The earliest record of a magical performance is to be found in the "Westcar" papyrus, now resting in the Berlin State Museum. This papyrus, prduced approximately a thousand years after the appearance of the Egyptian magician Dedi, before Cheops, the builder of the Great Pyramid (c. 2700BC) tells the story of how this magician supposedly 110 years old, traveled to the court of Cheops and then: "He knows how to fasten on a head that has been cut off, and he knows how to make a lion walk behind him with his leash on the ground. And he knows the numbers of the secret chambers in the sanctuary of Thoth. The papyrus is incomplete, but in the translation by Professor Battiscombe Gunn, we read: "Then a goose was brought to him with its head cut off. The goose was placed on the western side of the pillared hall. Then Dedi uttered a magic spell and the goose rose up quivering. And when one had reached the other the goose stood up, cackling. Then he had another goose brought to him, and the same was done to it. Then his Majesty had an ox brought to him, its head being cut off, falling to the ground. And then Dedi uttered a magic spell and the bull stood up lowing."
http://www.myweb.cableone.net/teddc/history.htm
witchcraft, how far?
Sage of the ages witchcraft Nov 18 2004, 04:31 PM
Nov 18 2004, 04:31 PM
