The gods of the Nile — where the sun is a boat, the sky a goddess, and death a doorway weighed against a feather.
Egyptian myth is among the oldest continuously recorded on earth, a theology of the sun's daily death and rebirth, of the flooding Nile, and of the ka that survives the body. Its gods wear the heads of falcons, jackals, cats, and ibises; its central drama — the murder of Osiris, the mourning of Isis, and the vengeance of Horus — is the archetypal dying-and-rising myth that echoes through the rest of Mythology and into the Tarot.
The Pantheon
| Deity | Domain | Tarot |
|---|---|---|
| Ra | Sun, creation, kingship | The Sun |
| Osiris | Death, resurrection, the afterlife | Death · Judgement |
| Isis | Magic, motherhood, the throne | The High Priestess |
| Horus | Sky, the living king, vengeance | The Sun · The Emperor |
| Set | Chaos, storm, the desert | The Devil · The Tower |
| Anubis | Embalming, the guide of the dead | Death |
| Thoth | Writing, wisdom, the moon | The Magician |
| Hathor | Love, joy, music, the sky-cow | The Empress |
| Nephthys | Mourning, night, the dead | The High Priestess |
| Sekhmet | War, plague, fierce healing | Strength |
| Bastet | Home, protection, joy | Strength |
| Ptah | Creation by the word, craft | The Magician |
| Amun | The hidden god, king of Thebes | The Hierophant |
| Ma'at | Truth, justice, cosmic order | Justice |
| Nut | The sky, arched over the earth | The Star |
| Geb | The earth | The Empress |
The Heliopolitan Ennead traces every player in the Osiris drama back to the creator.
flowchart TD
R["Atum-Ra — the creator"]
R --> ST["Shu and Tefnut"]
ST --> GN["Geb — earth and Nut — sky"]
GN --> Os["Osiris"]
GN --> Is["Isis"]
GN --> Se["Set"]
GN --> Ne["Nephthys"]
Os --> Ho["Horus"]
Is --> Ho
The Osiris Myth
The heart of the tradition: Osiris, the good king, is murdered and dismembered by his brother Set; his wife Isis gathers the pieces and revives him long enough to conceive Horus, who avenges his father and takes the throne while Osiris becomes lord of the dead. Ma'at's feather weighs each heart at the judgment, and Anubis and Thoth attend the scales.
Related
- Mythology Hub
- Tarot — the dying-god and the weighing of the heart
- Hermeticism — Thoth as Hermes Trismegistus, the fount of the Hermetic tradition