This quote from a prayer preserved in a Coptic magic book from Egypt provides interesting details about how the practitioner understood ancient magic. It preserves a unique differentiation between two kinds of magic:
“I am Seth the son of Adam,
to whom have been revealed the virtues
and mysteries and its executions
and the power of these arts,
more honored even than the prayers
concerning these hidden names
and what exceeds this.
For I am pleased with its operations.
Not every man can bear it
save only those that are sufficiently pure,
who are perfected in all its appellations
and its powers,
for this causes a spirit to dwell upon him
and a wisdom more than any man.”
Thou shalt recite it seven times
over some honey and some licorice root.
It establishes a reminder within you
forever and ever,
in your mind and your spirit.
The magic book is part of the so-called “Coptic Wizard’s Hoard” which is a modern label for a group of magical papyri purchased together and written by the same scribes.
Findspot unknown. The University of Michigan Library, P.Mich.inv. 593
Findspot unknown. The University of Michigan Library, P.Mich.inv. 593
Translation based on:
Worrell, A Coptic Wizard’s Hoard, in: The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. 46, No. 4 (1930), 239-262.
A more recent translation but with a number of interpretations which need to be treated critically:
Mirecki, The Coptic Wizard’s Hoard, in: The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 87, No. 4 (1994), 435-460. jstor.org/stable/1509968
Image source:
P.Mich.inv. 593, page 4, Egypt, ca. 600 AD
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3675/593_2V.TIF