Egyptian Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 14 Jun 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

mikeymikeymike	14 Jun 2005
hi I have a problem Iam trying to learn how to read hieroglyphs and am having trouble...the reason why I am learning them is because I have the Scarabeo egyptain tarot deck and want to understand the hieroglyphs on some of the cards....does anyone know the translation for the hieroglyphs on the cards.... thankyou.. please can you email me with any information at

Alta	14 Jun 2005
Generally threads are started for the purpose of public discussion. If anyone does understand how to translate, please post here for others to benefit. Thanks, Marion

Lillie	15 Jun 2005
I tried once. I got a book that was supposed to teach you, a reprintf some old victorian thingy, by Budge, the victorian egyptologist. I read it, I drew heiroglyphs in a big folder, I tried to translate the examples. Ha ha, Ho ho. Yeah, if you was some kind of genius you might be able to learn them like that, but not me, nor anyone else I know that looked at the book. Anyhow. If I saw pics of the heiroglyphs you wanted translating, I might be able to find them in the book and figure out some kind of general interpretation, but it's not likely.

little-imp	15 Jun 2005
is anybody sure that they actually translate or are they for show.....?

Alta	15 Jun 2005
Good question. If anyone here knows, so far they haven't said. :D

Fudugazi	15 Jun 2005
Maybe the ones on the High Priestess say: "Shopping list - two pomegranates, 5 tins of thick blue eye make-up, kohl, nuts for the monkeys, 4 pounds of dates, some material for a new dress (blue), cotton wool for eye make-up removal". (So that's what she is hiding on her scroll...!)

HudsonGray	15 Jun 2005
I have a book on the history of writing--the hieroglyphs stand for phonetic sounds, but the sounds are organized to speak Egyptian, not English. So translating them would only get you Egyptian (if they're copied from the old stuff), and not even all of it--the symbols didn't do vowels, just pretty much only the consonants. But I did learn that you read it in the direction the characters are facing--the block of text always has the little animal and people figures facing in one direction for each blocked section. The larger figures decorating the sides face in a certain way too, to let you know where to start the reading. Sometimes it was right to left. Sometimes left to right. But it was always from top down, to avoid confusion on that direction. Sometimes the symbols represent pairs of sounds, so it's not too simple. Check this out: http://www.egyptologyonline.com/decoder.htm There's a few other sites online, just type in Egyptian Hieroglyphics symbols, you'll find some University stuff on it.

raeanne	16 Jun 2005
Hi all, Could someone post a scan of one of the cards? I don't have this deck but I do know a bit about hieroglyphics. I would be happy to take a look and see if they can be translated.

HedgeWych	18 Jun 2005
Budge is rather outdated. I'll talk to some people, see if I can find a good book for you.

Lillie	18 Jun 2005
Yes, Budge is very outdated. Dainel Jackson said so at the beginning of the Stargate movie. Victorians, eh? they thought they knew it all, and now they are not around to be told that they were wrong! Inconsiderate, or what? But even with a good book I doubt I could learn. So far in my life I have failed to learn French, German and Welsh. It seems I do not have an aptitude for languages. Sometimes I do not even have an aptitude for English! :(

Icestorm	19 Jun 2005
Hieroglyphics is extremely complicated. I once tried to read an untranslated version of the Egyptian Book of the Dead using an online translation guide. Needless to say, I failed abysmally ^^

The Egyptian Tarot thread was originally posted on 14 Jun 2005 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.