http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/anc ... ar-BBffDGD
Researchers have deciphered an ancient Egyptian handbook, revealing a series of invocations and spells.

Among other things, the "Handbook of Ritual Power," as researchers call the book, tells readers how to cast love spells, exorcise evil spirits and treat "black jaundice," a bacterial infection that is still around today and can be fatal.

The book is about 1,300 years old, and is written in Coptic, an Egyptian language. It is made of bound pages of parchment — a type of book that researchers call a codex.

"It is a complete 20-page parchment codex, containing the handbook of a ritual practitioner," write Malcolm Choat and Iain Gardner, who are professors in Australia at Macquarie University and the University of Sydney, respectively, in their book, "A Coptic Handbook of Ritual Power" (Brepols, 2014).

The ancient book "starts with a lengthy series of invocations that culminate with drawings and words of power," they write. "These are followed by a number of prescriptions or spells to cure possession by spirits and various ailments, or to bring success in love and business."

For instance, to subjugate someone, the codex says you have to say a magical formula over two nails, and then "drive them into his doorpost, one on the right side (and) one on the left."

The Sethians

Researchers believe that the codex may date to the 7th or 8th century. During this time, many Egyptians were Christian and the codex contains a number of invocations referencing Jesus.

However, some of the invocations seem more associated with a group that is sometimes called "Sethians." This group flourished in Egypt during the early centuries of Christianity and held Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, in high regard. One invocation in the newly deciphered codex calls "Seth, Seth, the living Christ." [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]

The opening of the codex refers to a divine figure named "Baktiotha" whose identity is a mystery, researchers say. The lines read, "I give thanks to you and I call upon you, the Baktiotha: The great one, who is very trustworthy; the one who is lord over the forty and the nine kinds of serpents," according to the translation.

"The Baktiotha is an ambivalent figure. He is a great power and a ruler of forces in the material realm," Choat and Gardner said at a conference, before their book on the codex was published.

Historical records indicate that church leaders regarded the Sethians as heretics and by the 7th century, the Sethians were either extinct or dying out.

This codex, with its mix of Sethian and Orthodox Christian invocations, may in fact be a transitional document, written before all Sethian invocations were purged from magical texts, the researchers said. They noted that there are other texts that are similar to the newly deciphered codex, but which contain more Orthodox Christian and fewer Sethian features.

The researchers believe that the invocations were originally separate from 27 of the spells in the codex, but later, the invocations and these spells were combined, to form a "single instrument of ritual power," Choat told Live Science in an email.

Who would have used it?

The identity of the person who used this codex is a mystery. The user of the codex would not necessarily have been a priest or monk.

"It is my sense that there were ritual practitioners outside the ranks of the clergy and monks, but exactly who they were is shielded from us by the fact that people didn't really want to be labeled as a "magician,'" Choat said.

Some of the language used in the codex suggests that it was written with a male user in mind, however, that "wouldn't have stopped a female ritual practitioner from using the text, of course," he said.

Origin

The origin of the codex is also a mystery. Macquarie University acquired it in late 1981 from Michael Fackelmann, an antiquities dealer based in Vienna. In "the 70s and early 80s, Macquarie University (like many collections around the world) purchased papyri from Michael Fackelmann," Choat said in the email.

But where Fackelmann got the codex from is unknown. The style of writing suggests that the codex originally came from Upper Egypt.

"The dialect suggests an origin in Upper Egypt, perhaps in the vicinity of Ashmunein/Hermopolis," which was an ancient city, Choat and Gardner write in their book.

The codex is now housed in the Museum of Ancient Cultures at Macquarie University in Sydney.

really cool!

I hope that the translated contents are published. It would be very interesting to see.

It would be very interesting to actually read it and find out more about it history and if the spells actually worked and was used and to what affect that they had in being used!!! Great find!!! 7\

starfire :dragons::

There's a link in the article to the published book. Amazon also has it, but it's currently out of stock. It looks really interesting, but it's a bit out of my price range.

Nice find. I would love to know more.

Its an excellent find, and is probably Gnostic from the earliest "The Recognitions" period meaning about 500-400 BC in textual meaning and lore, and most likely 2nd-3rd century AD, rather than their later guess (most probably based upon content and assuming it would coma eafter the Gospel "dating" of Jesus. N.B. There were many "Jesuses" before "the Jesus", a Divinity-Philosopher at MIT figured that out and wrote on the subject about 15 years ago. (I can'yt remember his name or the book name - but will find out. The made one oversite error and that is instead of saying "Coptic", they should have said "Coptic-Greek"

Caiyros Arlen

Even though the book is over 100 years old (for copyright purposes) I think it would be a copyright violation to post the translations, does anyone know if I'm correct?

I believe Copyrights usually last about 75 years unless actively renewed.

creepyhollows wrote:Even though the book is over 100 years old (for copyright purposes) I think it would be a copyright violation to post the translations, does anyone know if I'm correct?

The translations were published by Malcolm Choat and Iain Gardner, therefore they hold the copyrights. Publishing without their permission may not be right! The book is called "A Coptic Handbook of Ritual Power " and Amazon sells it for $94.00!.