Search
Search Results
Article
Magic in Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, if a woman were having difficulty conceiving a child, she might spend an evening in a Bes Chamber (also known as an incubation chamber) located within a temple. Bes was the god of childbirth, sexuality, fertility, among...
Article
Magic in Ancient Greece
For the Greeks magic (mageia or goeteia) was a wide-ranging topic which involved spells and evil prayers (epoidai), curse tablets (katadesmoi), enhancing drugs and deadly poisons (pharmaka), amulets (periapta) and powerful love potions (philtra...
Article
Magic Rings in Norse Mythology
Elements of Norse mythology abound in The Lord of the Rings, and none is so compelling as the ring itself. The One Ring is reminiscent of magic rings in Norse lore, especially Odin's Draupnir or Andvaranaut from the legend of the Volsungs...
Definition
Heka
Heka is the god of magic and medicine in ancient Egypt and is also the personification of magic itself. He is probably the most important god in Egyptian mythology but is often overlooked because his presence was so pervasive as to make him...
Definition
Ghosts in the Ancient World
A belief in an afterlife was central to every major civilization of the ancient world and this encouraged the recognition of the reality of ghosts as the spirits of the departed who, for one reason or another, either returned from the realm...
Video
Viking Witches and Norse Magic
A presentation on some aspects of Norse religion such as the importance of sorcery, its meanings and practitioners, as well as the role of gender. Important terms in the "lesson": seiðr - sorcery seiðmaðr - sorcerer seiðkona - sorceress...
Article
Egyptian Gods - The Complete List
The gods and goddesses of Ancient Egypt were an integral part of the people's everyday lives for over 3,000 years. There were over 2,000 deities in the Egyptian pantheon, many whose names are well known - Isis, Osiris, Horus, Amun, Ra, Hathor...
Video
Magic and Medicine: The casebooks of history's most notorious astrologer doctors
A ten-year project to study and digitise some 80,000 cases recorded by two famous astrological physicians has opened a wormhole into the everyday worries and desires of people who lived 400 years ago.
Article
The Magical Lullaby of Ancient Egypt
The Magical Lullaby (popularly known as Charm for the Protection of a Child) is an inscription from the 16th or 17th century BCE. The poem exemplifies the ancient Egyptian's personal religious and spiritual practices as it is a spell which...
Video
Hecate the Goddess of Witchcraft and Magic in Greek Mythology
Hecate is the goddess associated with magic, witchcraft, the moon, doorways, the night, necromancy, and ghosts in Greek mythology. She is the goddess of boundaries, the guardian of crossroads and the protector of athletes, warriors, horsemen...