A New Cache of Spells!

As you know, I’ve got a thing for Ancient Egypt, and I was lucky enough to travel to Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan in 2010. I always keep my eye out for stories about Egyptian archaeology, but the newest discovery of a leather scroll that actually predates the copies of the Book of the Dead takes the cake.

This new discovery didn’t happen on a dig, and it wasn’t found by a tomb robber. The newest discovery (wait for it) came from the storeroom of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, as reported by Discovery.com.

I’ve been in that museum, and there’s a good reason the Lonely Planet guidebook refers to it as “grandma’s attic”: it’s crammed with treasures, and most of the display cases are barely labeled (and even fewer are labeled in English). It’s a history-lover’s wonderland, and probably a historian’s worst nightmare. This newest discovery is actually a rediscovery, as it is assumed that the scroll sat in a storeroom, forgotten, for seventy years. I’m so glad it was found again, because the contents of the 8-foot-scroll really fascinate me:

“The more than 4,000-year-old roll, contains depictions of divine and supernatural beings which predate the famous drawings found in the Book of the Dead manuscripts and the so-called Netherworld Books from the New Kingdom onwards (1550 B.C. onwards).

Religious spells, formulated in the first person singular, also abound there.”

Although the text isn’t new (it’s been seen before on the floors of coffins), the scroll does offer more detail of “The Book of Two Ways”, and, what is probably the most exciting thing for me (and any other Pagans interested in ancient rituals, to whatever degree) is that “It shows that there was a large body of both religious iconography and texts, but unfortunately they did not reach us,” according to Wael Sherbiny, the researcher who re-discovered this awesome artifact.

I love incorporating ancient texts and charms into my own practice, but it’s good to be reminded that the historical record is filled with countless holes and can’t be replicated. Every time another one of those holes gets filled, though, I get a little bit more excited.