ANST-401 Lessons

Welcome back, students! I am glad to see so many of you have returned to class, rather than run to the registrar. How are you enjoying the class so far?

I hope you brought your sandals with you today, as we will be spending the next three classes studying the magic of ancient Egypt. Too cold? Ah well, that’s what we get for teaching about warm climates in cold castles.

At this point, I should explain a little bit more about how this class will work. Within each of your years in this class we will be covering one or two geographical areas of the ancient world. As you know from lesson one, we will be focussing on Africa and the Middle East during the first year of the class. No doubt many of you, being the intelligent students that you are, have realized that there is simply no way we can cover every known ancient civilization during our time together. Think of this class as more of a quick introduction. For example, we could easily spend your entire Hogwarts education focusing solely on ancient Egypt, and I am trying to simplify it into only three classes.

As mentioned before, there are a great many ancient civilizations - more than we could possibly study in decades at Hogwarts, and so I have selected the most famous and the most interesting ones to focus on in class. And so, off to ancient Egypt we go!

Walk Like an Egyptian

During your History of Magic classes, you no doubt learned that magic, and those who use it, have existed far back in human history - further back than even written records of history reach! That said, even though magic existed before the dawn of this civilization, Egypt has often been attributed a foundational role in the development of magic, and has even been called the “mother of magicians” by Clement of Alexandria, a well-traveled philosopher and theologian from the 3rd century CE. And truly, it was. Far, far back even in the earliest dynasties of ancient Egypt, witches and wizards were highly respected, revered, and often elevated to positions of power due to their abilities. One way to obtain great power in ancient Egypt (other than being the pharaoh, of course) was to be part of the priesthood. One thing that is important to know is that ancient Egypt was a religiously diverse civilization and therefore priests had different roles and titles based on which sect they were part of or which pantheon was being worshipped. One thing they all had in common, however, was nearly limitless power, as long as they didn’t upset the ruler at the time. To give you an example, in the temples of Anubis, the highest priest was called the Hery Seshta, which translates to “the chief of mysteries or secrets.” This position was tantamount to being a mini-pharoah. Nothing happened in their area without their say so! As you may have guessed, it was very common for magical persons to attain the rank of priest (hery seshta or otherwise), though it was not necessary to actually have magical ability to be perceived as being capable of magic due to complex beliefs, potions, and other factors we’ll get into later.

I Love when You Do That Hocus Pocus to Me…

Now that we’re on the topic of magic, it’s the perfect time to differentiate our concept of magic from the Egyptians’ view. In ancient Egyptian culture, the indirect name for the concept of magic was heka. I say “indirectly” because the word heka conveys a sense of the catalyst or the energy required to make a creation or change possible, which encompasses the idea of magic, but not quite as literally as we think of magic today. Heka was neither good nor bad, and could be channelled in either direction, depending on the intent of the user. Heka was further composed of two parts: sia, known as “the divine knowledge,” and hu, or the “divine utterance.” The last portion of heka-related terms was akhu, or the action or result of the magic, spell, enchantment, or other completed manifestation.

 These concepts actually bear quite a bit of resemblance to our current spellcasting components and how magic works in general, at least if you tilt your head and squint. After all, the laws of magic are constants! So, to make magic work in any part of the world – and in any time period – you need the same parts. Akhu is rather obvious, I should hope. The action or result of your spell in Charms or Transfiguration is hopefully very clear (and what you intended to do when you waved your wand). But what about hu? We don’t have any divine utterances in modern magic-making do we? Ah, but of course we do! It simply requires a bit of knowledge about English. An “utterance” is a spoken word or statement, and you’ll find we have a lot of that in spellcasting! The counterpart of hu, as stated, is sia. Sia is much more of an abstract concept. There are no wands waving or magic words uttered to prove that you know things. No, sia is something you and you alone know if you have. You know the “force” you put behind spells to make them work? The sheer act of willing magic into being? This knowledge of yourself and your own will is where sia lies.

Finally, we have heka itself. What part of casting a spell is what makes your magic take shape? Well, your intent of course. You could have all the right words, all the right wand movements, and the strongest will imaginable, but if you didn’t know how to direct your magic, if you didn’t have an intent or focus, nothing would happen! However, due to heka’s abstractness, sometimes people accidentally get heka’s component confused with sia.

Phew, now that we have the basic definitions covered and fully explained, let’s see how these concepts were used in ancient Egypt. Fortunately for ancient witches and wizards, the use of heka in ancient Egypt was highly accepted. It was as natural to ancient Egyptians as sleep or food; it was simply a part of life. 

