Ancient Egyptian Divination

From the earliest times, magic was developed largely by the Egyptians in relation both to the dead and the living. The belief in magic is older in Egypt than the belief in God.

Egyptian religion was grounded in a firm and active belief in the importance of magic. Ancient Egyptians believed in, and aspired to use, the power of magical spells, scripts, names, and intricate ceremonies.

In Egyptian, the word for cat is “miu” (masculine) or “mut” (feminine). Ancient Egyptians revered cats because they believed that the cat (or the image of the cat) would protect them from all kinds of black magic and evil, both natural and supernatural. Amulets, charms, and talismans containing images of the cat were coveted and used in various rituals, rites and ceremonies.

Many specific breeds of cat go back to the ancient temples and sacred lore. Such breeds were the Burmese, the Siamese, and the black cats of ancient Egypt. According to the ancient Egyptians, black cats were considered to be the most powerful and the most sacred. The Egyptian sacred temple cats were believed to significantly help during acts of divination. Many statues of cats were also used to guard the entrances to the temples.

Ancient Egyptians believed that humans and other living creatures consisted of nine “bodies”. These nine bodies define why the Egyptians believed that it was possible to invoke a creature’s life force into a statue, and thereby gain the creature’s power. They believed in spirits and apparitions, which were made possible by the existence of:

Khat- The natural body
Sahu- The spiritual body
Ab- The heart body
Ka- The double body
Ba- The soul body
Khaibit- The shadow body
Khu- The spirit body
Sekhem- The form body
Ren- The name body

Through “out-of-body” experiences, the Egyptians communicated with the dead, assumed other creatures’ power, and made use of other abilities that some people are believed to have today.

The magical arts of the Egyptians cannot be easily classified as black or white. Their magic consisted of two types:

magical arts worked to benefit the living or the dead
magic used with negative intent (such as throwing curses)

The magician possessed the power to heal those who were ailing and/or inflict ruin upon enemies. Justification was a matter to be determined by the individual practicing divination. Egyptians used magic and divination as deemed reasonable to protect and empower their livelihood.

The ancient Egyptians practiced divination for two primary purposes:

to inquire about the present and obtain useful information to make changes to a situation
to beg or threaten for answers and assistance from a god to make desired changes to current circumstances

Thus the magician compelled the god(s) to do his or her will.

The most popular methods used in ancient Egyptian divination were:

Trance
Mediumship
Fire, water, and oil scrying
Dream and dream interpretation
Oracles

Most Egyptian magicians divined alone, but often employed a young boy to act as a medium. The unrestrained, pure mind of a child acted as an ideal channel for insight from the gods. This can be quite relative to later practices such as Wicca, where witches used familiars (animals that served a magical purpose) to assist them in performing special magical ceremonies.

Ancient Egyptian divination is the oldest and most powerful source of sorcery.