the behavior of others. We stand looking at ourselves in the tarot mirror asking the deep questions about who we are and who we are for other people. How we judge the world is how we judge ourselves.

 The Tower in the Journey into Egypt is more about the positive effects that occur after the trauma than the trauma itself. It is illustrated by the raising of the Djet pillar, an effigy of Osiris that is placed in the fields in celebration of the crowning of a new king and the Emergence of new growth in the fields, for it is now between the time of the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice when the Egyptian sun is gentle enough to nurture tender plants. This card speaks of a reading that can be done to show the benefits that come from adversity the creativity that comes from necessity and lack.

 The Sun corresponds to the Winter Solstice and the birth of the sun in the form of Horus( and also Ra) this is Isis's first triumph over Set. It is the symbolism for all births in the form of the manifestations of all things that take time, work and great effort to produce. In the Story of the trial of Isis here is where Isis gives birth to her son Horus now she must nurture him and take care of him until he is old enough and strong enough to defeat his uncle and avenge his father. The birth is the beginning but there is still much work to be done.This card is symbolic of readings we get in regard to our children or our creations. The last card in the Second gate is the card of the the beginning and end it is.

 The Wheel of Fortune. It takes us full circle. Horus triumphs over Set new life wins out over the rot and the cycle then begins all over again. This card represents readings done about money and changes of fortune, when we want to know about staying on top. When we learn that all victory is fleeting in an ever changing and dynamic universe. The Wheel of Fortune is the view of the sky as recorded in a remote time a time called the Zep Tepi the first day. It is the source for the Zodiac symbolism of found in Gate 3 of this deck. The stone ceiling medallion found at Dendera and built during the Ptolemy Era was based on ancient scrolls recorded and rerecorded kept by scientist priests from the earliest known skies of Zep Tepi.

 The Third Gate is The Real Sky Zodiac/Full Moon Cycles using the Courts(King, Queens and Princesses) as Full moons and Princes as ascendant, midheaven,descendant and nadir. Minor cards describe details of month and represent the 3 ten day weeks of the month.

The changing stars of the South-

The Zodiac

 A Historical Perspective on the Age of God Kings

 The Age of Aries 

As an allegory for Moving from one age to another.

 Author musings… “When I did the research on the Stars of the South, the stars that brought the rain, the stars that changed, I began to uncover the idea that the ancient Egyptians may have seen these stars we call the zodiac as the personification of the patterns of reincarnation. These stars disappear into the sun and reappear at certain times of the year. Over time different constellations would appear at the horizon during the Equinox. These stars represent the “Age” and they would hold their place at the horizon portal for about 2100 years and then the preceding sign would take its place. The priests and priestesses kept track of these movements, and during these times the nature of their supreme gods would take on the attributes of the changing forms in the sky. This is that liminal space where the stories of human beings and gods commingle and I took the opportunity to play with some of the personalities of history to illustrate this point, and the lives of a few ancient Egyptian characters emerged as my key players. Once again I would take the view of multiculturalism and four cultures would emerge as my four suits. I started at the end of the classic Period of Egypt."  

The Sword suit represents the last dynasty of Egypt and the integration of Rome into Egyptian culture. The suit of Swords represents burning emotion, destruction, deception, pain and loss, survival, emergence, and regeneration. It is the journey that takes its players into the domain of the immortals.

 The suit of Coins is representative of the culture known as the “Shepherd Kings”, the Hyksos of the north a band of warrior kings who had domesticated the horse and invented the chariot. They ruled in Egypt for about 200 years, for about as long as the United States has been an independent nation in the land of the Indians. These Hyksos kings would eventually be driven out by the descendants of the first bloodlines of the Egyptians during the time of the 18th dynasty. In this deck I have taken the view that the Hyksos were, in fact, the race of people known as the Hebrews or Israelites. Researching both cultures during this period I saw a story line emerging. The suit of Coins and the suit of Wands are told from these two cultural viewpoints.  

The Wand suit takes a novel view of the life of 18th dynasty “King” Hatshepsut. Hatshepsut was a strong and successful ruler who created a prosperous time for Egypt. She accomplished this through peaceful trade and expensive temple construction. When her husband Thutmosis II died, she co-ruled with her stepson Thutmosis III until she eventually assumed the title of king. History suggests that some kind of drama ensued, whether it was inner squabbling, or personality quirks, or issues of blood we may never know. In the repercussions that followed, Hatshepsut was omitted from the wall of kings at Abydos, her monuments destroyed, and her name obliterated within a hundred years of her reign.