In fact, heka was tied to almost every aspect of ancient Egyptian civilization. Through magianthropology, magiarcheology, and the research of magihistorians, we can see evidence of the implementation of several different forms of magic regularly throughout Egyptian history. In particular, charms, transfiguration, and divination were heavily used in this culture (in addition to the famous curses guarding their burial areas). So strong was their understanding of these magics that some of the spells and enchantments are still in effect today: thousands of years after they were cast.

One of the most prevalent uses of magic in ancient Egypt was as part of the practice of medicine. So intertwined, embraced, and valued was heka in the culture, there was no distinction between magic and science in medicine. For example, spells and the use of amulets infused with charms were simultaneously combined with clinical observation and carefully measured prescriptions in the treatment of a patient. Similar to how the wizarding world works  today, ancient Egyptians used the best treatment available for their patients and did not consider one form to be different from the other.

With all that said about how prevalent magic was, not everyone was believed to be capable of it. There were two specific groups thought to have the ability to command magic, both called hekau. Hekau could either be born with the ability to use it already spilling out of them, or could have it existing dormant inside of them, gaining the use of it during certain periods of their life. The second category, I’m sure, seems surprising to you as, based on what we know today, no person can temporarily acquire magic after a period of being non-magical. No matter how badly a Squib may wish to become a witch or wizard, you either are or you are not. Nothing can change that.

But let’s go into a bit more detail about the two categories. The first group of people, or those born with magic already spilling from their every orifice, included kings, deities, priests, and the dead (keeping in mind that in ancient Egyptian practice you were “reborn” into the world of the dead). The second category of people, those who were said to gain the use of magic during certain periods of their lives, was not nearly so restrictive. In fact, this category of people was actually just a mechanism which helped the ancient Egyptians understand and explain some biological processes that seemed magical, such as breastfeeding an infant. 

And Now, a Brief Word from Our Sponsor… Errr, Gods and Goddesses

Let’s take a deeper look at two of the revered figures that were part of the former category of hekau, those naturally born with it. We’ll specifically be investigating two deities, and not just any, but the god and goddess of magic! It’s no surprise that the ancient Egyptians had a god and goddess who represented magic use, and you’ll find over the years through this class, and potentially in Mythology too, that this is quite common. Nor is it odd that the gods and goddesses were believed to have a form of magic. However, Heka and Weret Hekau still have quite interesting backgrounds.

The god Heka (distinguished in this class from the general concept of magic by using a capital letter, as this is his name), was technically only a secondary deity, despite being the literal incarnation of magic, a force that was so prevalent in ancient Egyptian society. However, his influence was far-reaching. We won’t be getting too much into the pantheon of gods and goddesses in Egypt as there are actually many different versions (and those things are better suited for a Mythology class). But we’ll talk about the concept of the pantheon enough to contextualize Heka’s complicated position in the hierarchy of gods. In some sects, also called “cults,” Heka was revered as a part of a trio of important gods in some areas, was the second god that Atum-Ra created in others, and in further accounts, he was the embodiment of a primordial force that all the other gods and goddesses had access to (and therefore, he was the first in existence). Despite his prevalence, though, he wasn’t as directly worshiped as others, with most of the cults devoted to him residing in Heliopolis, Memphis, and Esna.

Depictions of him vary wildly (depending on the era, dynasty, and location) but he was most often portrayed as a human holding two snakes, usually crossed in front of him. In some of the earliest depictions -- dating back to 2,055 BCE -- Heka was occasionally depicted with female breasts, meant to be a representation of his dual nature. He also had many fancy titles, such as this one from an inscription in Esna: “Lord of Oracles, Lord of Miracles, who predicts what will happen.” I’m sure I don’t need to point out the clear references to divination there. But what I do want to add is that he was specifically associated with the divinatory practices of astrology and haruspicy, or the reading of entrails. Divination was incredibly important and revered in ancient Egyptian society. There were many forms, and the master of all of them (or perhaps I should say mistress) was known as the “rekhet” or “ta rekhet” of which there was only one at a time.

Ah, but I’m getting off topic, aren’t I? Moving right along to Heka’s counterpart, we have Weret Hekau, also known as “Werethekau,” the “great one of magic,” as well as the “great enchantress.” She was not as popular or prevalent as her male counterpart, mostly due to her development in mythology. Again, while I hesitate to go into too much detail, I’ll provide just enough context to explain this goddess’s role. You see, initially, the term “Werethekau” was a word used for certain objects associated with ruling, eventually becoming the title ascribed to multiple goddesses (such as Isis or Hathor), before finally manifesting into her own separate, distinct goddess later on in the history of Egypt. As you can see from the image, Weret Hekau took a completely anthropomorphic form, in this case, that of a lion, but on occasion, she took the form of a cobra instead. In this image, you can see her serpentine association reflected in her headdress. For now, we’re going to move on to explore and explain why these associations were so important.

