Verona McColl's Egyptian Pyramid Oracle is a deck of twenty five colorful cards, all emblazoned with spiritual imagery from the ancient dynastic civilization of the Nile Valley. Representations of gods, goddesses, sacred objects and symbols are all rendered in modern paintings faithful to original designs still found in surviving temple art.
Their oracular significance is explained in a 172-page booklet included in McColl's mini-kit. It instructs readers how to read the deck as a means of foretelling future trends and events in their personal lives. Deities, items and signs are described in the context of ancient Egyptian belief, while the upright and reversed meanings of each card are clearly explained. Thus informed, my wife, Laura, and I decided to put Verona McColl's oracle deck to the test by reading it for each other.
In my case, the process went with particular swiftness, because I have been acquainted with ancient Egyptian symbols since a child, so the identity and significance of Thoth, Isis, Bastet and the rest were instantly recognizable, lending a kind of immediacy and intimacy to the experience. For most other readers less familiar with such imagery, McColl provides a succinct if thorough glossary of ancient Egyptian terms, together with concise biographies of the gods and goddesses illustrated on the cards.
Following her dealing and reading instructions, Laura slowly shuffled the deck while concentrating on a specific question she had in mind. She then cut the cards, placing the top pile to the left, finally placing the right pile of cards on top of the left. With my left hand, I took them up, and began laying out the first six, making sure to turn each one over from the top to keep them in the same orientation in which Laura had shuffled them.
The cards were laid out face-up to form the outline of a delta, with he first one in position of the apex of a pyramid. I placed the card number two in the second row on the left, just below the "apex." Card number three went opposite number two. Card number four corresponded to the left base of the pyramid, as number five did for the right. In between lay the final card, forming the pyramid's base.
As I read the meanings for each one of the cards Laura randomly chose, I was unaware of the question with which she shuffled them, and was, therefore, unable to bias their interpretation. Going strictly by the book, I told her that card number one encapsulated her question and specified certain factors which influence it. The image she picked out belonged to Sekhmet, who once ravaged mankind to the brink of extinction. The lion-headed goddess was prevented from completing her cataclysmic task only when the other gods spilled a lake of beer which she lapped up and fell into a drunken stupor --- not, one might imagine, a propitious beginning to Laura's reading.
McColl assured us, however, that the illustration of Sekhmet depicts her kneeling in the pose of offering, while a military standard of victory is draped behind her. Laura' question, we were told, bodes "great achievement and power will be won if harmony is maintained. Triumph over all, defeated enemies" --- shades of Sekhmet's genocidal myth. "Monetary gain," the reading continued, "and travel." So, we were off to a positive start, although the prediction seemed rather generalized just yet. Beginning with the very next card, however, things began to get more specific. It occupied a position associated with those forces which oppose the positive results promised by Sekhmet.
As the great American mythologist, Joseph Campbell, used to point out in his lectures, the physical realm in which we live is composed of pairs of opposites which form the reality and struggle of life on the Earth-plane. Opposites generate struggle, itself the means by which organic matter is brought into existence, becomes strong and inevitable passes away to make way for new life. The second card personifies these opposites in the context of Laura's question, and therefore represent obstacle or complications she will need to address before the project she envisioned may fulfill the promise made by Sekhmet.
The god chosen for this position was Thoth, the divine patron of writers, envisioned as ibis-headed man holding a palette in one hand and an ink pen in the other. In McColl's illustration, he is portrayed touching the tip of his pen to a single, up-right feather. This is the symbol of Ma'at, the Egyptians' concept of balance and harmony they believed with the chief spiritual principle underlying the entire cosmos. Thoth's concept as ibis-headed was metaphorical of the bird's reputation for using its long bill to select only the most choice morsels of food hidden beneath the muddy banks of the River Nile, underscoring Thoth's ability to choose valuable truths unseen by others.
His appearance in the second position meant that Laura will have a special encounter with a wise person who could lead her to the goal expressed in her question. This valuable guide was described as prudent, mature and courageous, surrounded by an atmosphere of solicitude, inner strength and discretion. So far, so good.
Card number three indicates Laura's fears or inhibitions concerning the development of her project and its outcome. These were abundantly cared for by the appearance of Osiris, the man-god of rebirth. In Egyptian myth, he was remembered as an early king murdered by his brother, Set, but brought back to life through the magic rituals of his sister, Isis. These they later shared with other human beings as the Osirian Mysteries, wherein initiates were believed to achieve life after death.
