From the Waite-Colman Smith Tarot

Feline imagery can be found throughout the mythic world, often associated with Goddesses.

Babylonian Inanna, Hindu Durga, Egyptian Sekhmet, even the Strength card in the Tarot all use feline imagery:

However, from a mythic (and perhaps historic) standpoint, the oldest of these Lion Goddesses was Tefnut, the Mother of the Gods…

Tefnut

First there was Nun, the primordial waters.

Nun, who was mindless, inactive.

Out of those primal waters arose the first mound, the benben.

(if you look at the top of an Egyptian pyramid, your looking at a representation of the benben)

Here, the self-made God, the first of all Gods, Atum, sat.

Despite his radiance, the Solar deity grew lonely.

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Did he sneeze them out?

Did he spit them out?

Were they the result of his masturbation?

Did he copulate with his own shadow, and bring them forth?

All have been put…