The History of Magic

The History of Magic 101: Africa

When studying Africa, many people tend to focus specifically on Egypt, and it's hard to blame them. Particularly in the pre-classical era, Egypt was a major power, full of the latest (for the period) magical achievements and studies. The Egyptian Empire also benefited from the fact that they had a very well-organized bureaucracy with a standardized form of writing (hieroglyphics) that helped them keep meticulous records. Couple that with the fact that their culture and traditions formed into a far-reaching empire that lasted for roughly three thousand years, and that leaves historians -- magical and Muggle alike -- with a near-endless amount to study! Indeed, we are still working slowly to uncover many treasures from Egypt today; our curse-breakers and magihistorians have only scratched the surface.

Unfortunately, with all this attention on the wonders of Egypt, many other parts of Africa fall by the wayside. This is often because information about these other various regions of Africa is harder to come by. Either their civilization did not last as long (and records were destroyed in the takeover), there wasn't as much of an emphasis on formal writing, or there was no trend for record-keeping. Or, in some cases, they are just unfortunately overshadowed by Egypt and its mysterious pyramids. Whatever the case, I did want to take a moment to dispel the misconception that Egypt is all there is to African history, especially since I will be contributing to that misconception slightly today.

While many of the still-developing civilizations in other parts of Africa used interesting and wondrous magic, the fact remains that I only have one lesson this year to briefly touch on the highlights. As such, this means that our main focal point for this lesson will be the Egyptian use of magic. Never fear, though. Should you have an understandably keen interest in the rest of African history and magic, the topic is given its due in your O.W.L. year of this very same course, as well as being touched upon in many other courses, including Ancient Studies, Alchemy, and Ancient Runes.

Heka

There are two major topics to cover when talking about Egypt. The first is heka, and the second is the use of script-based spellcraft. If you go on to take advanced levels of history and take Mythology, Ancient Studies or stick around for the later years of Ancient Runes, you will most likely be reintroduced to Egypt and potentially delve deeper into these unique magical practices.

Let us start with heka, which is simply what the Egyptians called the concept of magic. The ancient Egyptians believed that heka was a mystical force that created the universe and the gods. Because of this, the Egyptians believed that controlling this substance made one more powerful and, by extension, able to control the gods. Looking at their use of heka, we can see similarities to several other early magical communities. As usual, those who made up the priesthood and higher, more revered, classes were likely to be magical, and they were allowed unrestricted access to practice their art.