Sophie
I first encountered this deck a couple of years ago in South Africa, when my Reiki teacher showed it to me. I was interested, but not grabbed. I forgot about it.
Lately, I've been getting into Ancient Egypt - and more particularly the religion, spirituality and philosophy of that long-lasting, ever-fascinating African culture. So naturally I turned back to the Book of Doors, and bought a copy for myself. Have had it for a week now.
It has several qualities, in my view. Firstly, it's beautiful, and symbolically very rich. The symbolism is complex and needs explation - and for the most part the well-written book delivers.
Secondly, as a divination deck, it works, at least for the great questions. I would not use it for fortune-telling, but for Divination - communicating with the Divine about which direction life is taking - then most definitely I do. It is organised in a simple but effective way - 8 groups of 8 deities, simplifying the incredibly complex pantheon without betraying it.
Thirdly, as a teaching tool for the Kemetic pantheon and the basic ideas behind the Kemetic religion (as it evolved over 4000 years), it serves as a useful introduction. The book contains a lot of symbols, a short presentation of the 64 Neterus on the cards (gods), the key principles behind the religious impulse and practices of the Ancient Egyptians and some mythology - not enough to my taste, but then I like stories, they are an important part of the way I see and understand the world, including the Great Universal Spiritual Truths (GUST...because like gusty wind, they blow everywhere and tend to blow in spurts rather than constantly). The deck and book can certainly serve as a stepping stone to more study and spiritual discovery of that fascinating religion/civilisation/philosophy - and to what it gave birth that still exists with us.
It's not a deck that can be used purely intuitively out of the box - it needs study, knowledge and a certain life-wisdom to use well. But that's not to say intuition is redundant, quite the opposite -if, like me, you have an affinity with Kemet, then you will take to this deck like a crocodile to the Nile
I've been practicing using it to read for others on the Oracles games threads - that allows me to see what it works for, and what it doesn't. Some questions are perfect for this kind of deck, some not so much. With a few exceptions - fitting the deity in question - there aren't a lot of jokes in this deck. I don't know if that really mirrors the Ancient Egyptians - I tend to think no civilisation would last 4000 years without a massive sense of humour. I guess it's just our distance and reverence that prevent us from including jokes in decks about the religion of Ancient Egypt. Given how all-pervasive the religion was in Kemet, I can't help thinking that there was more than just the god Bes to laugh about (or with!)
Another shortcoming is that, necessarily, many of the nuances of that convoluted pantheon are lost, although to be fair, the book explains some of them. For instance, it would be impossible to show in card form that Sekhmet is a form of Hathor as well as Bast, yet has a strong independent role; that Wadjet is associated closely both with Isis - in her sorceress role - and to Hathor, in her role as mother of the Pharaoh, who gives power (through the Cobra on the forehead) to the Pharaoh, and through him, to the whole of Egypt. That Hathor is mother and wife of Horus, but Isis is also mother of Horus. That Hathor is both a stellar goddess and a solar one, and has many faces (cow, snake, lion, sycamore, malachite, etc. etc.). Some of this is explored in the book, and some isn't -to be able to say it all would have made the book 10 times as long.
The authors explain these transmutations as alchemy, and indeed, the subtitle of the deck is "an alchemical deck of Ancient Egypt"; another way of seeing them is as shamanic shapeshifting - not that far removed from alchemy, though alchemy is a little more savant. Without doubt Ancient Egypt is the mother and father of the later developments in Hellenic, Western and Arabic Alchemy - the question remains as to how alchemical the religion actually was.
These are minor niggles - and alchemy is an interesting take, I think, as well as a glance towards the direction that the Hermetic Corpus was to take later.
In short - I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Ancient Egypt, in the Western Mysteries, and anyone with a spiritual interest generally. It is rich and rewarding and it introduces us to concepts that not only gave birth to just about every spiritual and philosophical ideas and practices Africa, the Middle East and Europe have ever known, but stand on their own very well, many thousands of years after they were first thought of. I would also recommend it to people who like their oracles with a bit more meat than usual and want to deepen their divination experience. It satisfies the intellect and the spirit, which is a rare treasure.