 The Suit of Cups makes the connections between the ancient rites of Dionysus from the Greek culture that reigned for 300 years before Roman rule. The primary religions of this mysterious race of people seemed to emerge fully-formed on the shores of the ancient Nile. The thread of star worship seems to have remained somewhat intact over the millennia and the remnants of egalitarian power structures can still be gleaned from its language, pictures, and sacred geometry. But before getting to the heart and soul of this deck, and to understand the system of the Journey Into Egypt tarot, we must first establish the reason for using real sky astrology by learning the science behind precession.”

  

 Real Sky Astrology 

Understanding the Science behind Precession The image below illustrates precession and helps us visualize how precession works. The arrows at the belt of the Zodiac delineates the elliptic, the imaginary line along which the constellations align with the equinox. Looking closely, we see how near we are to end of the Age of Pisces. At this moment in time, we are exiting the Age of Pisces and on the cusp of entering the Age of Aquarius. The Age of Pisces is known as the age of “I believe,” a time in history dominated by patriarchal power over and blindly following the so-called authority. If we simply look up at the real sky, we can observe that the Earth is moving into a new era. We are at the crossroads where we must question authority everywhere, even in our cherished occult, astrological sources.

The hardest thing about the Aquarian Age is that we can no longer just believe what we are told; we must discover the facts for ourselves. The new Aquarian Age is the “Age of Knowing” where we must in fact “reinvent the wheel”. Our survival as a species requires us to know the truth about everything and act based on what is best for the collective whole, because in the long run this is really what is best for ourselves.

The Science In astronomy precession refers to the gradual shift in the orientation of Earth's axis of rotation, which, like a wobbling top, traces out a pair of cones joined at their apices in a ~25,920 year cycle (called MAGNUS ANNUS* or The Great Year, also known as the Platonic Year in modern astrology). Precession, then, is the slow, wobbling conical motion of the Earth’s axis around the axis of the ecliptic; that is, around a line through the Earth-Sun orbit, perpendicular to the Earth’s orbit. The axis’ inclination averages 23.5° from the Earth’s polar axis. It is this tilt/ inclination of the earth’s axis that causes seasons. Precession is caused by the perturbating, or wobbling, axis of rotation think of this big juicy planet with it’s hot iron core big heaving oceans that rise and fall with the orbit of the moon.

Precession of the equinoxes means that the right ascension and declination of objects change very slowly over about a ~25,920 year period. Because earth’s angular momentum changes direction, "north" also changes direction. For instance, the so-called North Star, Polaris, just happens to be in the north at the moment. Over thousands of years, the direction ‘north’ changes such that the Polaris no longer acts as the North Star. This happens with predictable regularity. The astronomical positions of stars and planets are governed by sidereal years, not tropical years. A sidereal year is the amount of time it takes for the earth to complete a full orbit while a tropical year is the amount of time it takes to complete four seasons. Precession of the earth causes the axial tilt to wobble in a circle every ~25,920 years. That means that for every ~25,920 sidereal years, there will be an extra four seasons, or approximately one earth-year. The fact that ancient Egyptian priesthoods observed and recorded precession over many thousands of years is the premise for the book Keeper of Genesis (1996) written by Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock. Robert and Graham suggest that the ancient Egyptians' building of monuments is based on an ancient map of the sky and that the priests created rituals, or passion plays, to re-enact important celestial events. In particular, the rituals seem to focus on an event known as Zep Tepi ("First Time"), around 10,500 BC. What happened around 10,500 BC that precipitated these rituals? We know that 12,000-15,000 years ago the planet went through climate change as the Pleistocene (Ice Age) was drawing to an end. Though we associate the Ice Age with Europe and North America, there were dramatic climatic impacts on Africa as well. Savannahs turned to desert, as did regions that were once lush with vegetation. Grinding stones found at Nabta Playa suggest people living during that time resorted to eating grains as the native flora and fauna grew scarce.

