Square 15 is an important house with unique rules, and is halfway between two groups of 15 squares. Because the frog Goddess Heqet helped Osiris become
resurrected from the dead, she was also thought to help mortals in the
same way. The Bennu Bird/Phoenix also represents rebirth and
resurrection, but out of fire and air rather than from earth and water.
The frog, an aspect of the Goddess, Heqet, is shown atop a sign meaning
"mistress". Some interesting comments are made about the mid-board Frog square (Rejuvination or Ressurrection) by Timothy Kendall.
"It may in fact be the fact that lunar eclipses occurred on
the 15th day of the lunar month (i.e., during the full moon). "
Peter Piccione points out that the solar and lunar cosmologies seem, according to the Great Game Text, to be reconciled at Repeating Life, depicted usually as the frog Goddess Heqet -
The sudden appearance of many frogs on the banks of the nile from out
of apparently lifeless desert sand (following the annual deluge and
innundation of rain) made them become the symbol for resurrection,
birth, fertility and regenerated life.
Because the frog Goddess helped Osiris become resurrected from the
dead, she was also thought to help mortals in the same way. The
Phoenix in many ways also represents rebirth and resurrection, but out
of fire and air rather than earth and water.
This is the first square we have reached that is known to have a
special function in the game, for on this square are re-entered those
counters that fall into the Abyss (square following the Beautiful
House). So in a very literal sense this is the square of repeating life.
The frog symbol continued to be used in the same way even into early
Christian times in Egypt. It frequently appears as am oil-lamp design
of that era marked "I am the Resurrection" -- having now been employed
as a symbol of Christ.
One possible reason for the frog's placement on this particular square
might be the fact that lunar eclipses occurred on the 15th day day of
the lunar month (during the full moon). This assumes Square one,
Thoth, is the start of the lunar cycle. The sudden darkening of the
disk and its quick recovery of brightness may have been seen as a
renewal of life for the moon, and perhaps a sign of hope for the
deceased halfway through their journey.
-ts1520279306.jpg?ts=1747329412)