Osiris in the third position meant that Laura could expect exciting new beginnings, ideas and opportunities, renewals and transformations. Some loss of security or stability may enter her life, but it is all supposed to be part of casting off the Old to make way for the arrival of the New. She was cautioned not to be afraid, but forge ahead boldly toward success. The fourth card at the left of the pyramid base represented the help and support available to her, particularly in the form of a particular man or woman offering important assistance.
Here, too, Laura was not to be denied, because Isis -- wife of the preceding Osiris -- occupied this position. Isis is synonymous with a very creative, organized person with much ability. Through her guidance, opportunities taken will flourish with originality and success. Imagination, skill, self-confidence and skill surround her. She is described as someone with a great deal of depth and influence over others. She is skillful, competent and self-reliant. Laura was especially taken with this card, because she clearly recognized the character portrayed in it.
The fifth card indicates influences surrounding the project at the center of her question. It featured the image of Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the dead, but more of a spirit-guide believed to visit all persons after the moment of passing, leading them through the darkness of death, like a seeing-eye dog, toward the light of eternity. He stands for great richness, representing a reliable, solid, steadfast influence. He also signifies additional assistance from a strong, well-to-do person, experienced in successful leadership, and mathematically proficient in business.
The sixth and final card in the middle at the base of the pyramid is tells of the final outcome to Laura's query. The goddess she chose for this position was Nut, goddess of the night sky, her celestial body stretched over the Earth, touching the eastern and western horizons. Each evening, Nut swallows the solar disc, an act that still survives in the parallel holy communion of the Catholic mass, when celebrants swallow the disk of the sacred host. As this spiritual nourishment signifies the rebirth of Christ in those who partake of this meal at the altar of God, so Nut gave rebirth to the sun-god, Ra, each morning in the east, thus eternally creating night and day.
Her appearance in the ultimate card indicated that Laura would receive inspiration, renewed energy, well-being and vitality through shared love, joy, work and play "with pleasant people." After the reading, she told me that the cards had accurately delineated the question she had in mind. It had to do with a major writing project that paralleled all the major stages she envisioned for its successful development. Most remarkably, the kinds of supporters described in the cards were clearly recognizable characters with whom she is working on her project.
The reading's positive affirmation and accurate reflection of real events and persons presently moving through her life helped her to replace potentially paralyzing doubts with renewed confidence. On a more fundamental level, it outlined the course she should take to final success and the obstacles she needs to confront.
Now it was my turn to try out The Egyptian Pyramid Oracle. I went through the same process described earlier, shuffling the deck as I wondered if my own book project, on hold, as it were, over the last several years, would finally be published in 2003. Response was precisely the opposite Laura received, but no less accurate.
From the very outset, the cards told of "stagnation and temporary immobility." Conditions would be "slow to change." At best, I was being urged to "be patient and try to look beyond the immediate situation." In trying to get the book published, I was informed that "poor choices, indiscretion and indecision are likely." There was too much "failure to recognize opportunities, delay, holding back, hesitancy, and apathy." The consistency of the different cards randomly drawn was remarkable. They went on with their bad news: "Failure to proceed with plans; setbacks and pitfalls."
But through this consistently bleak prospect, a slight ray of encouragement shone through at the end: "A need to adopt a more mature outlook on the situation. Great patience is needed. Setback not your failure." As negative as my reading was, I had to admit that it precisely described conditions surrounding the aborted publication. That much I already knew. What the cards went beyond in showing me was the continued need for endurance, with the implied promise that my long-suffering book would someday, after all, see the light of day --- in the gods' good time.
The two readings demonstrated that The Egyptian Pyramid Oracle works. It has not been engineered to feed us unalterably good news, oblivious to the disappointments and difficulties life poses. Like all good oracles going back to the ancient Greek Delphi or Rome's Sibylline verses, it tells the truth, and, no less importantly, offers us helpful guidance we may choose to follow in the pursuit of our destinies. The underlying principle of all oracles is the relationship of at least two apparently unrelated, random events which assume personal significance to a particular observer.
It was from a study of Chinese divination in the I-Ching throwing sticks that the great Swiss psychologist of the 20th century, Carl Gustav Jung, began his investigation into meaningful coincidence, which he coined, "synchronicity". He found it is a real phenomenon, the modern-day mystical experience, connecting our daily lives with the divine. The Egyptian Pyramid Oracle operates on this same principle, in which seemingly random events suddenly illuminate the so-called "real world" of material existence.
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