 Modern historical records credit Greek astronomer Hipparchos (c. 190 B.C.E. – c. 120 B.C.E.) for the incidental discovery of precession during the Ptolemy Era (147B.C.E. to 127B.C.E). However, according to author Michael Rice Egypt’s Legacy, “...the ancients were dedicated watchers of the night sky.” Rice believes precession is fundamental to understanding the catalyst for the development of Egypt- its god kings are the products of Egypt’s philosophers’ realizations of astronomical changes. The Egyptians also, says Rice, went so far as "to alter the orientation of a temple when the star on whose position it had originally been set moved its position as a consequence of the Precession, something which seems to have happened several times during the New Kingdom." Precession is called “precession of the equinoxes” because the equinoxes move westward along the ecliptic, relative to the fixed stars. This suggests that observing the Equinox as part of ma’at (universal balance, universal law) is important.

The stars of the Zodiac move relative to the revered equinox sunrise and sunset alignments and these alignments are considered portals to the “Far World”. This Egyptian Underworld is called the Duat. The predictable movement of celestial bodies, as they disappear below the horizon and reappear, or shift signs, can be analogous to a journey “Between the Worlds”. Due to precession, the position of each sign changes over a ~2100 year interval relative to the background (fixed) stars, making these holy portals noteworthy. With this in mind, we begin to see the importance of the precession of Zodiac to the nature-based religion of star-watching priests in ancient Egypt.

The night sky, whether viewed as the backdrop for a heavenly storyboard or as part of the great celestial architecture of the body of Nut, seems to be inspirational to the Egyptian children-of-the-stars. If we look up and wonder, if we strive to “crack the code” of this wisdom, we too may learn our places in the universe as the ancient Egyptians did. The art, symbolism, and system of the Journey Into Egypt Tarot strives to achieve a workable interpretation of what these ancient people knew. This deck blends modern science, shamanism, and good old fashioned common sense. All of the information found in traditional astrology is based on interpretations of an antiquated sky, while real sky astrology uses the current, observable position of the cosmos. Using an inexpensive astronomy app can yield extraordinary insights.

The Journey Into Egypt Tarot is a challenge to shift the paradigm of our most cherished beliefs about astrology. *Annus Magnus (Latin) Great year; the precessional cycle of 25,920 years. Also, the interval between two successive ecliptic conjunctions of all the planets, including sun and moon. The Hindus date the beginning of the kali yuga from such a conjunction said to have taken place in 3102 BC. It was a general belief in antiquity that cycles of varying lengths marked the terminal or initial points of eras, the occurrence or recurrence of cataclysms, and the consequent recurrence of similar events.

   

The Zodiac/Full Moon Cycles 

Using the Minor cards To get more meaning from The Major cards Egyptian Meanings of numbers for the pips

 1 -Wholeness- the circle

 2&3. Duality -Separation and polarity; since nature doesn’t allow polarity, there is an immediate recognition of the separation. Two, then, immediately becomes…

 3. Creativity -fertility balance. The triangle

4. Stability -The four elements; the four directions; the cardinal points; solstices and equinoxes; the square; stability and structure. The four becomes a safe framework from which to view the ever-changing change; where wholeness meets creativity and duality meets duality

5. Love -The star with five points; the apple blossom; the wild rose; the five annual conjunctions of Venus with the sun; the disappearing and coming back; the five senses. Where wholeness meets stability and polarity meets creativity; balance and fertility

 6. Time and Space –Eternity; the triangle on top of the triangle; the six-pointed star; the star gate. Where wholeness meets Love and duality meets stability; where creativity meets creativity

 7. Initiation -The one as it recognizes its place in time and space. Where stability meets creativity and Love meets duality; where time and Space meets wholeness. The seven-pointed star; the seven sacred directions (east, west, north, south, above, below, and within)

 8. Power -The cube; the box; the pyramid. A sudden recognition of “the box”; the realization of both the multi-verse and inter-dimensional realities; stepping in and out of the box. Where wholeness meets initiation; time and space meet polarity; where love meets creativity; stability meets stability

 9. Reflection -The mirror; state of grace. Anything added to nine becomes itself. Nine is twin souls coming in contact with each other and they find themselves. Where power meets wholeness; initiation meets polarity. Where time and space meets creativity; love meets stability

 10. Greater Wholeness -The greater “one”; a state of wholeness; recognizing the self in all things; Greater oneness. Where reflection meets wholeness; power meets polarity; initiation meets creativity; time and space meets stability; where love meets love

"I hope you will join me in exploring this new tool for divination. It has been a long hard 4 years in the making. And now it is time for the great unveiling."  Julie 


©2013Julie Cuccia-Watts all rights reserved. 

