Many classical writers considered Egypt to be the source of magical knowledge. The antiquity of its civilization, the abundance of temples and pyramids, mysterious gods with the heads of animals and birds, mysterious hieroglyphs, rituals in honor of the dead, the deification of the pharaohs created an enticing and mesmerizing atmosphere that for the adherents of the occult has not yet disappeared in the darkness of oblivion.
In ancient Egypt, they believed that magic allows you to establish contacts between people and gods, as well as between people living and dead, they resorted to it to ensure comfortable conditions for their future stay in the afterlife and to solve important problems of current earthly life.
Evidence of belief in the power and power of magic has come down to us from ancient times. One of them is an inscription on a granite stele found between the paws of the Sphinx, guarding the pyramid of Khafre in Giza. The inscription says that once Pharaoh Thutmose II, who ruled from 1290 to 1224 BC, tired after hunting, dozed off at the foot of the Sphinx. In a dream, the god Haremahet appeared to him, who commanded the Pharaoh to cleanse the Sphinx statue from the sand that covered it. Waking up, Thutmose ordered to immediately begin to fulfill the divine will.
A description of one of the sections of magic - the technique of invoking the spirits of the dead, or necromancy, is set forth in a series of instructions stored in the museums of London and Leiden or in the Parisian Louvre. There you can find detailed descriptions of how to establish contact not only with gods and spirits from the realm of light, but also with demonic beings and ruined, lost souls.
Necromancy arose and developed due to the desire of people to penetrate the secret of hidden, unknowable phenomena and events - both present, past and future. It was believed that it makes it possible to receive messages, advice and instructions from the other world, as well as to make requests to the creatures residing in it. Of course, all these actions were accompanied by certain, often very complex rituals.
The knowledge of the ancient Egyptians about the existence, appearance and occupation of demons was much broader and richer than the knowledge of European magicians during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. A large amount of information about underground demons is contained in the texts of the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. Some of them guarded the gates of the afterlife from the penetration of the "wicked", others roamed the underground possessions of Osiris, and the bodies of the dead served them as food in this gloomy world, and they quenched their thirst with their blood.
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With demons (they are also evil spirits), the Egyptian magician, on his own initiative, did not come into contact, as a rule, and if they came without an invitation, he drove them away with the help of mirrors, various amulets and spells. When these funds did not help, they scared off with fire.
The main content of magic rituals were spells. With their help, they summoned creatures from the other world, subordinated them to the will of the spellcaster and sent them back to their place of permanent residence. The style of spells was always pleading and demanding, they were pronounced or read with special intonations, accompanied by special gestures and postures, and all this was a very impressive show. Each magician had his own set of spells, which he often kept in the strictest confidence, because it was believed that if a “colleague” found out about them and, even worse, tried to use them, they would lose their power.
Here is an example of a spell and its implementation, taken from an ancient text and quoted in the famous novel "Pharaoh" by Boleslav Prus (translated by E. Troepolsky):
“Then the magician raised his hands and said: 'Heavenly Father', meek and merciful, cleanse my soul … Here I am - relying on God's help, I am foreseeing and fearless … I - mighty - call you and conjure … Appear to me, obedient, - in the name of Aye, Saraye … In the name of the almighty and eternal God … Amorul, Taneh, Ra-bur, Latisten … I conjure you and call … In the name of the star, which is the Sun … Suddenly everything was quiet. Before the altar appeared a ghost in a crown, with a staff in hand, astride a lion.
“Beroes!.. Beroes!..” said the ghost in a dull voice. “Why are you calling me?..”.
A special type of "applied" sorcery was the creation of substitute bodies, which were used exclusively for the purposes of black magic. The ancient Egyptians were sure that if a magician fashioned a figurine of a person from wax and began to perform certain rituals on it, then their results would affect the person who served as the prototype for the figurine. The prevalence of such manipulations with wax dolls is evidenced, in particular, by the inscriptions on sarcophagi of the Middle Kingdom era (2050-1750 BC), as well as ancient texts.
In the so-called "Li Papyrus" there is such an entry: "Pentiboon, who was the manager of the estate, said to him:" Bring me a book that would give me magical power and power. " And he brought him a book on magic from the library of Pharaoh, the great god, his master, and he went to use divine power against his people. His assistant El-rem made figurines of people from wax and performed various spells and spells on them. And so both of them unleashed disease, pestilence and other misfortunes on people."
