MAGIC WORDS • Magic word or formula -- Rosemary Clark, Sacred Tradition in Ancient Egypt (2000) • Magician -- Nisut Hekatawy I, "Daily Devotions From Her Holiness Nisut Hekatawy I" (200 ) • To control powers -- A. Rosalie David, Handbook of Life in Ancient Egypt (1998) Origins: "Egyptologists translate the Egyptian word heka . . . as 'magic.'"8 Her Holiness Nisut Hekatawy I suggests: "Heka is more accurately trans lated from its root, hek, meaning to rule or to be in authority, and from its determinative related to speech. Thus, some Egyptologists refer to heka as 'authoritative utterance' or 'speaking with meaning or intent.' Its hieroglyph is a compound of two hieroglyphs: the lamp-wick meaning the phonetic soft h sound, and the outstretched arms meaning the ka sound. In an esoteric way, one could read this combination of hieroglyphs using the meaning of the word ka, the personality or unseen 'double' of a human being, and say that heka is 'the fire that comes from inside the ka,' or, in reference to the use of hand gestures along with special words in the system of heka, 'fire/light that comes from the hands.'"9 Variations and Incantations: • Hekau "There's a story about the Egyptian sun god Ra and his granddaughter, Isis, goddess of the Nile. One day Ra was bitten by a snake and despite his divine powers he became deathly sick. He called for Isis, who was known across the land as 'the great sorceress who heals.' Isis mixed seeds, juniper berries and honey to make a balm, but before giving her treatment she demanded to know the secret word which was the source of all Ra's powers. This was a terrible price for the sun king to pay but, as Isis pointed out, he had no choice. The secret word given to Isis was hekau. Isis poulticed the wound and to make sure her cure worked, spoke the magic word. Ra recovered, and Isis basked in her new status. But there is more to the story. The serpent who bit Ra had been made by Isis herself. . . . Ra made a treaty with all serpents forbidding them to bite ever again, but snakes being what they are, they soon returned to their natural ways. So Ra gave his magic word to a north African tribe of snake charmers, the Psylli, and charged them with keeping serpents at bay." -- Gail Bell, The Poisoner (2001) • Hika -- M. Isidora Forrest, New Worlds of Mind and Spirit (2001) • Hike -- M. Isidora Forrest, New Worlds of Mind and Spirit (2001) 8 M. Isidora Forrest, New Worlds of Mind and Spirit (2001) 9 "Daily Devotions From Her Holiness Nisut Hekatawy I" (200 )