The journey to the Journey into Egypt Tarot

In light of the recent upheaval over precession in astrology I thought it was time to tell my own experiences on this matter. Since I am right in the middle of creating a tarot deck based on just this subject. It would seem that 1/13/11 will be known as the day people stopped talking about the controversy of politics and started freaking out about the fact they are no longer the sun sign they thought they were.

My day started innocently enough designing the Moon card for my new deck I started looking up information on Ophiuchus the thirteenth sign. A few minutes later my friend Jade sent me a link,Recent Renewed Interest in the Zodiac by Bill Duvendack on Thursday, January 13, 2011 at 10:02am. Synchronicity! It was exactly what I needed when I needed it. I was thrilled but this is fairly common in my life and it doesn't freak me out.

The truth is this sort of thing happens to me quite a bit and it made me decide to post the events that led up to my discovery of precession and my decision to create a new tarot deck based on this phenomenon. And here are the details leading up to the Journey into Egypt Tarot a work in progress...

The most important thing about this new deck is the archetype in relationship to the placement on the wheel of the year, the relationship to placement colors, changes or deepens the usual meaning of the card.
The goal is to try to experience the spirit of ancient Egyptian that still exists today. Keeping in mind the people of ancient Egypt viewed the external world as a reflection of the internal world. By this premise if we change our state of mind we change our environment.
I can’t help but wonder if in this time of great change if we couldn’t benefit from reconnecting to the earth and each other. And if a unique look back at a mysterious nature religion may help us get to know ourselves a little better.

My journey back to Egypt and toward this new deck began with the completion of my third tarot deck a controversial deck based on full moon signs and cross-quarter days instead of the usual linear ordering MAAT was circular and cyclical in nature and it changed the ordering of the major arcana. The premier of this deck took me on a trip to Los Angeles, California in 2006 to present The MAAT Tarot at LATS (The Los Angeles Tarot Symposium). It was there that Mary Greer first mentioned to me a possible “Tarot Tour” to Egypt. I was interested and knew this would be the dream trip of a lifetime. My favorite author Normandi Ellis would be one of the co-facilitators and I had always wanted to meet her.
It eventually turned out that the dates of this trip coincided with my 49th birthday, this was a Saturn aspect for me and I knew everything I have done so far that is tarot related coincides with Saturn aspects. It seems to be part of my “karma” or at least is turning out to be my life’s work.
The first trip was just the beginning, as my tarot journeys would lead me to another tarot symposium and yet another serendipitous trip to Egypt. The second Egypt trip came about in an amazingly serendipitous way and it all started at BATS 2008 (Bay Area Tarot Symposium) when a woman named Norma came up to me after the panel discussion on the last day of the conference and said, "I have something to tell you and you have something to tell me but I don't know what it is..." My response was," well let's figure it out" Turned out she needed to know something about cross-quarter-days and full moons for the labyrinth she was creating and she told me I needed to read The Egypt Code by Robert Bauval... My thoughts were “if I ever see this book sometime I hope I remember to pick it up,” frankly I doubted I would find it anytime soon...
Since my husband Peter had never been to San Francisco we made plans to take a ride with Ferol Humphrey and a woman named Darlene both women had been on my first trip to Egypt. By the time I had finished talking to Norma, Ferol and Darlene missed us and left with Ruth Ann and Wald Amberstone to see Wald’s old haunts in Berkley. So Tracey Hoover (author of the companion book to my first deck Ancestral Path Tarot), Peter and I decided to go walking, we ended up at Field's book because Tracey said she saw my MAAT deck and book there and she wanted to show me. So just 20 minutes after Norma had told me about Bauval's book there I was at Fields Book Store and Bauval’s book was the first thing I saw. I purchased it right away. I looked through it that night and thought, “wow its pretty complicated,” and set it aside. A little over a month later I started reading it and really connected, I also realized this was the same guy who connected the three great pyramids of Giza to the stars in Orion’s belt way back in 1990’s. This idea really influenced my thinking about Orion and Osiris and later the Fool and Orion for the MAAT Tarot. Anyway part way through the book I had a bunch of questions and wondered if Robert was on Facebook. And he was!! And better still I could write him a message so I did. I introduced myself and told him about my work and asked him if he was ever going to be covering the Egyptian’s spiritual views about the moon as clearly the Egypt Code was singularly focused on alignments of Sirius, the Sun and other stars. I was surprised to hear back from him that very night and he responded that he would be doing an entire book on Egypt and the Moon at some later date. I joined his fan club and left it there a few days later he friended me. Being Robert’s friend now I could see his posts and I was one of the first people to see his invitation for 10 guest/visitors to see the 8000 year old stone circle in Egypt’s western desert an ancient site with possible ties to Egypt’s pharaonic culture...before I could think about it I responded asking about dates and prices. Thinking to myself “Can I do this?”
As it turned out yes I could and my second trip to Egypt would the door to tarot deck project #4. My diary post gives my full emotional reaction to the idea of precession...

Day Nine
Tuesday April 14th, 2009
Card of the Day
King of Wands
Leisurely day didn’t go to the Nubian Village and swam in the pool, got some sun, rested, read, and attended a lecture on star alignments and temples. The lecture turned out to be more of an ambush than a lecture. Robert Bauval made a point of letting us all know that “modern astrology was rubbish” knowing full well that I used astrology in my work he insisted I explain to him why astrologers still used the sky of 4th century. He went through each of our natal skies by plugging our birthdays into the computer program and showed us that clearly the sky had moved back a full 30 degrees a full sign, each of us had sun signs that had precessed to the previous sign. All the planets were in the same alignments with the same houses as our charts everything was just in the previous sign. I couldn’t tell him why I insisted that astrologers knew this but he would have none of it. I was angry and frustrated and I ended up walking out of the lecture rather than be subjected to more of his condescending abuse. I felt humiliated and sabotaged he could have presented his case in more sensitive less rude manner. It was a full day before I would speak to him and he set me aside and told me that the real time astrology works, that I should write about it that the world needed to know about this and that I would be at the cutting edge of something new if I was to speak up about it. I told him he was right but that he had a lousy way of presenting his material. I had to agree I was pretty upset with myself for not figuring this out on my own for not knowing or considering precession. My first thoughts were mainly how annoyed I was that MAAT Tarot is wrong based on this antiquated inaccurate sky...my second thoughts were I’m NOT doing another deck...
I was clearly angry but perhaps I was really angry at myself for not already knowing this.

A week after my return from Egypt I was back on a plane again and on my way to the Reader’s Studio "09 a huge tarot conference held in NJ. My nose was stuffy and by Friday of the conference I had laryngitis so bad I couldn’t talk. Sales were down due to the bad economy and due to the fact most people in attendance already had my deck. I was feeling run down and felt I needed to do something else for a while just paint about Egypt and forget about tarot...by the end of the trip my leg was seriously hurt out of no where. I thought I maybe pulled something coughing and lugging an 80-pound suitcase full of inventory around. Friends pulled a few cards for a quick diagnosis. The Ace of Coins, the 8 of Coins...their take was...”There are more important things than money...take ONE day off...” I knew I needed more days off than that. In the MAAT Tarot the Ace is all summer. By the time I got home I was forced to go on bed rest to stay off my leg that got much worse. I stayed home stayed in bed and finished writing The MAAT Book of Court cards, and started MAAT Book of Days 2010 all the while I had a niggling feeling in the back of my mind that haunted me...the sky I was using was wrong...it felt like a lie now.
By the week of Summer Solstice my husband Peter and I were on the road to PSG ( a Pagan Spirit Gathering in Missouri) where I would be doing a class and vending tarot decks. I met a woman named Lori Mann who came to my class she was a reader as well and we ended up swapping readings... Lori's reading for me ended up being a download about a Tarot deck that was like a puzzle...a two-hour download from psychic medium Lori Manns...I still didn’t realize it was a new deck she was talking about until I went to get a massage from my friend Jude Christiansen. It was the day before the solar eclipse in July 2009. I thought perhaps a massage would help to heal my bad leg it was also the first massage I had gotten in probably 6 years. That night after getting the massage I went to sleep and the floodgates opened. I saw an entire Egyptian tarot in the form of MAAT Tarot’s wheel of the year in all its full glory big paintings like a giant mural all fitting together all telling a story and all based on the real sky astrology Robert talked about. I woke up inspired but not sure I would do it. I talked about it on Facebook everyone was supportive and excited wanting me to do it. The face of the High Priest standing in front of Karnak temple was the clearest card from my dream. He seemed to beckon me on. Suddenly I was kind of inspired and later that day Peter said to me...”You’re going to do another deck...” my response was....”no I’m not.” The next day I started waking up with ideas I found myself thinking about correspondences again...I was going to do another deck.
By the time The Minnesota Area Tarot Symposium came at the end of July 2009 I was ready to announce the decision to make a new deck. And after Nancy Antenucci performed her journey of the Fool tarot interpretive dance I knew right away that I wanted her to dance this new tarot and that we would have a gallery show that would travel to different cities. I knew where I wanted to start. I felt the joy again I was excited I had a project that I could finally sink my teeth into.
Just before Mercury went retrograde in September. I got a call out of the blue from Kassandra Murray Niagara Ontario owner of the Mide Bistro. I was scheduled to do classes and show pictures we made plans the summer of 08 but I never had enough paintings to make it worth the trip. I saw her name come up on the cell. Her words where that she had a waking vision about doing something with the sabbats (cross quarter days) with paintings I had done...I laughed and told her what I was working on...Her vision was about the journey of the god through the underworld and the goddess joining him at Samhain. I knew right away this was the journey of Osiris and the trials of Isis bleeding through for all my cross quarter day cards. Kassandra had given me another big piece of the puzzle. The tarot puzzle Lori Mann had hinted about in her reading at Summer Solstice.
If my dream, the reading from Lori and the waking vision from Kassandra was not enough. My neighbor Laura Zastrow also came knocking on my door the last week of September. Her words, “Julie I had a dream about you and I need to know what is going on...I dreamed you did all these paintings and I was being shown all of them one after the other but so fast that I couldn’t get enough time to look at any of them closely...What are you working on?” I think my eyes got pretty big and we sat down for a visit and I told her the whole story....
And there you have it the whole introduction to the chain of events that brought me to creating yet another tarot deck. Does the world need another tarot deck? I guess it does.

