Gardener
These Haindl courts are turning out to be quite the education! The idea of a goddess as powerful as Isis being assigned to the Daughter of Swords! Many decks have placed Isis at the front of the Major Arcana, as the High Priestess. But Haindl has conceived of the mothers and fathers as high concept, the idea of a tradition, while the daughters and sons are the embodiment of that tradition on a more accessible level. So Nut the formless, the creation goddess, is the ideal (perhaps akin to the Atziluth concept in Kabbalah) and Isis “I am Nature the parent of things” is the one who brings that ideal into existence on our material plane (Assiah).
Isis was of course a goddess of Egypt. But which goddess? Her crown is a disk (the Sun disk) resting between the horns of a cow (lunar crescents), symbolizing the concept of polarity. She was a goddess of creation but also of the dead. To the Egyptians, gods and goddesses from different cities were often merged, and their attributes traded. The sun disk comes from Ra, and the cow horns come from Hathor. She acquired the sun disk because in the legend of Osiris, she took Ra’s power to give to her son Horus. Ra was replaced by Horus, and the sun disk was replaced by the eye of Horus.
Isis and her brother Osiris were the gods of the Nile, thus the life bringers of the annual flooding. Haindl captures this association in the flowing locks of her hair. Because Osiris became the lord of the afterlife (we’ll hear his story when we consider the Son of Swords), as his sister Isis was also a deity of the dead. The ribbon on her hair is made up of doors, which were the painted doors through which only dead spirits could pass. Since “door” is also attributed to the Empress through the Kabbalah, Isis is thus linked to the Empress as well. Fertility (the Nile) and death, all in one goddess.
Isis is also the mother of the pharoahs. Her name means “seat” or “throne,” and sitting on the pharoah’s throne means to sit in the lap of Isis. Her image often includes wings, which shelter the pharoah. Because the pharaoh’s power rested in the female, he often married his sister to secure his authority.
It is intriguing that among the many deities of Egypt, Isis is one of the few always represented as human. Her humanity, in contrast to the animal-headed ones, was probably a strong reason for Haindl’s choice. We remember that Radha, in contrast to Kali, is human and accessible. So too Isis, in contrast to Nut.
The colors of Isis are red and blue, fire and water, mind and emotion.
Divinatory meanings:
A powerful woman, confident, who uses her power for a goal beyond herself. Devopted to family, but neither passive nor dependent. She does not look to others for approval. Like the empress, the Daughter of Swords combines sexuality with motherhood and devotion.
(most of the above was from Rachel Pollack, with a little speculating by yours truly. I will add that I sure would like to be the woman described here, what a winner! I suppose one could do worse than to look to Isis as a role model, eh?)
Isis was of course a goddess of Egypt. But which goddess? Her crown is a disk (the Sun disk) resting between the horns of a cow (lunar crescents), symbolizing the concept of polarity. She was a goddess of creation but also of the dead. To the Egyptians, gods and goddesses from different cities were often merged, and their attributes traded. The sun disk comes from Ra, and the cow horns come from Hathor. She acquired the sun disk because in the legend of Osiris, she took Ra’s power to give to her son Horus. Ra was replaced by Horus, and the sun disk was replaced by the eye of Horus.
Isis and her brother Osiris were the gods of the Nile, thus the life bringers of the annual flooding. Haindl captures this association in the flowing locks of her hair. Because Osiris became the lord of the afterlife (we’ll hear his story when we consider the Son of Swords), as his sister Isis was also a deity of the dead. The ribbon on her hair is made up of doors, which were the painted doors through which only dead spirits could pass. Since “door” is also attributed to the Empress through the Kabbalah, Isis is thus linked to the Empress as well. Fertility (the Nile) and death, all in one goddess.
Isis is also the mother of the pharoahs. Her name means “seat” or “throne,” and sitting on the pharoah’s throne means to sit in the lap of Isis. Her image often includes wings, which shelter the pharoah. Because the pharaoh’s power rested in the female, he often married his sister to secure his authority.
It is intriguing that among the many deities of Egypt, Isis is one of the few always represented as human. Her humanity, in contrast to the animal-headed ones, was probably a strong reason for Haindl’s choice. We remember that Radha, in contrast to Kali, is human and accessible. So too Isis, in contrast to Nut.
The colors of Isis are red and blue, fire and water, mind and emotion.
Divinatory meanings:
A powerful woman, confident, who uses her power for a goal beyond herself. Devopted to family, but neither passive nor dependent. She does not look to others for approval. Like the empress, the Daughter of Swords combines sexuality with motherhood and devotion.
(most of the above was from Rachel Pollack, with a little speculating by yours truly. I will add that I sure would like to be the woman described here, what a winner! I suppose one could do worse than to look to Isis as a role model, eh?)
