Magic was woven into the fabric of ancient Egyptian daily life, influencing everything that could possibly be associated with it. There were no coincidences, for example, and everything had meaning. Magic was even thought to be older and more powerful than creation itself, existing before it and providing the "spark" to bring it about. But magic was also practical and sensical. Since there were no coincidences, everything could be explained, and that is extremely appealing to humans. After all, the unknown is very frightening, so having an explanation for it makes it infinitely easier.
Magic was also thought to be a dangerous force for mere mortals to deal with, "and coming into physical contact with the divine deadly" (Heka, the ancient Egyptian magic). That didn't stop a lot of humans from trying, however. There were good luck charms, protection spells, amulets for the living and the dead, curses, even. Medicine was also deeply involved with magic, shocking as that may be to the modern Western reader. It was believed that diseases were caused by evil spirits, so a lot of ancient medicine involved the banishing of these spirits (for example, exorcism)--I should note here Imhotep (the real one, not the one of Mummy fame) was famous for looking at medicine in a strictly non-magical fashion (Imhotep, Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia), noteworthy for his time and place to be sure.
Magic could also be manipulated and abused. By itself it was not good or evil, but a tool to use to either of those means. The view is coming back into fashion as Neo-Pagan faiths gain footholds in today's world, but by no means is it a new one. Nor is it new that certain spells and rituals required elaborate preparation: right place, right time, right attire, right materials, and everything involved (including the person doing the working) had to be ritually pure (according to the article on ancient Egyptian magic cited above, this is a chiefly sexual concern: "a boy who has not been with a woman" and "being pure for three days" are example requirements/qualifications). It's interesting to note that certain ingredients being not what they're advertised as was a big deal back then, too: "in a temple which specialized in mummifying hawks there was a major scandal when it was discovered that the mummies contained anything but hawks" (Heka, the ancient Egyptian magic).
Another key element of both magical and religious practices (as divorced or unified as those may be in a given scenario) is the importance and power of words. Intoning something or writing it down and reciting it later were both said to have power. Saying and/or writing something was said to make that particular thing so. This is the principle behind the heavily mythologized tales of the births, lives, and deaths of numerous pharaohs over the course of Egypt's long history. It's also the principle behind Egyptian magic. Writing is associated with the divine just as much as magic is, so having a spell written out for later recitation (besides helping the caster come back to it later) makes it twice as divine as using either of the two media separately would have done.
Suffice it to say, a lot went into the ancient Egyptian magical system, both a product of the thousands of years it had to morph and develop and the human drive to explain the unexplainable. For more information:
Heka, the ancient Egyptian magic
Next on "For the Love of Night at the Museum": A general overview of Coptic, the legacy of the ancient language.
Countdown: 243 Days to NATM 3
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