Answer: none of the above!

LOL


It was Quirke I was remembering. I thought of it right after I posted my last response. It works together with Pinch, though, so I'll try and assemble my thought process here for you. I'm in a wicked rush right now (dinner's overcooking while I type), but I'll try and get the gist across to you.

Start on page 52, Quirke, Sun Cult of Ra, with the opening of the Underworld Book:

Quote


The writings of the Hidden Chamber...

Knowing the secret powers....

There is an occult backdrop to the spells. They are secret.

Now, move forward to page 64, "Degrees of Participation in ancient Egyptian Religion".

He goes on to show that these powerful texts were reserved for the king and the king only. They must have been kept secret somewhere.

I'll type some bits, but my scanner isn't working, so I can't do the entire section.

Quote

In the surviving temples, undoubtedly rather different from the solar shrines, at least this demarcation of different levels of access appears with dramatic clarity. According to a scheme repeated from the New Kingdom to the Roman Period, the least accessible area comprises the innermost halls, on a slightly raised floor level, like the first mound of creation, with lower ceilings and little or no light. Here the secret rites of the cult were performed in the presence of the image of the deity.

I know he's talking primarily about the rituals here, but spells and rituals were very closely related, as I'm sure you know.

Carry this idea forward into the Pinch, p. 50. She basically talks about the carry-forward of the knowledge, and says "It is even possible that the written magic was a royal monopoly for a time". Granted, that's not evidence, but I'm assembling a context here. Bottom of page 51:

Quote

Many cult temples, and perhaps some mortuary temples, had a House of Life inside or close to their sacred area. This institution was like a library, scriptorium, school and university all in one. Subjects such as medicine and astronomy were studied there, but the production and transmission of protective rituals seems to have been the main function of the Houses of Life The lector priests were skilled in reading books kept in the House of Life. Their reputation as dream interpretors was probably based on the consultation of standard "Dream Books". Although they were subject to the same rules of ritual purity as other priests, lector priests were not part of the main temple hierarchy. They probably played no part in the daily service in the sanctuary, but they were in charge of some of the magical rituals which were performed in temples on a less regular basis.

She goes on to say they officiated at funerals. That's an important distinction from the other magician/priests.

Now, contrast that with the level of spells and such that we find in the Sekhmet priests (physicians). If memory serves, they would often be buried with their texts and tools. We find no such burials with the Lector priests, I don't think. Those materials were kept secret somewhere.

I'm out of time, but that's a general outline of the material that led me to the conclusion I posted earlier. I hope the typos aren't too bad.



Anthony

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think.