ANCIENT EGYPTIAN STUDY GROUP - Princess Wands

rwcarter

The Princess of Wands represents earth of fire. As such, she stands amid a volcanically active landscape where plates of rock have been crushed against one another, revealing molten lava beneath them. Lava can represent the erupting wrath and passions of the gods. It is also a symbol of fertility (as in the creation of land mass and as nutrient-rich volcanic ash), strength and power. Dormant volcanoes can represent suppressed fears or repressed things that are unresolved, so the presence of molten lava would suggest fears coming to the surface or something that's been repressed that suddenly demands attention.

She has a tiger companion. The tiger is associated with aggression, strength, stalking its prey and ferocity. It can also symbolize negative feminine attributes such as spite, gossip and sexual dominance. Wild, it represents the dangerous power of uncontrolled drives. As the companion to the Princess, the tiger must be at least partially domesticated, suggesting that those uncontrolled desires are at least partially under the control of the Princess.

The Princess wears the headdress of Ma'at (see Justice), suggesting truth and order. It highlights the struggle the Princess faces to tame the wild forces within her (represented by both the lava and the tiger) in order to use them in a productive manner.

She holds a flower in one hand and a wand capped by a solar disk in the other. The flower is a symbol of life and growth. Its shape also associates it with the sun. Its white petals symbolize purity and innocence while its yellowish-orange center represents the sun.

Because of the presence of the headdress, which suggests balance, I think the wand capped by the solar disk represents the negative influence of the sun and fire - destruction, burning, etc. To each side of the Princess are images that balance each other - stone altar and wand capped by solar disk on her right and flower and tiger on her left.

Beside her is a stone altar carved with hieroglyphs and images of the gods. The stone symbolizes reliability and stability. It was often used to mark a sacred place or event. Like the headdress, it was also a symbol of truth. I believe the two deities depicted on the stone are Khnum (on the left) and Ra Herakhty (on the right) as symbols of creation and life.

Rodney