Doug M Wrote:
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> Again, the common thread is that the "medicine
> man" or traditional healer is where you see the
> magical elements most like shamanism in African
> culture. These are the priests and in most
> shamanistic cultures it is the priests who perform
> these rituals not just the every day person.
> Again, this all ties to Egypt as heka, which was
> recognized from very early times in Egypt as an
> important aspect of their theology.
>
Quote:
> His cult was centered on the island of Abu
> (Elephantine) at Swentet (Aswan) where he had been
> worshiped since the Early Dynastic period. In the
> New Kingdom he was worshiped there as head of a
> triad with his wife Satet (a fertility goddess of
> the Nile and purifier of the dead) and daughter
> Anuket (a huntress goddess of the first cataract
> near Swentet, 'The Embracer'). There is a
> Greco-Roman temple for him at Iunyt (Esna) where
> he was given two consorts, Menhit (a lion headed
> war goddess, 'She Who Slaughters') and Nebtu (a
> local goddess of the oasis, 'The Guilded One') -
> one goddess became a form of the other - and a son
> called Hike (god of magic, 'He Who Activates the
> Ka'). He was also linked to the war-like creator
> goddess Neith at Iunyt (Esna). In Her-wer
> (Antinoe) he was thought to be the husband of
> Heqet, the frog goddess who gave the newly created
> being the breath of life before the child was
> placed to grow in the mother's womb.

To clear up a confusion here: the article above is about the god, Khnum, the ram-headed potter god, and not strictly about Heka, the god of magic. As in the case of many syncretised myths in ancient Egypt, Khnum is seen as the "father" of creative forces, and so Heka, which is the power of personal force (i.e. magic), would be seen as one of his sons.

But in other myths, the entities Hu, Sia and Heka are the sons of Atum, the original creator deity of Heliopolis. All three are seen as free floating entities which inspire the gods (and men). They are not part of an animistic concept, but they are intellectual attributes. These concepts include the word of creation (Hu), which is preceded by planning-with-insight (Sia), and where both are realised by personal power, or magic (Heka).

As Robert Ritner noted in his work on ancient Egyptian magical practice (1993), Heka is, during the later period of Egyptian religion, the ka-spirit (vital essence) of Re. The notion of personal internal power is central to the role of Heka. Heka involves mastery of a system of control of the cosmos guaranteed by specialist knowledge of specific words and actions of power. Thus Isis, in the myth where she tricks Ra into revealing his true name, becomes embued with /HkA/ to control the god, for she has acquired a part of him. But the power is magical power, by which she holds a personal power over Ra.

{snip}
> More on Heka:
>
Quote:
> Heka (Hike) was the patron of magic and therefore
> also of medicine.

There is no evidence that Heka was a "god of medicine." That position is held primarily by Sekhmet in Egyptian myth.

> The Egyptian word for magic was
> "heka" (which literally means "using the Ka") and
> Heka was the personification of magic. His name
> (and the word magic) were depicted as a twist of
> flax and a pair of raised arms.

'Heka', as a deity, means "he who consecrates the /kA/-spirit,"(Ritner 2002: 192; 1993:25, citing te Velde 1970), transliterated as /Hwi kA /, not the above translation (another reason to be very wary of what you read on the 'Net as truth, BTW). Heka is the divine concept of consecrated imagery, or what we may now call imagery as sympathetic magic ('if it is depicted, it exists' is a simple way of putting it).

