I don’t have enough hymns for my next hymnal book for Aset alone, so I made it into a compilation. I have hymns and inscriptions for Aset (Isis), Hethert (Hathor), Nebet Het (Nephthys), Nekhbet, Tefnut and Set (Seth). Most of the material in this book is for Aset, Tefnut and Set. The title of the book is now Beauty and Strength: Ancient Hymns for Egyptian Gods.
I changed the title of my Mut book. It is now called Sunbeams Fall From Her: An Anthology for Mut.
I’m still working on Lady of Arrows: An Anthology for Neith and Lady of the Library: An Anthology for Seshat. I’m also working on Lady of the Throne: An Anthology for Aset and Lady of the Temple: Ancient Hymns for Nephthys (2nd Edition).
The is a review of the Legendary Ladies Goddess Deck by Ann Shen.
Items Included
A sturdy box
58 Colorful Cards
An 80 page guidebook
The Cards
There are 58 cards! Normally Oracle Decks have 44 cards so this deck has over 10 more Goddesses!
This art is beautiful! The cards are so colorful and great! I love the art! I do not like that they have Aset (Isis) as half naked. Her breasts are covered by her hair. Even Aphrodite and Hathor are fully clothed.
The cardstock is sturdy, but the cards themselves are on the larger side. The shuffling technique may need some adjustment for these cards.
The Goddesses included in this deck come from a wide range of traditions and cultures! Here are a few of them included:
Japanese: Amaterasu, Benten
Chinese: Kwan Yin, Chang-O, Hsi Wang Mu, Mazu, Nuwa
Vietnamese: Lieu Hanh
Hindu: Saraswati, Lakshmi, Parvati, Durga, Kali
Egyptian: Aset (Isis), Sekhmet, Hathor, Ma’at, Bast, Nut
Sumerian: Inanna, Atargatis
Norse/Germanic: Freyja, Hel, Ran
Celtic: Brigit, Morrigan, Arianrhod
Greek: Hecate, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, the Muses
African: Yemoja (Yemaya), Oya, Oshun, Oba, Mami Wata
Mayan: Ixchel
Inuit: Sedna
Polynesian: Hina
Hawai’ian: Pele, Laka
Native American: Estsanatlehi
The Guidebook
It is 80 pages. There is no table of contents.
The art is colorful. On the pages about the cards, all the Goddesses are listed in alphabetical order. The Goddesses’ names are large and colorful so they are easy to find without a table of contents.
Each page about the cards has: the name of the Goddess, a keyword about them (Isis: Strength; Hecate: Magic), their place of Origin (Egyptian, Greek), a sentence about the Goddess, and then a sentence or two about the card meaning. I wish these had been broken up into two paragraphs (so the piece about the Goddess is one paragraph and then the second has the card meaning).
There is a companion book about the myths of each Goddess by Ann Shen: Legendary Ladies: 50 Goddesses to Empower and Inspire You.
I would highly recommend this deck, especially if you love the art style.
Image of the Egyptian Gods Oracle Card Box and a few cards.
I got the Egyptian Gods Oracle Cards by Silvana Alasia (author and artist). I love the ancient Egyptian art that was used in this deck!
Included in the Deck
A Guide Book
A Sturdy Box
36 Oracle Cards
Things I liked
Aset (Isis) has a blue throne headdress. The ancients did that too.
Aset (Isis), Nephthys (Nefhti), Mut, Neith, Seshat, Sobek, Anuket, Satet, Set, Taweret, Serqet (Selkis), Khonsu, Ra, Thoth, Khnum, Ptah, Sekhmet, Nefertem, Amun-Ra, Osiris, Meretseger, Bast (Bastet), Anubis, and Shu were included in this deck! I loved the artwork!
Hathor (Hator) card is on point! She is in a red dress, with Her horns and sundisk headdress! And there is a cow on Her card!
Things I wanted to see included
A Wepwawet card! Anubis is included, but not Wepwawet! He needs more love! (I have two books on Wepwawet if anyone is interested: Lord of the Ways and Lord of Strength and Power)!