MAAT Tarot Full Moon cycle of Gemini Nov 22 - Dec 21

Wednesday marked our entry into the full moon cycle of Gemini. Ruled by the planet Jupiter the planet of expansion, luck and even indulgence. The key phrase for Gemini is "I think". This is all very appropriate as we move into the darker shorter days before the Winter Solstice. Imagine for a moment how concerned our ancestors must have been as the daylight became shorter and shorter and in some latitudes disappeared entirely. This is when Strength would be essential as well as a good sense of how the cycles of nature progress. And here is where the twin symbolism comes into focus.

Early astronomers observed the heavens and watched as the morning stars would disappear into the sun and then a 'twin' star would appear in the early evening sky. The moon would also do this as day by day it became thinner and thinner in the early morning hours just before dawn and then would disappear into the sun in the eastern sky only for its 'twin' to appear in the early western sky during sunset. During the full moon cycle of Gemini it is the waning sun itself that disappears into the body of the Great Mother with the promise of a new waxing sun which would be born at Winter Solstice.

In the image of the Strength card we see the Egyptian twins (usually twin lions) Shu and Tufnut with the sky goddess Nut. Shu (the Egyptian Atlas) who often took the form of a man holds up the sky goddess Nut. The Sun was thought to have been devoured each night by Shu's twin sister Tufnut who took the form of a lion. In the image of Strength we see the sun being devoured by Tufnut as it heads toward point of Winter Solstice on the analemma (figure eight). In the story of Shu and Tufnut it is Shu that also takes the sun back from his sister each morning and places it back in the sky. This is really a beautiful metiphor for the relationship of these twins. the female twin in the darkest month takes the 'light' into her body (to protect it?) and her brother returns it to the sky (when the time is right?). I couldn't help but see images of the traditional images ofthe Herculean Strength in this Egyptian myth. Coupling this image with full moon cycle of Gemini seemed to be good fit with the idea of twins. As well as the use of lucky,expanding and indulgent Jupiter energies to get us through the darkest month of the year by focusing on preparations for the pending celebration of the sun's return.

This card also explores the 'Oneness' of all things, eternity, and being a part of another, soulmates, twinsouls and relationships that continue beyond time and space. All very appropriate for a month full of many cross cultural holiday traditions. Remembering the source for all family traditions whether great or small begins with single couples in love who combined their family traditions into their own.

Julie