As Ritner put it:

"The role of Heka thus outlined presents most of the salient features of this god and the concept he embodies. First of the creations of Re-Atum, Heka appears before the emanation of Hu (the creative word or 'Logos') from the mouth of the creator. This 'authoritative utterance' he infuses with his magic vitality, thereby bringing the gods and the cosmos into existence. The intimate association of magic and word is here given ontological explanation; magic resides in the word itself. Described as a son of the creator, Heka is in actuality the hypostasis of the creator's own power which begets the natural order. This primordial generative aspect of Heka is further stressed in Coffin Texts spell 648:

His powers put fear into the gods who came into being after him, his myriad of spirits is within his mouth. It was Heka who came into being of himself, at seeing whom the gods rejoiced, and through the sweet savor of whom the gods live, who created the mountains and knit the firmament together." (Ritner 1993: 17, underlining for emphasis of Ritner's point)

> The flax was often
> placed with the arms, and was thought to resembles
> two snakes. According to myth, Heka fought and
> conquered two serpents, and so two intertwined
> serpents became symbolic of his power. This symbol
> is still associated with medicine today.

Pure balderdash: there is no such myth. The only deity who is known to be represented with two snakes in the so-called caduceus manner on occasion is Harpocrates, or "Horus the Child", who is said to have held off attacks by snakes by holding them away from his body. This imagery is often seen on Cippus statues (as well as representations of crocodciles in a similar position in the child Horus' hands).

> The concept of Heka was central to the Egyptian
> way of life, and death. Ritual implements were
> used to help the deceased pass safely to the
> afterlife, but Heka was the means of accomplishing
> this task. Heka also helped Ra on his daily
> journey across the sky by warding off evil spirits
> and demons.

Heka's function on the nightly journey of Ra is to invoke the separation of heaven and earth so that the barque of Ra may pass through. This idea comes only from the Late Period Book of Apophis, which can be found in

Piankoff, A. and N. Rambova. 1957. Mythological Papyri. 2 Vols. Bollingen Series XL:3. New York: Bollingen Foundation/Pantheon Books.

> Although Heka had no formal worship, doctors and
> other healers were called "priests of Heka" and
> often sought his assistance.

Again, no. Priests of Heka were primarily librarians in the /pr anx/, "House of Life," and were in charge of ritual prayers and incantations, which befits the idea that the power, heka, was enforced through speech (Pinch 1994: 52-53). Ritner notes that a few doctors were also priests of Heka during the Old Kingdom, but this did not relate directly to their function as physicians (Ritner 1993: 15). That is, a doctor, /snw/, may owe his healing allegiance to another deity (usually Sekhmet, and sometimes, in later times, the deified doctor Imhotep), while at other times, he serves as part of the phyle (local rotating priesthood) of the god Heka.The two roles do not equate as functions of the deity Heka.

> He was generally
> depicted as a man carrying a magic staff and a
> knife, the tools of a healer. He occasionally
> appears as a man choking two entwined serpents.

Again, pure balderdash. The two snakes in the hands of the deity Heka represent his magic wands of power, as in the case of known imagery of magicians. For example, here is an image of a female magician from the Middle Kingdom (here associated with Beset, a lion demoness, who protects women during childbirth). The function of the masking and wands is apotropaic and associated with /sau/ (amulet) magic during childbirth (Pinch 1994: 56; DuQuesne 2001):


and an example of a magician's wand, from the Middle Kingdom, found with the Beset image, in the cache mentioned:


All images above are my images (this a note to moderator).

Reference:

DuQuesne, T. 2001. Concealing and Revealing: The Problem of Ritual Masking in Ancient Egypt. DE 51: 5-33.

Piankoff, A. and N. Rambova. 1957. Mythological Papyri. 2 Vols.. Bollingen Series XL:3. New York: Bollingen Foundation/Pantheon Books.

Pinch, G. 1994. Magic in Ancient Egypt. Austin: University of Texas Press.

Ritner, R. K. 1993. The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization (SAOC) 54. T. A. Holland and R. M. Schoen. Chicago: Oriental Institute.

____________. 2002. Magic. In D. B. Redford, Ed., The Ancient Gods Speak: A Guide to Egyptian Religion: 191-214. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

te Velde, H. 1970. The God Heka in Egyptian Theology. JEOL 21: 175-186.

HTH.

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg

Doctoral Candidate
Oriental Institute
Doctoral Programme in Oriental Studies [Egyptology]
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom