ANCIENT EGYPTIAN STUDY GROUP - 6 Cups

rwcarter

A shrine to the goddess Bast has been raised in a wooded area of the Nile Delta. Bast is the gentler counterpart to the goddess Sekhmet (see Strength). Cats were sacred to her. Bast was the goddess of perfumes, plenty, pleasure, music and dance. She was also the patroness of women and children. In her right hand she holds a sistrum, symbol of her role as goddess of dance, joy and festivity. In her left hand she holds a kitten crowned by a solar disk, symbol of her role as a solar deity.

There are 6 or 7 cats depicted on this card. Four of them are near the six cups. I can't tell if there are two or three cats near the statue of Bast. It would make sense to be two, making the total number of cats on the card equal to the number of the card. But it might not be. Cats were worshipped for their ability to protect food from mice and their ability to hunt and kill snakes, who were representations of Apophis.

The man in the couple holds some sort of musical instrument, again referring to Bast's role as goddess of music and dance.

In the water behind the couple is another couple. They are naked and frolicking in the water. I don't think that couple is actually there, but instead is a memory of the couple on the land of when they were younger. The couple on the land is now older and presumably wiser.

Rodney