Doug M Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Heka as an intellectual "attribute" is only
> focusing on the later manifestation of the
> concept. Heka as a magical attribute of "the
> word" is certainly more older and traces back to
> priest/magicians who were/are an important part of
> many African animist traditions.

....and your citation would be?

> All of these
> priest/magicians receive years of training in
> knowing how to perform their rituals, which
> include using "words of power". That is not an
> "intellectual" attribute, it is inherent in the
> practice of rituals and activities associated with
> "magical" power. This is about belief not
> intellect and the power of the word partly comes
> from the power of belief. Unless you believe in
> magic, there is nothing about Heka that can be
> construed as "intellectual", in the sense that
> such words will cause something "magical" to
> happen. The priest/magicians of Egyptian temples
> were the ones who would have learned these "words
> of power" and by using them as part of the rituals
> of Egypt, invoked the "magic" or power of the
> gods. None of that represents any sort of
> "intellectual" tradition.

....and your citation would be?

> Likewise, Egyptian medicine also involved magic
> and part of this magic involved the priests who
> would drive out spirits, similar to the role of
> Heka in driving away demons from the barque of Ra.
> This idea of magical healing is also seen in the
> damage done to the Eye of Ra/Horus which was also
> healed through magic.

....and your citation would be?

> So it is over simplistic to
> say that magic, had no role in Egyptian medicine
> and that ancient Egyptian physicians did not learn
> "magical" incantations or rituals as part of their
> teaching.

Oooh, a strawman argument: where did I say that "magic had no role in Egyptian medicine"?

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

See anywhere where I said that "magic had no role in Egyptian medicine"?

> The idea of magic as part of the rituals
> of healing are ancient in Egypt and Heka
> eventually became symbolic of this aspect of the
> healing tradition, which traces all the way back
> to ancient animistic practices in Africa. It
> doesn't matter if this was called Heka at any
> particular time or not, what is being pointed out
> is the concept of magic and healing being part of
> the role of the priest within a religious
> framework.

So, in other words, you have no citation which proves that Heka = ancient animistic practices? By your own admission, you presume animistic practices existed in ancient Egypt, though you cannot cite any valid references that it factually did exist in ancient Egypt.

That's not much of an argument, IMO.

> All of this is what is symbolized by the snakes
> you posted, where they become symbolic of priestly
> power and magic and healing. Again, it is a
> reflection of the concept of magic as an important
> part of religious ritual. It is precisely this
> association with serpents and magic that was seen
> in the Biblical story of Moses.

The association of snakes with magical practices in Exodus has to do with the fact that the magicians' wands in ancient Egypt were in the form of snakes. As I showed at least one reference to this type of wand, we know that was what the Biblical reference was likely about. Yet, nowhere in Egyptian myth is there any example where their wands "come to life" and do their bidding, so you have to presume that was the Canaanite take on what those snake wands meant, but no necessarily what the Egyptians conceived of their purpose, which was usually symbolic of divine action being part of a ritual, or at the very least, as an apotropaic image which called forth an image to be avoided.

While serpent worship in ancient Egypt is a whole study within itself (see below), these creatures generally represent the power of divinity[/u[. So, it's not surprising that wands would be made in their shape. In Tutankhamun's tomb, a similar statue of a snake has the title of /nTr anx/, the 'living god', which reflects the Egyptian belief that all snakes are considered archetypes of gods, since Egyptian religion says that any divinity makes him/herself into a snake (in fact, in the apocalyptic end time, Egyptians myths say that all divinity shall revert to snakes).

But this is different from shamanistic animism to which Bernard refers. No Egyptian priest or magician wishes to or believes he can transform himself into a snake, or has a snake for a companion in a spirit-world. Rather, the magician uses the symbols of a snake to represent a god's action on the world. IOW, the snake symbolically represents the power of creation, which is the culmination of the intellectual acts of creation by word (Hu), which is preceded by planning-with-insight (Sia), and where both are realised by personal power/will, or magic (Heka).

In short, Heka is the divine concept of personal will to bring a cause or plan to fruition - one has an insight and expresses it [[b]Hu[/b]], one plans the outcome [[b]Sia[/b]], and finally, one has the will to carry it forth [[b]Heka[/b]] - together, that's control of divine creation (i.e., magic) in ancient Egyptian thought.

Reference:

Cooper, W. R. 1873. The Serpent Myths of Ancient Egypt. London: Robert Hardwicke.

Eschweiler, P. 1994. Bildzauber im alten Ägypten. Die Verwendung von Bildern und Gegenständen in magischen Handlungen nach den Texten des Mitteleren und Neuen Reiches. Orbis Biblicus et Orientalis 137. O. Keel and C. Uehlinger. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht.

Johnson, S. B. 1990. The Cobra Goddess of Ancient Egypt: Predynastic, Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom Periods. Studies in Egyptology. A. B. Lloyd. London: Kegan Paul International.

Morenz, L. D. 1997. (Magische) Sprache der "geheimen Kunst." SAK 24: 191-201.

Nordh, K. 1996. Aspects of Ancient Egyptian Curses and Blessings: Conceptual Background and Transmission. BOREAS 26: Uppsala Studies in Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Civilizations. R. Holthoer and P. Hellström. Uppsala: ACTA Universitatis Upsaliensis.

Roberts, A. 1995. Hathor Rising: The Serpent Power of Ancient Egypt. Devon: Northgate Publishers.

Schott, S. 1953. Symbol und Zauber also Grundform altägyptischen Denkens. Studium Generale 6/5: 278-288.

Wilkinson, R. H. 1994. Symbol and Magic in Egyptian Art. London: Thames and Hudson.

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg

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