Maat This goddess usually is depicted as sitting down, in the posture of a god (neter or netcher):
No arms or legs are visible, because the body is wrapped up - like a mummy. Maat signifies order, truth and justice, and on top of her head there is an ostrich feather:
Schu The ostrich feather has a glyph of its own, schut, and the god of air, Schu, is signified by schut:
However, these feathers are used in many different circumstances:
Above is a picture from the judging of a dead person (with feather on top of his head seen sticking up from a black sky), Maat in the left scale and his heart in the right scale.
Here the pharaoh is offering meret-boxes, whatever that might mean. These boxes usually have four feathers, and then they correspond to the four cardinal points.
Judges of the dead carry a feather to show that they are sitting there to judge. |