Ancient Egyptians, apart from being superstitious, were great believers in magic as well. They had special magic Egyptian Spells that were to be recited in certain situations that they believed would help in protection, especially with regard to souls of the dead.
Magical Egyptian Spells
Apart from just the magical phrases, certain spells had magical amulets to be worn as well while chanting the spell to make it work. The spells were contained in many different books such as the Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts and the Book of the dead.
The Egyptian book of the dead was considered especially important as it contained the instructions for using Egyptian Spells and ancient rites to ensure the departed souls a safe passage to the underworld. Sometimes, wealthy Egyptian nobles would ask to be buried with a scroll of papyrus that contained spells from the Book of the dead to make the passage even easier.
The magic spells in ancient Egypt included in the Book of the Dead were as follows:
Magic spells relating to burial ritual
Spells relating to safety of heart and soul of the deceased
Safety of the Underworld
For entering the hall of Truth
Two spells that were considered especially important were spell 125 relating to Declaration of Innocence which was to be used before Osiris and 42 judges of the court and spell 156 which relates to the god Isis and requires the use of a Magic Amulet.
It is recited over a knot amulet made of red jasper which was placed over the heart on the body of the deceased for protection against wickedness, sometimes referred to as the Isis Amulet. The words of spell 156 from the Book of the Dead calls upon Isis and is as follows.
“The blood of Isis, the spells of Isis, the magical words of Isis shall keep this great (or shining) one strong, and shall protect him from whosoever would harm him do to him such things as he abominateth.”
The requirement of all these spells was due to the Egyptian belief that the soul would go through a lot of Obstacles before it was allowed to Pass through such as fearful beasts, various traps, demons and a long series of tests.
It was believed by them that only once the obstacles were bridged and the tests passed would the soul be able to reach the Hall of Two Truth where their mortal lives would be examined. If they were not well prepared the soul would remain unhappy and incomplete.
Taking into consideration this sorry state of affairs that an unprepared soul would have to face, it isn’t surprising that the Ancient Egyptians took their spell- work very seriously!
