A History of Magic (by Bathilda Bagshot)

Early Magical Communities: Africa

For great periods of time, Africa has been home to some very mysterious and powerful branches of magic, some of which might be considered somewhat dark. Since the continent's earliest days, the African people are said to have witnessed many mystical phenomena: from black shooting stars in the middle of the day, seeds that sprouted fully grown trees overnight, and animals that spoke, to smoke that changed colours during tribal dances, possession, and sometimes even resurrection. Of course, those of us in magical society now know well enough that reports from so long ago have been greatly exaggerated. Take resurrection for example; it isn't possible. But in the past the peoples of Africa thought it quite the opposite. All of these strange happenings would normally be attributed to fantasy or a bad dream, but the frequency with which these events took place left no doubt in the minds of the ancient Africans that there was something more going on. The general consensus seems to have been that spirits were channeling their energy into earthly things to prove their power and scare mortals into granting them certain favours. These 'spirits' would choose one member of the tribe and speak through them, and, in turn, the spirit would grant its host healing powers to help the rest of the tribe. These 'chosen ones' were called shamans which, translated into modern English, means 'someone who knows', a name given to them because of their ability to know and understand the spirits and channel their magic.

Their method of communicating with these spirits was through out-of-body experiences, and to reach this out-of-body state they would make special teas to initiate momentary lapses in their sanity which then allowed them to see these 'almighty beings'. (Muggles who study science, which comes from the Latin word for knowledge and is the Muggle study and organization of the natural world into logical and rational explanation, throughout time have proved out-of-body experiences to be no more than common hallucinations.) Through the research done over time by herbologists, potioneers, etcetera, however, we have discovered through analysis of ingredients and examination of the results of these teas that most of the time they're very poorly executed brews of Aberration Draught and mind-altering potions.

Further research did conclude that the shamans were of magical blood, but not knowing how to use or control their powers, they ended up using badly brewed potions as their gateway into the magic that resided within them. These interesting people were no more than primitive wizards who lacked the ability to concentrate the force in their blood, which resulted in a very hit-or-miss system to try to understand it. It's impressive enough that they managed the potions that they did with absolutely no prior knowledge on anything magical at all. Despite all of this, though, the superstitions that dark forces from the beyond existed in our world and that there were some humans that could use them lasted throughout the years with devastating results for the innocent people involved. The worldwide hunting and burning of Muggle women believed to be witches is proof enough of that.

Witchcraft became, in later years, somewhat of a religion and is still one of the most dreaded superstitions in Africa. Africans believe that witches are powerful, seductive beings that can use magic to alter the course of human life for better or worse–though more often for worse than for the better–and thus they accept magic as an explanation for any mystical or mysterious phenomenon, even when their Muggle common sense is telling them otherwise.

Whether these mystical attributes and mysterious beings were real or imagined, it's safe to say that ancient African civilizations understood magic to be powerful and frightening, and thus it was worshipped beyond any deity.

Ancient Egypt, the most developed magical community in the country, gives us exceptional information about how magic turned into such religious belief. Ancient Egyptian mythology states that magic, or heka as they called it, was the mighty force that created the universe and was therefore more powerful than even the gods themselves. By using magic, symbolism would turn into reality and help Egyptians join the gods in paradise. Magic in Egypt was seen not only as another field of knowledge but a force created solely for the benefit of mankind and so was used to manipulate the gods for human purposes.