Lately, I've been getting into Ancient Egypt - and more particularly the religion, spirituality and philosophy of that long-lasting, ever-fascinating African culture. So naturally I turned back to the Book of Doors, and bought a copy for myself. Have had it for a week now.
It has several qualities, in my view. Firstly, it's beautiful, and symbolically very rich. The symbolism is complex and needs explation - and for the most part the well-written book delivers.
Secondly, as a divination deck, it works, at least for the great questions. I would not use it for fortune-telling, but for Divination - communicating with the Divine about which direction life is taking - then most definitely I do. It is organised in a simple but effective way - 8 groups of 8 deities, simplifying the incredibly complex pantheon without betraying it.
Thirdly, as a teaching tool for the Kemetic pantheon and the basic ideas behind the Kemetic religion (as it evolved over 4000 years), it serves as a useful introduction. The book contains a lot of symbols, a short presentation of the 64 Neterus on the cards (gods), the key principles behind the religious impulse and practices of the Ancient Egyptians and some mythology - not enough to my taste, but then I like stories, they are an important part of the way I see and understand the world, including the Great Universal Spiritual Truths (GUST...because like gusty wind, they blow everywhere and tend to blow in spurts rather than constantly). The deck and book can certainly serve as a stepping stone to more study and spiritual discovery of that fascinating religion/civilisation/philosophy - and to what it gave birth that still exists with us.
It's not a deck that can be used purely intuitively out of the box - it needs study, knowledge and a certain life-wisdom to use well. But that's not to say intuition is redundant, quite the opposite -if, like me, you have an affinity with Kemet, then you will take to this deck like a crocodile to the Nile
I've been practicing using it to read for others on the Oracles games threads - that allows me to see what it works for, and what it doesn't. Some questions are perfect for this kind of deck, some not so much. With a few exceptions - fitting the deity in question - there aren't a lot of jokes in this deck. I don't know if that really mirrors the Ancient Egyptians - I tend to think no civilisation would last 4000 years without a massive sense of humour. I guess it's just our distance and reverence that prevent us from including jokes in decks about the religion of Ancient Egypt. Given how all-pervasive the religion was in Kemet, I can't help thinking that there was more than just the god Bes to laugh about (or with!)
Another shortcoming is that, necessarily, many of the nuances of that convoluted pantheon are lost, although to be fair, the book explains some of them. For instance, it would be impossible to show in card form that Sekhmet is a form of Hathor as well as Bast, yet has a strong independent role; that Wadjet is associated closely both with Isis - in her sorceress role - and to Hathor, in her role as mother of the Pharaoh, who gives power (through the Cobra on the forehead) to the Pharaoh, and through him, to the whole of Egypt. That Hathor is mother and wife of Horus, but Isis is also mother of Horus. That Hathor is both a stellar goddess and a solar one, and has many faces (cow, snake, lion, sycamore, malachite, etc. etc.). Some of this is explored in the book, and some isn't -to be able to say it all would have made the book 10 times as long.
The authors explain these transmutations as alchemy, and indeed, the subtitle of the deck is "an alchemical deck of Ancient Egypt"; another way of seeing them is as shamanic shapeshifting - not that far removed from alchemy, though alchemy is a little more savant. Without doubt Ancient Egypt is the mother and father of the later developments in Hellenic, Western and Arabic Alchemy - the question remains as to how alchemical the religion actually was.
These are minor niggles - and alchemy is an interesting take, I think, as well as a glance towards the direction that the Hermetic Corpus was to take later.
In short - I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Ancient Egypt, in the Western Mysteries, and anyone with a spiritual interest generally. It is rich and rewarding and it introduces us to concepts that not only gave birth to just about every spiritual and philosophical ideas and practices Africa, the Middle East and Europe have ever known, but stand on their own very well, many thousands of years after they were first thought of. I would also recommend it to people who like their oracles with a bit more meat than usual and want to deepen their divination experience. It satisfies the intellect and the spirit, which is a rare treasure.
