Egyptian Tarot Deck Cards

Understanding the Egyptian Tarot Deck

The Egyptian Tarot Deck is one of those esoteric card sets that pops up in every alternative spirituality shop. It’s got 78 cards — 22 Major Arcana and a full Minor Arcana suite — all dressed up in ancient Egyptian iconography instead of the usual Renaissance medieval imagery. The Major Arcana paths through Osiris, Isis, Thoth, the Sphinx, and various underworld judges instead of just The Fool and The World like a standard Rider-Waite deck. Here’s what most guides won’t tell you: the Egyptian Tarot isn’t actually “ancient.” There’s no evidence Egyptians used tarot — they didn’t even have tarot. This is a modern reinterpretation, usually published in the 1990s or 2000s, combining Hermetic Qabalah, Egyptian mythology, and standard tarot structure. Some decks get it more right than others in terms of symbol consistency, but they’re all modern constructions.

Egyptian Tarot Deck Cards — What You Actually Get

I’ve been working with Egyptian-themed decks for about twelve years now, and the first thing you need to know is that there isn’t just one Egyptian Tarot Deck. Several publishers have released their own versions, and they differ significantly in artwork, card meanings, and even structural choices. The most common version follows the Thoth-inspired naming convention where the Major Arcana maps Egyptian deities to traditional tarot positions. The Magician becomes Thoth or Hermes Trismegistus. The High Priestess is often Isis. Death maps to Osiris. The Sun is Ra. The Devil might be Set or Apophis depending on the deck’s philosophy. But here’s the catch — different Egyptian Tarot Deck Cards will assign completely different correspondences, and some will break the standard 22-card Major Arcana structure entirely. On the Minor Arcana, you’ll typically find the four suits rendered as staffs (wands), cups, swords, and discs (pentacles), but sometimes reimagined as ankh rods, lotus cups, khopesh swords, and scarab discs. The pip cards still go from Ace to Ten, plus Court Cards — King, Queen, Knight, Page — though some Egyptian decks drop the Knight entirely and only use three court cards per suit, which messes up the standard 56-card count.

A practical problem I ran into last year was trying to do a full Celtic Cross spread with a version of the Egyptian Tarot Deck Cards that had been expanded to 79 cards because the publisher added an extra “Serket” card between The Tower and The Devil. Nobody warned me about this. The spread still technically worked, but the positional meaning got thrown off by one card, and I spent twenty minutes recalculating which card occupied which arcana segment. If you buy an Egyptian Tarot deck, check the card count first. A standard 78-card deck is what most readers know how to work with. Anything outside that range requires custom spread modifications.

How to Read Egyptian Tarot Cards — Practical Approach

Reading Egyptian Tarot works basically the same way as reading any other tarot deck. The symbolism is thicker and more mythologically specific, which some people find helpful and others find distracting. I fall somewhere in the middle. The Egyptian pantheon gives you a built-in symbolic vocabulary that’s deeper than “this card means X,” but it also means you need to know your gods or you’ll miss half the nuance. When I pull an Egyptian-themed Death card, I’m not just thinking “transformation.” I’m thinking Osiris — dismemberment, resurrection, judges of the underworld, the weighing of the heart against Ma’at. That adds a layer of moral reckoning that a standard Death card doesn’t necessarily carry. Similarly, an Egyptian Sun card tied to Ra isn’t just “joy and vitality.” Ra travels through the Duat every night, fighting Apophis in complete darkness before winning. That’s a harder, more combat-oriented reading than the usual sunny optimism. For beginners, here’s what I’d suggest: learn the Egyptian mythology basics before you start reading seriously. You don’t need a degree, but knowing who Thoth is, what Ma’at represents, and roughly how the Weighing of the Heart scene works will make your readings a lot more coherent. I’d recommend spending maybe an afternoon on the Book of the Dead summaries and the major gods’ roles. It saves you from pulling a card and having no idea whether you’re supposed to be thinking about protection, justice, or the afterlife.

Common Egyptian Tarot Deck Symbols and Their Meanings

The ankh is probably the most recognizable symbol across these decks. It shows up on the Ace of Staffs or as a framing element in Major Arcana cards. In my experience, it primarily signals spiritual vitality, life force, or a positive outcome. But I’ve also seen it appear in positions where the surrounding cards suggested mortality or endings, which created a reading tension I found interesting but frustrating to explain to clients. The Eye of Horus appears frequently in the Minor Arcana, especially the Six and Eight of Cups. It generally relates to intuition, protection, and restored vision. When it shows up reversed or in a challenging position, it can indicate paranoia, overwatch, or someone watching you without you realizing it. Serpents and cobras are everywhere in Egyptian Tarot. The Uraeus on royal cards, the coiled Apophis near The Devil or Ten of Swords, and occasionally the serpent as a protective guardian. Serpent energy in these decks usually means transformation through danger, hidden knowledge, or cyclical renewal. The tricky part is that not all serpent appearances are negative. A protective cobra on the Hierophant card, for instance, signals sacred knowledge and temple authority, not menace.

