Guest post by Ágnes Mihálykó There are some problems in human life that are timeless. One of them is sleep deprivation caused by a teething baby. I have had my fair share of it recently, and on one sleepless night when just nothing seemed to work, desperate I remembered a fourth-century Coptic recipe to aidContinue reading “A Coptic Remedy Against Sleepless Nights for New Parents”
Tag Archives: Magic
Ancient Same Sex Love Spells
Jennifer Cromwell Magic in the ancient world provided one means to help people deal with what life threw at them, whether health, money, or love, among the whole gambit of human day-to-day experiences. In some cases, spells were written for certain people, with the object of the spell as well as the spell’s user namedContinue reading “Ancient Same Sex Love Spells”
Jesus Christ before me, Iao Sabaoth Adonai behind me: A Prayer for Good Luck and Protection
Ágnes Mihálykó What would you ask from God in a morning prayer? Success for your business? No fights with your husband/wife/children/boss? Or, quite simply having God in front of you, behind you, by your left and by your right, to guide you and protect you throughout the day? A Christian by the name of Besodoros,Continue reading “Jesus Christ before me, Iao Sabaoth Adonai behind me: A Prayer for Good Luck and Protection”
A Coptic Mother-in-Law’s Curse
Ágnes Mihálykó Adam and Eve were the luckiest couple in the world: neither of them had a mother-in-law! Many of us would heartily agree with this joke – not just in our times, but also in antiquity. Yet, among the many harpies of mother-in-laws, few are as mean as the unnamed Coptic woman who castContinue reading “A Coptic Mother-in-Law’s Curse”
Spell to Attract a Woman
Jennifer Cromwell “For a woman’s love: a really effective charm.You should write these things on a tin sheet.” So begins the text of a Coptic magical spell from the 6th/7th century. The things that should be written on the tin sheet are magical signs, drawn on the papyrus for reference and to be copied out whenContinue reading “Spell to Attract a Woman”
The Powers of Hell: A Deadly Curse from Medieval Egypt
Korshi Dosoo Somewhere in Upper Egypt, around the tenth century CE, someone wanted to destroy a man named Haron. They took a pair of rib bones from a large animal, perhaps a cow or a camel, still wet with gristle, and they wrote a curse three times, on both sides of one rib, and oneContinue reading “The Powers of Hell: A Deadly Curse from Medieval Egypt”
Papyrus Stories 