Reed Ellen Cannon - Ancient Egyptian Magic for Modern Witches

I WAS IN DESPAIR. THE REASONS DONT MATTER. IT WAS NEW Year's Eve and I sat alone in my apartment, in tears. All I saw before me in the year to come was pain and loneliness.

But then a thought wandered into my head. I had read, somewhere (I still don't remember where), that Isis never turned away from those who called upon Her for reasons having to do with love. I had always been drawn to Her on some level.

I remember physically turning my body, as if turning away from the past, and calling to Her. It was a simple prayer, a cry of Lady, please, help me.

How do I explain it? How do I tell you what happened? I have searched for the words and can find only these: She was there. Oh, not for the eyes to see, or the hands to touch, but for the heart to know. She was there, she loved me, and I loved Her.

On that night, my life changed. For the magnitude of the moment, that phrase sounds too weak. I found my path, I found my direction, I knew where I was supposed to be.

Perhaps it was not a matter of changing paths, but of finding out what path I'd been on all along, the path walked by those who love and honor the ancient Egyptian deities, those who are in the Circle of Isis. The Circle of Isis isn't an earthly coven or organization. It consists of all of us who love Her.

Whether I changed paths or learned where I'd always been, it doesn't matter. I loved Isis, and I wanted to find others who loved Her. When I did find them, they were Witches. The rest, as they say, is history.

In the quarter of a century since, the subject of ancient Egypt and its magic have been an abiding interest. However, my interest is not so much in magic as it is in religion: the religion that colors and directs my life. The path that I follow is Wicca, and my focus on that path is service to the Gods and Goddesses. Therefore, the majority of the information I have gained and will share with you has come through personal knowledge of the ancient Egyptian deities.

There are many books about the Egyptian Gods and the magic of that land, but almost all of them were written by people who wrote about other people's gods. Those authors were writing through the eyes of their own beliefs, as we all do.

For me, and for others in this circle, these are not other people's gods, they are our own. They are not abstract and They are not distant. They are personal. Our work with the deities has made them very real to us and very much a part of our work, our lives, and our selves.

Although their culture was unlike ours, the ancient Egyptians were not so different from the Pagans of today. They, too, saw the Ultimate as Gods and Goddesses. They, too, saw the Lords and Ladies in all that existed. They saw the majesty, strength, and fertility in a horned animal (it happened to be a bull, not a stag, but the similarity remains). They, too, sought to learn of the Infinite from the Finite, found lessons in the works of nature. They, too, had a fascination with, and understanding of, symbols as a means of attaining spiritual growth.

In spite of all the information that has been lost, a great deal remains of the knowledge of the ancients. There is much we can learn because Egyptians expressed so much in symbols. They have left us the keys to some of their knowledge, and left ways to learn for ourselves how to learn and achieve spiritual growth. Our coven is working to discover the doors those keys open. What we have discovered so far is here.

What's all this she's saying about spiritual growth? I was hoping to learn something about magic.

You will, if you are willing. But perhaps you will learn magic beyond spellcasting, which is, as far as I'm concerned, a very small part of the religion I follow.

We often speak of two types of magic, referring to them as high and low magic. Those are terrible terms because they imply a value judgment. I'd rather use the terms spiritual and mundane magic, although those terms aren't a great deal better.

High magic, or spiritual magic, is work done for spiritual advancement. Low magic, or mundane magic, is done for physical or material matters. Both can be important. We are living in a world of the physical and material. Using magic to meet our needs in this world is just as important, and just as holy, as using magic to achieve our spiritual ends. Magic is less than holy only if it is used for the wrong reasons.

In Wicca, our approach to magic is usually through the Gods. Having done all we are capable of doing on this plane, we turn to magic, and will often ask for the help, guidance, and blessing of specific deities.

Egyptian legend says that Ra invented magic. The Gods were too busy to do everything, so Ra gave humankind magical powers, heka, so that we would be able to handle the unseen world ourselves.

Wicca is, first and foremost, a religion. You might call magic a fringe benefit, a result of our beliefs. We believe that we are part of the Gods and able to do much They can do. The very source of the ability to do magic, however, makes it imperative that we view it as something sacred, not to be used lightly, or for fun, or to manipulate or harm others. Never forget it was a gift from a God.

While it is possible to do magic without any spiritual or religious overtones, that is not the approach to magic our coven uses or teaches, nor is it the approach you will find here.

The magic you will find here is more than ways to cast spells. It is the magic of growing closer to the Gods, the magic of learning the Mysteries of the Universe.

I do not pretend that the information in this book is exactly as it was taught in Egypt, but as those ideas might be taught now, in present-day culture. This is, in a sense, a translation. When Edward Fitzgerald translated The Rubiyat of Omar Khayam, he did not translate it word for word. He translated its spirit, so that the English-speaking readers would appreciate the spirit without being confused by cultural differences. This is the kind of interpretation you will find here.