EARLY CHRISTIAN MAGIC

Magic Spells

**[For protection against violent attack] And you, lord of lords [Jesus], you are the one from whom all healing comes, with your good father and your holy spirit. . . . If a battle arises against us and we are stricken by a sword, or a spear, or a knife, or any weapon under heaven, recite against it my name, and the name of my good father, and the holy spirit, and the name of the twelve apostles, and the name of the twenty-four elders, and the name of the seven archangels, those who are within the veil, who stand by me, my good father, and the holy spirit, so that neither bloodshed nor aching bones might happen at any place over which these names will be recited.

**[A sexual curse to leave a man impotent and to protect a woman from sexual advances] It is on Shinte son of Tanheu that I shall work a spell of binding, Keuentios Patilos Kous Makous, the one who has fallen from his invisible chariot (?) and has been cast into the outer darkness: Bind, fasten the flesh of Shinte son of Tanheu, Bar Bare Apakentor Mehalai. Bind, fasten the flesh of Shinte son of Tanheu. It must not have an erection, it must not become hard, it must not ejaculate. May he -- Shinte son of Tanheu -- be like a corpse left in a tomb and like an old rag left on a manure pile. He must not be able to have intercourse and he must not be able to release the virginity of Seine daugher of Moune, yea, yea, at once, at once!

**[For the return of a stolen object and a curse upon the thief] I adjure you today, O Ruphos, the angel who is appointed over the land of Egypt, that you spread your wings over any place where this bronzevessel is, until you return it to the place from which it came. East and west, north and the sea, if it lies buried underground, you must make it visible; if it is hidden in a place that is closed, you must return it to its place. Let not the earth be firm beneath the person who has taken it, let not the sky shelter him, and let no peace at all come to him, yea. Yea, at once, at once, at once!

**[To drive evil forces from a pregnant woman] I adjure you by your name and your power and your figure and your amulet of salvation and the places where you dwell and your light-wand in your right hand and your light-shield in your left hand and your great powers standing before you. Do not hold back and do not ignore, until you find it worth your while to descend upon your figure and your amulet of salvation. Watch and protect the 4 sides of the body and the soul and the spirit and the entire house of N. daughter of N. and her child who is in her womb as well as every child born to her. Bring them to life yearly without any disease. Cast forth from her every evil force. Never allow them to approach her or any of her children until she bears them. Cast forth from her every doom and every devil and every Apalaf and every Aberselia and every power of darkness and every evil eye and every eye-shutter and every chill and every fever and every trembling. Restrain them all. Cast them away from her and away from all her children until she bears them, and away from all her dwellings, immediately and quickly! Do not permit them ever to visit her or the child with whom she is pregnant for approximately two hundred miles around. Yea, yea, now, now, at once, at once! Sura daughter of Pelca, she and the child with whom she is pregnant.

**[Curse of a mother against her son's female companion] I, the miserable, wretched sinner, call unto the lord god almighty, that you perform my judgment against Tnoute, who has separated my son from me so that he scorns me. You must not listen to her, O god if she calls up to you. You must make her without hope in this world. You must strike her womb and make her barren. You must make her consume the fruit of her womb. You must make a demon descend upon her, who will cast her into troublesome illness and great affliction. You must bring a fever upon her, and a chill and a numbness of heart and an itching. Bring upon her the twelve . . . a worm and blood flow out of her all the days of her life. . . take them. She must not live; she comes to death. You must cause her mouth to err. O you who sits upon the chariot of . . ., O cherubim and seraphim, perform my judgment against Tnoute, Michael, you must perform my judgment. Gabriel, . . .Tremuel, Abraxiel, Emmanuel, perform my judgment against Tnoute, quickly! O twenty-four elders and the four creatures who support the throne of the father, perform my judgment. O you who performs judgment for the mistreated, perform my judgment, quickly!

Source: Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power, Marvin Meyer, ed. (San Francisco: Harper, 1994).