Shu was included in this deck, but not Tefnut? Why wasn’t Tefnut here? She’s his other half! They are almost always together! (Here is my book on Tefnut with some Shu material: Lady of Water and Flame).
Anubis’s card image is of Him weighing the heart and feather. I wish there was another image for Him. But that’s just personal preference.
The Hathor card has the keyword “intelligence” on it. I think for emotional intelligence, this is spot on! If the author meant book learning intelligence, maybe that would fit Aset (Isis), Djehuty (Tehuti, Thoth) or Seshat more.
The guidebook mentions Set is a god of storms and chaos and also mentions he is evil. (Set is not a god of evil in ancient Egyptian religion. He was demonized later…).
The Aset (Isis) section only mentions Her as the “Mother Goddess” and the ideal wife and mother (She’s a widow and a single mother. How is that ideal?). It does mention She is a goddess of magic though. This was disappointing to see only this mentioned. Aset is a sorceress, a trickster, a scholar, a warrior as an Eye of Ra and so much more.
What was Odd
Some of the names of the Gods and Goddesses are spelled differently even from their Greek names. Nephthys is Nefhti and Hathor was spelled Hator, for example. Maybe this is due to transliterations being different in different languages?
Mut’s card image is off. She is seated and has a vulture headdress only. Where is the rest of Her headdress? She is normally depicted wearing the Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt by itself or ontop of the vulture headdress. I’ve never seen Her depicted with just the vulture headdress, but maybe She can be? I don’t know.
Mehen (Ouroboros) is included in the deck. This seemed odd to me.
Ammut is in this deck. She is not a Goddess. She devours the souls of evil doers. She was not honored as a deity by the ancient Egyptians. Why include her in a deck about Egyptian deities?
Apophis (Apep) is in this deck. It is not a Netjer. It is the Entropic Serpent Enemy of the Gods. It is destroyed by Ra, Aset, Set and other gods every day so the sun can rise at dawn. May It be felled! Why would you include this in the deck? This was a horrible choice! It wants to destroy all of creation so that creation never existed. Why include it in an Oracle about Egyptian Gods (and Goddesses)?
Final Thoughts
Overall, I like this deck. The artwork is stunning!
I’m going throw the Apophis card away. So, now the deck has 35 cards instead of the 36 cards in an already shortened deck! (Usually Oracle Decks have 44 cards or more).
The Guidebook is in four languages and the Table of Contents are divided into each language (English, Italian, Espanola and Portuguese) and the cards themselves are not listed in the TOC (and the cards are not in alphabetical order so you have to search to find them). For each card (in the English section), there is the name of the card, a paragraph of who the deity is and the meaning of the card. The meaning of the card is included in the paragraph so it is not easy to spot for a reading. I would have preferred another section for card meanings like they do in most Oracle Card books.
I am disappointed in the guidebook and including the two non-gods in the deck. I love the art though.
This festival commemorates Aset’s nightly search by torchlight for Her husband Wesir. Candles, lamps and torches were lit for the Goddess. Papyrus boats were launched in temple lakes. The boats had prayers written on them with a light source to guide the way.
Ritual for Today
This ritual is what we do for this festival in the House of Netjer.
On Aset’s shrine you could have: an image or statue of the Goddess, a source of light from candles, lamps, LED candles or electric candles and offerings.
You will need paper and a pen or pencil or marker (not red). You will also need a tealight and a lighter.
Write a letter, telling Aset things you are thankful for. Then on the other side, write a letter to Aset asking for things you need. This paper later gets folded into the boat (start folding: thank you side up).
After the paper boats are made, fill a bowl, bathtub or sink with water. A tealight is placed in each boat and they are put in the water. The tealights are lit and the boats float on the water until the candles burn out. (Please keep fire safety in mind).
Thank You/Gratitude Letter Ideas
Family
Friends
Pets
House/Apartment/Condo
Food
Health
Job
Vaccines
Other Things She has helped you with
Ideas of Things You Need
Vaccine for Covid 19
Good Health
Prosperity
Love
Self-Love
Healing
Healing from Grief
Fortitude and Strength
Job
Remember to eat the offerings when you are done. And extinguish the candles.