And here is a fragment of the text from Rollin's Papyrus: “I have resorted to witchcraft to cause and bring misfortune. I made several wax figurines of gods and people, in order to cause these people to dryness and necrosis of their limbs. I gave these figures to Rabbekameo, whom the divine Ry did not appoint as ruler of the house."
This papyrus tells of the Conspiracy of the Harem Ministers against Ramses III, the last prominent pharaoh of the New Kingdom, who ruled from 1188 to 1157 BC. e. Some sorcerers who practiced black magic and turned their art against the pharaoh and his courtiers also took part in the conspiracy. But, as the papyrus goes on to say, the conspiracy was uncovered. The conspirators, the chief of whom were recognized as two sorcerers, were tried. One of them was brutally executed, the other was forced to commit suicide.
However, not only conspirators, but also the highest Egyptian nobility, including the pharaohs, resorted to the services of black magicians. After all, they also had to fight against their enemies literally for life and death. In these cases, the book of the demon Apophis probably served as a guide, which suggests, for example, this method of destroying enemies: “Make wax figures of all living and inanimate enemies of Pharaoh and write the names of these people in green paint on them. Put the figures in a box, spit on them, and then trample them with the "unclean" left foot (isn't this the source of our expression to stand up with the left foot?). After that, stab them with a knife and throw them into the burning straw, which you then extinguish by flooding with the urine of an adult woman."
The amulet has been considered one of the most powerful magic means since ancient times. Its purpose is to protect its owner from all kinds of troubles. According to the ancient Greek writer and historian Pliny the Elder, amulets were most widespread in Ancient Egypt during the New Kingdom (1580 - 1085 BC). Amulets were made of precious and simple stones, metal, glass, wood. They could be pieces of papyrus or cloth with spells or drawings of magic symbols. Sometimes amulets in the form of small objects were placed inside the knots on the surface of the woven belt.
Most closely magic in Ancient Egypt was associated with medicine and healing. The greatest of sages, sorcerers and healers in the Egyptian tradition was considered Imhotep, the supreme dignitary of Pharaoh Djoser, who ruled around the first half of the XXVIII century BC. e. The name and titles of Imhotep - the builder of the first pyramid, the stepped tomb of Djoser in Sakkara - are preserved on the statue of the pharaoh in the memorial temple at this pyramid. However, the fame of the healer outweighed all other merits of Imhotep, and later he was deified as the patron saint of healing, especially revered in Memphis. Since the middle of the first millennium BC. e. the Greeks began to identify him with Asclepius; the god of healing, who had the ability to even raise the dead (in ancient Roman mythology, Asclepius corresponds to Aesculapius).
One of the most important tasks of magicians in Ancient Egypt was to protect the secrets and peace of their former masters and patrons after their transition "to another world." And they perfectly coped with this task both during their lifetime and after their death.
There is a lot of evidence of how, even in ancient times, fate severely punished the robbers and defilers of the tombs of the noble Egyptians. But the spells seem to be in effect to this day. How else to explain the already mentioned series of mysterious deaths of many of those who took part in the autopsy and research of the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun.
However, few people know about another equally mysterious and ominous story associated with the opening of the grave of the priestess of the god Amon-Ra, who lived in the city of Veset about 3600 years ago and was buried in the Valley of the Kings near Biban El-Mulyuk.
Her grave was plundered in the 60s of the XIX century, the priestess's mummy has not survived, but the sarcophagus with the image of a female face of demonic beauty remained intact. They say that everyone who dealt with this sarcophagus was overtaken by a premature and inexplicable death. Including all the owners who succeeded each other. And the photographer who took pictures of the sarcophagus allegedly saw on one of the prints, as if alive, the face of a beautiful Egyptian woman with an ominous smile on her lips. The last owner of the relic saved her life by donating it to the British Museum.
But the spell continued to work. When it became obvious that after the acquisition of the sarcophagus, the mortality rate among museum workers had increased dramatically, it was decided to hide it in the basement and display a copy in the hall.
Meanwhile, the Americans became interested in the sarcophagus, and in 1912 its secret delivery to the USA was organized. The relic was packed in a simple box, in the cargo bill of lading and in the customs declaration it was recorded as a "box with books." On April 10, 1912, she was loaded at Southampton aboard the Royal Postal Service's most modern and most reliable steamer. This steamer was the Titanic on its first working voyage. And on the night of April 14-15, he collided with a huge iceberg and sank. Of the 2,227 passengers, only 705 survived. As it turned out later, on the Titanic's route, the fatal iceberg was the only one within a radius of several tens of miles.
From the book: "All the secrets of the Earth, which you must learn before you die." Pimenova V. L.