New spread for MAAT Tarot-Intensive study-Part 1

juliecucciawatts

Over the weekend I held an intensive study for some students in the Chicago area. The group got to see a movie I created about my trip to Egypt last November and then we delved into the idea that the Egyptian Funerary texts were not just for the dead pharaoh but were also useful to the living. The funerary texts may well have been used by the living pharaoh as well as the priesthoods to journey to the "far world" This premise is the feature of a fairly new book by Jeremy Nadler called Shamanic Wisdom in the Pyramid Texts.

Understanding the Egyptian concept of Time.

The Egyptian view of time and eternity was not like the view we have today. They did not view time as people in the 21st century do, the future stretching infinitely in front of us and the past infinitely behind us. They did not have a heaven above and hell below them.

Time was seen as a blending commingled phenomenon. There was neheh cyclical physical time –the seasons, the cycle of stars in the sky, which was infinite and there was djet a world where time was suspended a place where there was no time this was an eternal place. The worlds of djet and neheh were commingled though one did not see djet it was always there. Djet and neheh were all part of the perfection and state of eternal harmony of the universe known as maat.

Part of the perfect harmony of the universe was the rising and setting of the sun. The place on the horizon where the sun rose in the morning as well as the place where the sun set at night were considered sacred like a doorway to the ‘far world’ this doorway was called akhet meaning ‘horizon’. This doorway led to the place called the Duat ‘the far world’. Everyone in Egypt was responsible for working toward maintaining maat. However it was the responsibility of the pharaoh to maintain maat. Temples built in Egypt aided the pharaoh in maintaining maat and served as a gateway to the ‘far world’ as temples served as a link between the earth and the sky.

The Duat or the ‘far world’ was the place where one went at death it coexisted with the physical world, it was not seen as separate but a world that existed simultaneously with the physical world. In effect the Egyptians had a rather shamanic world view and funerary texts once thought to aid only the dead may have in fact been mean for the living as well. And may have been used in rites by priests and priestesses to journey to the far world.
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Then we used a spread I created based on the 12 hours.Doing the spread before we knew what the questions were was fun and surprising.
Journey Through the Dwat- Tarot Spread
12 hours of the Journey of the Sun (pharaoh)
We found the best way to do this is to shuffle and pick 12 cards place the cards in an arch starting from the right side and going left dipping down and around like the bottom half of a circle. See jpg image attached.
Then read the questions in Part 2 of this thread.
 

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juliecucciawatts

New spread for MAAT Tarot-Intensive study-Part 2

Now here are the spread correspondences to complete your reading:
The actual funerary texts are found in the tomb of Thutmoses III in the valley of the Kings. There is a movie of these funerary texts filmed by Chance Gardener in Magical Egypt a symbolist tour episode 5 navigating the afterlife what to do in the Duat. available on line.

The First Hour Shows a barge with a scarab floating on the water and it is about the preoccupation with separation symbolized by three snakes, the snake as a larval form of life separates the waters. The symbol of the boat on the water represents the consciousness being led through the mysterious interaction with the flow of time. Time is the river. What I need to separate from.

The Second Hour Shows the barge with Amon in his shrine on the bow two cobras Isis and Nepthyus the personification of Magic. She who guides the boat…Magic guides the boat. What magic guides my boat?

The Third Hour Shows Anubis and Osiris. She who cuts up souls the prototype for
The Christian hell-the annihilation of the shadow. Those who obstructed others are
forgotten. T In other words the identity of people who stand in the way of other peoples’ enlightenment are sentenced to oblivion and lose their identity. What is my shadow?

The Fourth Hour The coffin descends into the earth. How deep can I go?

The Fifth Hour Physical to divine. The Power of the Earth to rebirth. Life bursting through the egg of Saqar. Creates a bridge to heaven. What am I creating?

The Sixth Hour The solar barge rests on the water faced with Set. Apep must be cut into pieces. The enemy is cutup and overcome. Opposition is just as immortal as divinity itself. Who is my immortal opposition?

The Seventh Hour Symbols of transformation. Symbols of weaving and metamorphosis the four states of matter in the form of un-sheared rams. Going from lower to higher consciousness. What is my transformation?

The Eighth Hour Deities seated weft and warp more weaving What must I contemplate?

The Ninth Hour The boat contains the scarab rolling the egg with its own future symbol of the Great Work. Symbols of the rising sun may be the kundolini. What is my Great Work?

The Tenth Hour Harmonious solar and lunar, right and left-brains rising sun is at the third eye. Harmony and balance. What will bring me into harmony?

The Eleventh Hour Process is almost complete solar and lunar fused together. The enveloper riding across time on the serpent. Intellect made divine duality reconciled Mastery over time.
What do I need to know from the timeless place?

The Twelfth Hour Process is complete barge is rolled through the large snake compared to the kundulini energy released. Ba and Ka unite the new sun rises. Who am I?
 

