Brigid Bishop on Tarot Decks: Cartouche
Cartouche is considered to be an “Oracle of Ancient Egyptian Magic”. Many of us, myself included, are fascinated with this culture, its mysteries, secrets and esoteria. My fascination with this ancient and prophetic culture is what brought me to discover the way of Cartouche.
The archetypical imagery employed by Cartouche is grounded in the timeless energies of the Mother, Father, Family, Love, Strength, Creativity and so forth. These energies are part of the human condition, and despite the fact that the cards date back thousands of years, they are still the life’s blood of the human race.
Cartouche are not tarot cards. They are an extremely separate energy, founded in the Egyptian cultures of eons ago, yet I include them in this series to bring them to the attention of Tarot enthusiasts as an enhancement to the knowledge base.
The deck consists of just twenty-five cards, less than one-third of a modern tarot deck, yet these twenty-five cards contain just as much, if not more insight and energy into today’s life issues.
The cards numbered one to nine represent the major archetypical influences of the culture. You will find Osiris, Isis, Horus, Bast, Thoth, Hathor, Nephthys, Ptah and Anubis here. Cards 11, 12, 13 and 14 represent the four elements of Fire, Air, Water and Earth. Cards 15 to 25 represent mundane energies and include Sirius, Lotus, Crook and Flail, Uraeus, Winged Disk, The Twins, Sphinx, Scarab, Pyramid, Ankh and Buckle of Isis. Card number 10 in the deck is Set, this card is negative in energy and tone and represents opposition to any other energies contained in the current spread.
I find these cards useful in my own personal meditations and long term divinations. For some reason, I sense a greater power in this deck than in a traditional Tarot deck, although these energies generally take much longer to unfold and become apparent to me. I do not use them in my professional practice, I only use them on myself. I find them more useful in the spiritual, psychological and metaphysical planes than in the mundane (day to day) business of interpretation.
As there are far less cards contained in the deck, spreads are usually much smaller, three to six cards, yet deeper in interpretation, with the exception of the “Horoscope Spread” that I do for myself on each of my birthdays. This spread contains a total of thirteen cards and forecasts the upcoming year for me.
When interpreting a Cartouche reading, I do so first on a Spiritual level, then Psychological, and then on the Mundane level. In so doing I ensure that I am not missing any message that the Cartouche holds for me.
I also find the Cartouche valuable for use as a Talisman. When need be, I choose the appropriate energy and carry that cards with me or wear jewelry with that Cartouche until the need for the extra metaphysical boost passes.
For example, I call on the Cartouche of Isis when I feel a need for protection. Whenever I hired a babysitter when the children were young I kept the Cartouche of Isis out to ensure their safety. Isis also protects those of us who are on the occult path from negative energies, entities and people.
I would recommend you check out the book “The Way of Cartouche” by Murry Hope if you have an interest in studying this powerful oracle, it was the first book I bought on this subject and still a frequently referenced part of my metaphysical library.