Magic in ancient egypt

MYTH A N D MAGIC was sometimes regarded as a creator deity in his own right, Thoth usually exercised his magical powers on behalf of the creator sun god.

Thoth was linked in myth with two potent images of power used in magic, the sun eye and the moon eye. The two are often treated as identical in Egyptian myth and both may be shown as a wedjat eye (figs 10, 20). The image of the Thoth baboon beside a wedjat eye occurs on magic wands as early the twentieth century BC. The goddesses who could embody the solar eye also had an important role in magic, but were a dangerous force. The lioness Sekhmet (figs 61, 75), who personified the most destructive aspects of solar energy, was invoked in magic rituals to protect the state.

The lunar eye that Thoth restored to Horus was in general use as a protective amulet, both for the living and the dead (see Chapter Eight).

The wounding of Horus is a constant theme in magical texts. Horus has a double role in magic as both victim and saviour. In many healing spells, the sick or injured patient is identified with the wounded Horus. Yet Horus is also a god who uses his magical powers on behalf of people. He has titles such as 'the good doctor' and Horus pa shed— 'the Saviour' or 'the Enchanter'.4 Living Egyptian kings were identified more closely with Horus than with any other deity. Horus partakes of human nature in his vulnerability, but he also seems to represent the powers given to humanity to defend itself and establish the rule of order.

Isis, the mother of Horus, plays a dominant role in magic. As early as The Pyramid Texts, she was credited with extraordinary magical powers which were able to reverse or prevent the decay of her husband's body.

She features in numerous spells throughout the second millennium BC. In spite of her prominence in myth and magic, she tended to play a secondary role in cults. No major temples were dedicated to Isis before the late first millennium BC. In magical texts she appears as a popular goddess, sympathetic towards the humblest members of society. Of all Egyptian deities, she was the one most closely associated with the kind of suffering experienced by the majority of humanity.

Isis could also be given the epithet 'The Saviour' (fig. 7), indicating her willingness and ability to help individuals through her magic. 'Great of Magic' (hekd) is one of this goddess's most frequent epithets and she is often referred to as using her akhu. By the late first millennium BC, when ritual magic was playing a more open part in temple cults, Isis appears with her son Horus 'overcoming the Followers of Seth by spells'. The famous temple of Isis at Philae was built on an island close to the Egyptian border. It was probably intended to act as a magical protective barrier. The danger of both physical and supernatural invasions from Nubia was to be countered by Isis who was 'more powerful than a thousand soldiers'.

Similar epithets are given to Isis in a twelfth century BC: manuscript known as the Turin Magical Papyrus. One anti-venom spell in this collection incorporates the story of how Isis acquired her supremacy in magic.

This myth seems to be set in the period before the rebellion of humanity, when Ra was still living on earth.

29