The scarab beetle — specifically Khepri, the morning sun scarab — tends to represent new beginnings, particularly ones that feel earned rather than handed to you. If you pull a scarab card in a spread about a career change, it’s not “you’ll get a promotion.” It’s “you’ll push something forward through persistent effort and it’ll roll into a new phase.”

Getting Started — Where to Find a Deck

If you want to pick up an Egyptian Tarot Deck, your main options are usually Amazon, specialized occult bookshops, or directly from the publisher’s website. Popular versions include the Egyptian Tarot by Rachel Pollack and the Thoth-influenced decks by various artists. Pollack’s version is probably the most widely used and has the strongest symbolic consistency because she actually studied Egyptian mythology extensively before designing it. Some people online offer PDF downloads of card images for DIY printing, but I wouldn’t recommend that approach unless you’re on a tight budget. The card art on these decks matters a lot for intuitive reading. A black-and-white photocopy of an intricately illustrated Ankh card strips away visual information you’re subconsciously processing during a reading. If you print your own, at least color-print them. The approximate cost range is between $15 and $35 depending on the edition and publisher. Boxed sets with guidebooks run $25 to $50. I’ve seen cheap knockoffs on eBay for under ten dollars — avoid those. The art quality is usually terrible and the symbolism inconsistent, which makes learning the system a lot harder than it needs to be.

Reading Sessions and Practical Setup

Unlike some tarot traditions that require elaborate rituals, Egyptian Tarot doesn’t demand much setup. I usually just clear a small space, light a candle if I feel like it, and lay out the cards. The Egyptian theme doesn’t change the basic physical process of shuffling and drawing. But psychologically, the Egyptian aesthetic does create a certain mood — it’s heavier, more serious than a flower-and-angel themed deck. Some readers lean into that by using incense, specifically frankincense or myrrh, to match the ancient Egyptian atmosphere. It’s not required, but it helps with focus if you’re easily distracted. For a simple three-card spread, lay out Past, Present, Future and draw from the shuffled deck. The Egyptian imagery adds contextual depth to each position. A Past card showing the Pyramid or The World as Khepri might indicate foundational work you did earlier that’s now bearing fruit. A Present card with the Obelisk or Akehu could signal a period of alignment and purpose. A Future card with the Nile or Flood suggests emotional depth and possible upheaval, depending on surrounding cards. One thing I noticed that trips people up: the Egyptian Tarot Deck Cards don’t always follow the Rider-Waite-Smith pictorial conventions. Some cards use hieroglyphic-style framing, which can make the imagery less immediately legible than a standard deck. I’ve had clients stare at a card for thirty seconds saying “I don’t see anything.” The picture is usually there, but it’s rendered in a flatter, more graphic style. Taking a breath and looking at the overall composition rather than hunting for specific details usually helps.

Limitations and When This Deck Doesn’t Work

Egyptian Tarot isn’t for everyone. If you’re looking for light, fun, quick readings about daily decisions, this deck will feel unnecessarily weighty. Every card seems to carry the gravity of ancient cosmology, which can make simple questions feel like they’re being answered with the seriousness of a funeral rite. For casual “should I text him back” readings, a standard deck or even an oracle card set works better. Another limitation: the Egyptian pantheon is complex and not universally agreed upon. Different sources within ancient Egyptian religion sometimes contradict each other, and modern occult interpretations add another layer. If you pull a card and your understanding of the deity conflicts with the card’s traditional placement in your system, you’re going to have a messy reading. I’ve encountered this multiple times with Set/Seth, who’s alternately the chaotic enemy of Osiris and a protective solar deity depending on the historical period and text. Different Egyptian Tarot decks make different choices about which version to follow, and they don’t always label it clearly. If you’re new to tarot in general, I’d actually recommend starting with a Rider-Waite deck first. The Egyptian Tarot Deck Cards assume you already understand basic tarot structure — what suits mean, how the Major and Minor Arcana function differently, how spreads work. Jumping straight into a thematically dense deck without that foundation tends to overwhelm beginners. Learn the bones first, then put the Egyptian skin on top.

The other honest limitation: Egyptian Tarot decks don’t always come with comprehensive guidebooks. Some publishers include thin pamphlets with basic keyword lists, which is fine for reference but insufficient for deep study. I ended up building my own reference notes by cross-referencing the deck with Egyptian mythology sources and standard tarot correspondences. It took about three weeks of evenings, but now I have a personal reference system that’s more useful than any printed guide. If you’re the type who likes building your own framework, this deck rewards that effort. If you want something ready-made, you might be slightly disappointed.