Oh Mighty Isis!

Those of us old enough to remember Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman will know that phrase.

So yes, I have another new(ish) deck, the Moon Oracle by Caroline Smith and John Astrop (who also created the Elemental Tarot, The Oracle of the Radiant Sun, and the Runic Tarot). It’s an interesting deck, divided into 32 moon phase cards, 28 moon mansion cards, and 12 moon goddess cards. Now, this is already way more astrology than I know, so I’m starting at the beginning and acquainting myself with the deck. I haven’t tried an actual spread with it yet but the book suggests pulling a Moon Goddess card each day to learn about them. I actually started yesterday with Ishtar, but today I decided to pull the one associated with the current sun sign – Leo. In this deck, the summer months are dominated by the “Red Goddesses” of Preservation: Hera, Isis, Demeter and Gaia. Right now as the sun is located in Leo, it’s Isis’ turn. I figure that’s as good a place to start as any. From the book that accompanies the deck:

If this Goddess card is chosen quiet, unobtrusive honesty and determination will be necessary in order to bring about the desired result. Isis is a Red goddess and represents the dignity and authority of a ruler. She urges you to take responsibility and lead the way to the solution of the matter in question.

I’m not overly familiar with Egyptian mythology, beyond knowing the names of some of the gods and goddesses. I’ve never been captivated by ancient Egypt to the extent some people are so I still have a great deal to learn about Isis. What I’ve learned so far is she is one of the more approachable, people-oriented goddesses. Isis was the daughter of Geb, the earth god, and Nut, sky goddess. Like so many other ancient gods and goddesses, she and her brother Osiris were married. While Osiris was off doing his thing, Isis would step in and kind of keep things running. She also taught the arts of spinning and weaving, how to grind flour, and rudimentary (herbal) medicine to the people. She is credited with introducing the idea of marriage to stabilize relationships between men and women. She is also the goddess of motherhood, and magic. And as with most ancient deities, the myths about her are not all consistent. Even the pronunciation of her name is uncertain, and scholars apparently came up with one at random (ancient Egyptian had no vowels, which makes it tricky to guess how something was spoken), but a reliable literal translation of her name is “She of the Throne” indicating her status as a ruler. It seems she could do it all.

Is this helping me get any writing done? Not exactly, but it’s distracting me from other things I don’t want to think about, and that’s good.