I'm using this deck for my Intensive Deck Study (IDS - see the Talking Tarot forum) for at least 3 months. I see this group has languished, but I'll be posting my observations on, study of and questions about this deck. Hopefully others will join in.
Amun is the Fool. His headdress contains a deep circlet that represents the Sun and is surmounted by twin plumes that represent either a bird's wings (a reminder that he's the god of the sky) or his domination of both Upper and Lower Egypt.
The staff that the Fool carries is comprised of three elements:
- the Waas scepter is the length of the wand from the forked base through the staff to the curved head - it symbolizes health, happiness and divine prosperity as well as power and dominion; it was associated with the qualities of divine rulership and was carried exclusively by gods and goddesses until late in Egyptian civilization; it was green in color because green symbolized fertility, life and resurrection
- the Djed is the four perpendicular bars near the head of the staff - it represents stability and is also a phallic symbol
- the Ankh is represented by the circle and the top perpendicular bar and is the symbol of life
Taken together the three symbols represent life, stability, power and dominion.
Lotus blossoms open at sunrise and close at night, so it makes sense that the blossoms would open for the egg that contains the sun god Horus.
Jewel-ry's comment about the flower/plant (anyone know what kind it is?) caused me to make the following observations. Both the galaxy swirling in the background and the waves crashing against the raised mound represent chaos. The Fool's potential encounter with the crocodile shows potential chaos. The plant blooms amid all this chaos, showing that without chaos, there wouldn't be life and that life continues in spite of chaos.
fall_guy's words about the galaxy (which I had also taken for a galaxy) came after I'd made my observations about chaos and its role in life. When I looked closer at the swirls of the galaxy, I noticed that some of them seem to radiate through or around the egg. That shows me that the Sun is part of the galaxy and therefore is also chaos, which hints at the future that awaits the Sun god who is contained within the egg.
Rodney