The Egyptian Star Oracle
The Egyptian Star Oracle is a deck of 42 oracle cards created by Travis McHenry. The deck is notable for utilizing Egyptian astrology as it was practiced in 2000 BC by the star priests of Asyut.
The basis of the deck is the system of Egyptian decans, which dates to 2100 BC.
Development
The author spent more than a year researching scientific papers written about the Egyptian decans, with a focus on coffins from the Asyut region of Egypt. In April 2021, he traveled to Egypt where he spent two weeks exploring tombs and temples across the entire country. Information gathered during his research and field expedition were used as a basis for creating the oracle deck.
With the assistance of the Egyptian government and accompanied by Egyptologist Dr. Samir Homda, Director of the Egyptian Tourism Promotion Board in Asyut, Travis studied funerary artwork from the Middle Kingdom Period deep inside the Meir Monumental Tombs. His field expedition filled in the missing pieces of the astrological puzzle and answered his final, lingering questions about how these stars were really viewed by the ancient Egyptians.
During his time in Egypt, Travis extensively documented the interiors of various tombs and temples. Many of these images of original funerary and religious artwork were given new life as images on the cards in the Egyptian Star Oracle. It is the first oracle or Tarot deck to use original artwork directly from the tombs of Egypt.
Content
The images on the 42 cards come from Egyptian tomb art, papyrus, and pieces of pottery (ostracon). The background of each card contains a piece of spells from the Pyramid Texts as found inside the Pyramid of Teti in the Saqqara Necropolis.
Each card in this deck is linked to a specific star in the sky that was viewed as an important god to the ancient Egyptians. The most important of these was the goddess Sopdet, the star Sirius, who was considered the leader of the other stellar gods. This collection of gods and goddesses were known as “decans” by the later Greek astrologers, who incorporated many elements of the Egyptian system into the existing Persian astrology already in popular use.
Prior to publication of the Egyptian Star Oracle, copies of the guidebook were sent to prominent Egyptologists in Canada and Egypt. Two who reviewed it gave favorable responses concerning the fundamental theories of Egyptian astrology laid out by Travis in the book and suggested he revise the text to have it submitted for publication.
Publication history
The deck was first published by Bloodstone Studios in July 2022 through a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised $54,000. The rights to publish the deck were quickly acquired by Rockpool Publishing soon after.
A newly redesigned mass market edition of the oracle was released by Rockpool Publishing in June 2023 to widespread acclaim.