![]() Unfortunately, we do not have any other attestations of this belief, nor examples of its survival through time. The last anti-ghost component is honey, sweet to the living, but bitter to the dead. Although today we do not know which plant went by the name âfai, the belief that garlic could repel ghosts crossed time and space, and in more modern times was thought to counter vampires. The ritual relies on three ingredients, said to be repulsive to ghosts – the âfai-plant, garlic, and honey – a fact unusual enough to be underlined, while, in general, the elements of the ritual are simply named. Image: J A Hamilton (1933-1934) Wonders of the Past Despite the incantation, the spell contains a magic ritual meant not to defeat, but to repel the ghosts, which says much about their harmful power.įrom antiquity to the present day, Egyptian tombs have always attracted thieves. This is the case in this protective spell appealing to the male and female maleficent spirits who came to attack a defenceless infant. Often the threat to the baby came from the supernatural world of ghosts, frequently operating in pairs: a male ghost and his female counterpart. Written during the New Kingdom, Papyrus Berlin 3027 has a broad range of magic spells intended to protect the pregnant woman and her child. I have ensured its protection against you with the plant-âfai, since it provides an obstacle, garlic to ensure that it harms you, honey, sweet to people, but bitter to the dead, the tail of the fish-abdju, the mandible of the animal-meret, and the vertebral column of the Nile perch. You who have come in the darkness, who have entered stealthily, her nose turned backwards, her face is averted, having failed in what she came for! You who have come in the darkness, who have entered stealthily, his nose turned backwards, his face averted, having failed in what he came for! Honey was also, according to ancient Egyptians, powerfully repulsive to ghosts, as recorded in Papyrus Berlin 3027: This antique contraceptive could indeed give good results, if it was applied at the correct time, in the right place, and the prescription was followed properly. Date stones, also included in the prescription, are known to contain oestrogens, which can be prescribed today, in association with progestogens, as inhibitors of ovulation. Once more, Dr Jean concludes that this medication was effective: in addition to honey employed for its spermicidal properties, the prescription includes acacia gum, which breaks down to produce lactic acid, a powerful spermicide. Image: Wellcome Collection, CC BY 4.0Īll the ingredients are identified. Part of the Ebers Papyrus, dating to the New Kingdom. To cause a woman to stop being pregnant, be it one, two or three years: part of acacia, colocynth, dates, finely ground in a hin of honey fibres are moistened therewith, introduced into her vagina. One of these was addressed not to all women, but to mothers who did not want further pregnancies: Measuring slightly more than 20 metres long, this medical treatise was written at the beginning of the New Kingdom (c.1550 BC) and comprises some 700 prescriptions from different scholars, dealing with a wide range of illnesses and pathologies. These two components break the cell membranes, and produce a reduction of arterial pressure, which provokes the death of the cells by osmotic imbalance.Īnother prescription, in the later Ebers Papyrus, recommended honey to prevent pregnancy. Dr Richard-Alain Jean, an independent medical researcher and author of a very interesting article about contraception and experiments designed to determine the spermicidal properties of different products, highlighted the fact that simple contact of the sperm with honey and natron was enough to immobilise and kill them. And, as improbable as this seems, the chances of success of such a procedure were high. Although it is not possible to know what other ingredient(s) were recommended, we may note that as well as honey, the potion included natron, which was traditionally used by embalmers to desiccate bodies in preparation for mummification.
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