Ancient Egyptians firmly believed in “heka”, the power of magic, Nothing in the Universe was conceived without being animated by that power. The gods, the magicians and the pharaoh possessed heka, they had that magical power linked to Creation itself, which held it upright, and which allowed them to manipulate the Universe.
The magicians fulfilled an important function in the Court, interpreting the dreams of the pharaoh, offering him advise, performing rituals and spells to help him in his endeavors.
The Egyptians believed that before the world was formed, there was a watery mass of dark, directionless chaos. (Like the sky at night) In this chaos lived the Ogdoad, four frog gods and four snake goddesses of chaos. (we know that during the first act of creation of a baby the sperm appears as a snake) the ogdoad represented balance in infinity, they were thought to have helped with creation, then died and retired to the land of the dead where they continued to make the Nile flow and the sun rise every day.
Every night, Ra, the sun god, crosses the sky in his boat and the horizon disappears from view, through the West to emerge again, strong, glorious, rejuvenated, through the East. But his journey through the underworld is fraught with danger. The forces of Chaos associated with the primitive Ocean do not rest in their endeavor to submerge the Universe back to the “Nun” from which it arose.
And before being able to be reborn in the East, the Sun God has to face the incarnation of those powers of Chaos, the fearsome and colossal serpent Apep, which attacks the solar boat every night.
Joining the God Ra on this fearsome journey each night, Heka who was represented as a God, and had the power of magic, was able to confront the Terry firing Serpent Apep to safeguard the companions in the boat of the Sun god and save the entire Universe each night, on Ra's journey through the underworld
Heka is represented as a god, on the solar Boat of Ra where he accompanies Ra and protects him. Meanwhile, on earth, the magician priests perform rites and acts of magic to help the god and his companions to travel safely through the hours of the night.
Try and imagine the tombs with an invisible passage of water that flows within a dark tunnel of fear and chaos that could ultimately lead you to the light and eternity. A golden barque that has soaked in the rays of the sun during the hours of the day will now be empowered to travel through the darkness of the night on this eternal carrier of light, and it waits for you. Your mortal body is dead, you are incapable of speech, you cannot move, you are traveling across the waters of chaos, you are helpless, you sense a macabre fear of something enclosing you in the water, suddenly the water begins to drain away, a demon snake known as Apophis has guzzled the water, and your barque is becoming trapped in sandbanks, but they are not sandbanks they are the obese fat crushing coils of this gigantic snake that will trap the barque, while its demon eyes will hypnotize the crew, enabling the snake to swallow their heads engulfing them in everlasting darkness. Panic and chaos ensues, help is desperately needed, the companions on the barque struggle to fight off this vile creature, that has swum in the waters of chaos for eternity, In the battle Heka stands on the prow of the boat his divine magic was given to the human race by Ra and with his magical incantations he will exorcise the snake, subduing it to his power. Ra then calls for Set, the god of Darkness, war and Chaos to help them kill the snake whilst Heka has it in his spell
Bad Magics
Heka could be used for good and bad, During the reign of Ramses 111 Magics was used to try and kill the king. Towards the end of Ramses 111 rule, a Lower wife Tiy was found to be the main culprit in a death plot against Ramses; she had hoped to see her son Pertwere succeed to the throne. A priest who practiced the arts of magic created wax figurines potions and wrote magical spells , In ancient Egypt words were magical, and had the power to evoke the of power life and death. The spells cast against Ramses and the black magic did not kill him unfortunately for the conspirators of this devious plot, their intentions were considered as deadly and as serious as an actual physical assault on Ramses, the magic invoked was as terrible a threat as trying to cut him down with a sword. Thirty conspirators of the harem were put on trial, they were sentenced to death and told to commit suicide in front of the court or in their cells, after their trial, ten judges also faced trial for having taken meals with the accused during the trials, they were condemned to have their ears and nose cut off.
The Magicians Box Found in the Grounds of the Mortuary Temple of Ramses the Great - The Rammessium
The Rammessium magician's box was discovered in 1885–1886 in a tomb close to the Rammessium by Flinders Petrie and James Quibell, it contained papyri and items related to magical practices. On the Papyri written in Hieratic, the texts contain different spells ranging from medical care, protection of children, and charms for daily life protection. There are also copies of hymns to Sobek and for the coronation of King Senusret I, suggesting this magician also served as a high priest. The lid of the Box had the God Anubis painted on it, which meant that it was a box of secrets, Four ivory wands were discovered in the magician's box, these were made from Hippopotamus ivory. The main discovery in the box is the papyri and the reed pens, which were probably used to write the texts. The text is written in hieratic, with a structure of horizontal and vertical lines. Women, on average, lived two to four years less than men because of complications during labor. Because of this, many spells and amulets were created to protect women and children. A serpent wand made of bronze and entangled in human hair was found in the box. Serpent wands have been found in tombs from the Late Period. Serpents are considered mysterious and they have connections to both the earthly world and the underworld.
Certain Gods and Goddesses had the power of Magic, the Goddess Isis was the Egyptian Goddess of magic, fertility, and healing, Isis is the bravery found inside the ferocity of every mother, And the song inside every mourner’s heart, .She is the calm and healing waters after a rough night’s storm, ,And the wild feral beauty inside every woman’s soul, Isis is pleasure and pain, life and death, beauty and disgrace all wrapped up inside one powerful, beating heart, .She is the reminder to every woman everywhere that no man, no person, nobody can ever snuff out your spark. For you are the spark
Isis was as one of the most powerful deities in all of ancient Egypt and was known for finding her dismembered husband Osiris' body parts and putting them all together once she had travelled all over Egypt to find them, Osiris came back to life with her magic, but the God Ra decided that he could not live in the mortal world anymore, so he became the God of the Underworld. Isis was believed to be powerful in the ways of magic, having the ability to create and destroy life with mere words. She not only knew the words which needed to be spoken to cause certain things to occur, but was also able to use exact pronunciation and emphasis in order for the desired effect to occur. It is believed that if the best effect was to be produced by words of power they must be uttered in a certain tone of voice, and at a certain rate, and at a certain time of the day or night, with appropriate gestures or ceremonies. Only when these conditions have been met can true magic occur. Her reputed magical power was greater than that of all other gods, and she was said to protect the kingdom from its enemies, govern the skies and the natural world, and have power over fate itself. The worship of Isis was ended by the rise of Christianity in the fourth through sixth centuries of the Rule of the Romans in Egypt.
Childbirth and early infancy were felt to be particularly threatening to both mother and baby. Magic played the primary role in countering these threats; various evil spirits needed to be warned off, and deities invoked to protect the vulnerable. These magic knives, also known as apotropaic (that is, acting to ward off evil) wands, were one of the devices used. They are usually made of hippopotamus ivory, thus enlisting the support of that fearsome beast & the Goddess Taweret against evil. Amulets of Taweret were popular, used by the expectant mother because of Taweret's protective powers.
Another way that Taweret was thought to scare away evil that could hurt a mother and child was through the use of magic. She was associated with the magic 'wand' or 'knife' that the Egyptians used because she was a hippopotamus goddess:
Depictions of Thoth usually show him as a man with the head of an ibis, all though at other times he may be shown as a baboon. You can see the baboons as a representation of Thoth at the base of the obelisk of Ramses the great before the front pylon of Luxor His wife is the Goddess of Truth & Justice, the Goddess Maat, with whom he fathered Seshat, the goddess of knowledge, wisdom, writing, calculating, and sciences, who is shown on the back on the seated staute of Ramses inside the first courtyard of Luxor Temple, where she dedicates the years that Ramses will rule.