Melvis

What a fabulous spread! I'm excited to see the fruits of your trip to Egypt being shared. I gave the spread a go, and it was very interesting.

1st Hour (What I need to separate from)
TEMPERANCE - Full Moon Cycle of Pisces
I guess the card about time and mixing cycles is the perfect card to start out a journey through the underworld, isn't it? :) I think this re-emphasizes the need to separate myself from the mundane.

2nd Hour (What magic guides my boat?)
TWO OF WANDS - Last Quarter Moon in Sagittarius
A union of some kind is apparently guiding my boat, but I don't know what that union would be. I'm wondering if it's more like a decision I've made instead of a union, and now I'm looking past the decision to the world beyond. I was able to change some things at work that I think will make it much more fulfilling in the future, so I'm thinking that's what it refers to.

3rd Hour (What is my shadow?)
THE DEVIL - Winter Solstice / Yule
I think getting past this decision has been my devil. It took me a long time to figure out how to get where I wanted to be, so I spent a great deal of time thinking to myself, "What if...?" Evidently I spent too much time at that place in between, wondering what was coming, wondering if I should turn back.

4th Hour (How deep can I go?)
THREE OF CUPS - First Quarter Moon in Cancer
This card made me laugh out loud, because I pictured those three ladies looking down at me in the underworld and saying, "Wow, that's pretty far down!" To me, this seems to be giving the answer, "As deep as you need to go...don't worry about it!" Whatever will be, will be.

5th Hour (What am I creating?)
KING OF CUPS - Full Moon in Sagittarius
Wow, this is such a powerful card! It's so striking. To me, this indicates that I'm trying to create a space in my life and work that I can feel free to love and enjoy, and where I feel appreciated and satisfied.

6th Hour (Who is my immortal opposition?)
SEVEN OF WANDS - New Moon in Aquarius
I don't know if this is supposed to be a person or not, but, looking at the card, this is not the type of job for me. I'm not much of a 'front of the house' type of person. But, as I get into other areas of my work, this is what I'll have to start doing. It's time to 'cut up' my fears and eliminate my opposition!

7th Hour (What is my transformation?)
PRINCE OF WANDS - Winter Solstice
A lot of Solstice cards in this reading! This seems to say that my transformation in actually getting on with something once I've decided to do it. This card shows the infant Sun at the beginning of his life, and that's really what transformation is about - getting on with life after making a change.

8th Hour (What must I contemplate?)
THE SUN - Summer Solstice / Litha
Here's the third Solstice card. My first thought is that I should keep my goal in mind. As I thought about it more (and looked up what you said in the book ;)) the idea of wholeness in respect to this card came to mind. So I'm thinking it's more about contemplating what exactly makes up my idea of a perfect outcome; consider all the parts of my life and work and what they would be like if I reach my goals.

9th Hour (What is my great work?)
FIVE OF SWORDS - New Moon in Scorpio
Hmmm. I'm assuming this isn't saying that I'm going to cheat other people as my great work! :D When I looked more at the card, the look the 'victim' is giving to the viewer seemed very distinctive. I don't think he's being 'taken' at all. He's going to 'out' these swindlers as a public service. That's more of what I see myself doing. Not outing swindlers, necessarily, but illuminating information of all kinds through computer graphics and programming.

10th Hour (What will bring me into harmony?)
PRINCESS OF WANDS - Full Moon in Virgo
I love this girl! I just picture her saying, "What?! Let's go already!" The impatient teenager ready to get on with her life. So what will bring me into harmony to continue my journey is sustaining myself with the potential energy that is around me; reaching out to the people around me that are hopeful and driven to make the world a better place.

11th Hour (What do I need to know from the timeless place?)
TEN OF CUPS - Last Quarter Moon in Pisces
I need to appreciate the family around me, both at work and at home. I look at the card and think, "It's right in front of you!" I just have to open my mind and see it.

12th Hour (Who am I?)
TEN OF COINS - New Moon in Cancer
Another Ten at the end of the reading - good place for them to be, I'd say! This is such a perfect card for me, as I think of myself as the keeper of our family's legacy. I've done our family's genealogy and I still work on it because I enjoy it so much - learning how our ancestors lived their lives, finding out what happened to them and why they did what they did. This is an area I hope to blend my new computer skills with and create new ways to work with family trees and family history information, so this is a great card to get!

Interesting that there were 5 'winter' cards, according to the Ma'at system. I don't know exactly what that means, but it seems appropriate for the spread, doesn't it?

Peace,

Melvis
:TSTRE
 

juliecucciawatts

Oh Melvis what a great reading. I think the only thing I would add would be the magic that pulls you through is your own thought process, constantly pulling you toward the warm and sunny place. Thanks for participating.
Julie
 

annik

Very inspiring post!