About Aset
Aset is a goddess of sovereignty, kingship, magic of all kinds, life-power, personal power and authority, writing, words, gaining knowledge, honoring one’s ancestors, ancestral lineage and traditions, dreams, family relationships, self-love, alignment of the souls and healing. She is also a goddess of Heaven, starlight, the night sky and the star Sopdet (Sirius).
I channeled this message from Aset about this festival.
What will you do today for the Fiercely Bright One?
Light candles or lamps? Sing a hymn? Perform ritual before Her shrine? What will you offer to the Lady?
What will you do today for the Mother of God? The one who gave birth to Heru in the Marshes? The sole Mother who took care of Her son?
What will you do for Aset, the Fiercely Bright One? The One who leads the way in the darkness, dispelling shadows with Her light? The stellar and solar goddess of the dawn.
What will you do today? What will you accomplish? What will you profess?
What will you ask Me in your letter? What prayers and hopes will the boats carry on the water, with My light guiding the way?
What will you ask Me to dispel in your lives? What will you ask Me to cultivate?
What will you do for the Fiercely Bright One? What will you ask of the Brightest of Stars? What will you ask of the Solar Goddess?
I am the Mistress of Magic. I am the Goddess Who Knows Her Spells. What I speak comes to pass.
Do not worry, child. I will take care of you.
Who am I? Am I not the Goddess who knows Ra’s Name? Am I not the wisest and cleverest of Gods? Am I not the Goddess of all magic, all heka, all life-power, all kau?
So what will you ask Me on My festival day?
The words you speak and write have power. What I speak comes to pass. What you write is your heart’s desire.
For what you do, what you say and what you write will become.
Bast (Bastet) is the cat headed or lioness headed goddess of protection, joy, beauty, dance, music, fertility, perfume, and the guardian of the home. She is the Wife of Atum or Ptah. She is the Mother of Ma’ahes, Nefertem, Anubis and Mafdet. Bast-Mut is a goddess formed from the two goddesses, Bast and Mut. Bast-Mut shares the attributes of both Bast and Mut. Bast-Mut is the cat headed goddess of royal power, protection, magic, music, perfume, motherhood and love. Bast-Mut is the Wife of Amun-Ra and the Mother of Khonsu. Within this book, you will find modern poems, rituals, prayers and ancient hymns to the goddesses, Bast and Bast-Mut.
Bast (Bastet) is the cat headed or lioness headed goddess of protection, joy, beauty, dance, music, fertility, perfume, and the guardian of the home. She is the Wife of Atum or Ptah. She is the Mother of Ma’ahes, Nefertem, Anubis and Mafdet. Bast-Mut is a goddess formed from the two goddesses, Bast and Mut. Bast-Mut shares the attributes of both Bast and Mut. Bast-Mut is the cat headed goddess of royal power, protection, magic, music, perfume, motherhood and love. Bast-Mut is the Wife of Amun-Ra and the Mother of Khonsu. Within this book, you will find modern poems, rituals, prayers and ancient hymns to the goddesses, Bast and Bast-Mut.
There are many Eyes of Ra celebrated at this time of year: Aset, Nebet Het, Nit, Sekhmet, Mut, Sekhmet-Mut, Bast, Bast-Mut, Hethert and Tefnut just to name a few. An Eye of Ra is a title of many ancient Egyptian goddesses who protect the sun god, Ra with magic, weapons and flame. They are the solar goddesses whose journey reflects the shortening and lengthening of days of the seasons of the year. This is the time of Their return.
So light candles and lamps. Offer water, milk, beer or wine. Offer food and drink to the Goddess as She returns from Nubia.
Let there be light, laughter, reverence, love, strength and peace throughout this time of year. To all the F words: Faith, Family, Friendship, Forgiveness and Forever.
Have a blessed holiday. Blessings of the Goddesses to you all!
Fiercely Bright One 