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have created this collection of amulets, vignettes and portraits
to appeal to the individuals who like something different.
You have the choice between a collection
painted with earth tone colors or the gold edition.
 eatured
in this collection are, centrally a miniature mummy mask of
19th dynasty King Rameses II flanked on either side by relief
portraits of King Rameses and Queen Nefertari. Along the bottom
register from left to right, appears the scarab beetle, Bast
the cat goddess, the eye of Horus and the djed pillar of Osiris.
As an extra surprise- the cartouches of Rameses and Nefertari
are hidden within the collection.
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scarab beetle has recently gained notoriety being poorly misrepresented
in movies as oversized flesh eating bugs that chase you through
underground tomb chambers. This is of course a ridiculous
flight of Hollywood fantasy. Scarabs are primarily vegetarian
for a start. They perform the useful break down of animal
dung, skilfully rolling it into globes much larger than their
own bodies. To the ancient Egyptian it was an unusual visual
occurrence in their natural world and they attached a spiritual
significance to this. The scarab or "Kheperu" became deified
as the one who pushed the sun up over the horizon each morning
and became a symbol of rebirth and renewal. The symbolism
of regeneration was also exemplified in the observation that
the scarabs rolling globe would eventually hatch a new generation
of beetles. The amulet in this collection is typical of the
type that would have been bought in an ancient market and
used as an amulet during life. It would also be included in
the future burial to be placed on the heart region of the
mummy to ensure rebirth in the next world. The ancients believed
the heart was the centre of intelligence not the brain.
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cat goddess. Like many of the animal gods within the Egyptian
pantheon it was initially the observation of behavioural patterns
that could link the god to elemental or emotional characteristics.
Thus Bast the domesticated cat which offered affection and
strong mothering characteristics came into being. At one time
she was known as the bringer of joy and associated with all
manner of light hearted activities such as music and dance,
assimilating many of the qualities of the love goddess Hathor.
The separate but no less venerated aspect of this goddess
was her hunting prowess. In a mythological sense she would
sit on the bow of the solar barque of the sun god Ra smiting
his enemies as they sailed through the twelve gates of night.
Images of Bast clawing or cutting the serpent "Apep" are frequently
depicted in papyrus scrolls. Her principal centre for worship
was the city of Bubastis in the Nile delta which became the
capital city during the 22nd dynasty when she was elevated
to supreme god
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eye of Horus / Ra….. This was a potent amulet of protection
and has nothing to do with the so called "evil eye" of a relatively
more recent conception. When the stylised curl of the beneficent
Egyptian eye faces right, it represents the sun and alternatively
left signifies the moon. It is also known as the wadjet or
udjet eye.
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Djed pillar….. Here is an amulet that was used to invoke strength
and stability into your life. Variously interpreted as the
spinal column of the god Osiris or alternatively his mythical
carved wooden column. If you could not afford to buy a djed
pillar or any other amulet for your burial, a simple drawing
of the amulet on pieces of cloth or drawn directly onto the
mummy bandages would suffice to invoke the power.
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