Healing Charms and Spells
Healers have made and used healing charms and spells
for thousands of years. The original healers were also
priest/priestess-magicians who knew that magick,
medicine, and religion needed to be combined to heal.
Every ancient culture had deities who specialized in
healing. For example, the Sumerians called the God Ea
the founder of healing and the patron of herbalists and
physicians. They considered that all water had healing
properties; therefore, all patients were washed
thoroughly. Their God Ninazu was called the Master
Physician, and the Goddess Ninhursag was also
connected with healing.
We know more about the ancient Egyptian culture
than many others because of the surviving scrolls and
papyri. The Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet was the most
important of healing deities and was directly associated
with medical doctors. However, Isis was also known as
the Goddess of magick and healing. The Gods Horus and
Thoth were also associated with the magickal healing
arts. The physicians, or wabus, were priests of these
deities and primarily worked in the healing temples,
where they treated patients with a combination of
medicine, religion, and magick.
Two ancient Egyptian temples were known for
miraculous cures. One was the Temple of Dendera,
where the physicians used magickal water in their cures,
followed by magickally induced sleep for the patients.
The other temple was the mortuary temple of Queen
Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahari. The upper terrace of this
temple was specifically dedicated to Imhotep and
Amenhotep, both of whom were regarded as great
physicians.