Perhaps the strongest belief in ancient Egyptian magical circles was that of the power of words and images. The knowledge of an object or deity’s “true name” was absolutely essential for any magic to prove effective. So great was the belief in the power of names and associations, that quite often magical spells invoked the name of a god or goddess who had survived a trial similar to the current crisis being addressed, especially in cases where protection from harm was sought. For example, a magical spell might invoke the name of the god Horus in order to ward off and protect from scorpions and snakes, as Horus had survived a significant trial involving these deadly creatures. Another example of invoking the name of a deity would be the creation of an amulet infused with the ability to soothe away labour pains. In this case, the witch or wizard would have invoked Isis, (or sometimes Hathor), who went well out of her way to conceive and give birth to Horus, one of the greatest gods in ancient Egyptian religion. Symbols and visual associations were important as well, explaining their slight obsession with anthropomorphic gods and goddesses. As we’ll talk about in just a moment, Weret Hekau’s cobra was often incorporated into the design of magic wands in order to lend the instrument more power.

Focus on Me

Speaking of these instruments, I should clarify the use of foci in ancient Egypt. By this point in your education, I imagine you know that wands are merely one of many types of foci that have been used throughout history, or even in the present day in other areas of the world. This is clearly demonstrated by the use of focusing objects in ancient Egypt. Regardless of the form they took, these objects were regarded as having significant power, which partially contributes to our own present-day emphasis on wands, as you’ll see.  

What were some of the objects used? Well, I’m glad you asked. In addition to the ubiquitous wand, there were also amulets, figurines, ivory clappers, scrolls, and rods. Whatever your preferences, objects of power were of great significance in ancient Egypt, which is why we have such a vast knowledge of their beliefs and practices.

Amulets are touched on in much more detail in other classes, particularly in Ancient Runes, but in brief, these amulets could be animals, gods, figures, or symbols. They could be further adorned or amplified with runes, or simply left on their own. Typically, the shape of the amulet had some association with the effect the wearer was trying to invoke. For example, a woman trying to conceive would likely wear an amulet depicting Taweret. Likely, this one-use type of focusing tool seems odd to us with our habit of using multi-purpose wands, but the ancient Egyptians were not the only ones to follow this practice. 

Speaking of wands, the ancient Egyptians’ use of amulets did not mean they eschewed wands altogether. Not at all! There are many examples of ancient Egyptian wands that have been excavated and displayed, even in non-magical museums. But if you were to see an ancient Egyptian wand, you’d be forgiven for not knowing what it was immediately. Instead of the long, thin pieces of wood we use, Egyptians use curved tusk-like protrusions of ivory. Those wands, just like the amulets were further decorated and inscribed, both with hieroglyphs, as well as figures of gods and goddesses to channel their power. Specifically, the figure of Weret Hekau was often incorporated into these scenes, as she was known to be such a powerful and prodigious magic user. Despite all this, unlike ancient runes which added to the strength and duration of spells, the shape of the goddess did not enhance the materials used in these objects. However, it did strengthen the person’s belief, and therefore augmented the potency of the magic inadvertently. Interestingly, hearing of or seeing these powerful spells performed while invoking the goddesses’ name continued to fuel the belief in the goddess (and the same occurred for other figures used as well).

Before we wrap up for the day, I’d like to briefly contextualize a few of the other foci I mentioned, namely rods, clappers, and scrolls. Rods were also used in addition to or instead of wands, though these were more commonly made of a stone, which in some cases are actually believed to have various magical associations in some cases. Clappers, as our last focus type, were typically made of ivory. They were either curved like the wands (likely because they were also carved from hippopotamus tusks), or straight. They came in pairs and were essentially forearms, ending in hands, that were clapped together during rituals and ceremonies. These were typically less adorned than the wands, as they were meant to look like hands and arms, and therefore were viewed as an extension of the caster. Finally, we have scrolls. These likely seem like a strange focusing object, but because literacy was so exclusive in ancient civilizations, Egypt included, these written spells had the most prestige and belief (and therefore served as very good focuses for those who had magical ability). They would be carried around or perhaps even worn, much like amulets.

Closing

That concludes our discussion for today! Just to whet your appetite, let me leave you with this: during our next lesson we will speak more about the use of charms in ancient Egypt as we explore the history of the pyramids and the need for curse-breakers. As for the rest of this lesson, you have a mix of mandatory and optional assignments. There is a short quiz on the basic facts covered in the lesson today, as well as a practical assignment asking you to analyze five modern spells in order to identify which parts of each spell are heka, akhu, sia, and hu. 

Finally, the optional, or extra credit, assignment is simply an opportunity to explore the above mentioned concepts further, as well as a few others. The goal is to creatively present definitions or examples of key terms we covered in the lesson. More details to come in the actual assignment itself.  Until next time!

Image credits here, here, here, and here
Original lesson written by Professor Liria Morgan