The Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) are a collection of ancient texts from Greco-Roman Egypt (approximately the 2nd century BCE to the 5th century CE) containing magical spells, rituals, incantations, and invocations. They provide a unique insight into ancient mystical practices, beliefs, and cultural exchanges between Greek, Egyptian, Roman, and Near Eastern traditions.
After being ignored by the modern magical community, they have taken on a new status as a truly authentic form of pagan magic. But their use ranges from those who try to hammer square pegs of the ancient spells into round holes of modern life to those who insist that they must be seen as a Bible.
Modern magicians who use the Greek Magical Papyri (PGM) as a “magical bible” face several risks. While some dangers relate to metaphysical or spiritual beliefs, others are rooted in psychology and historical context.
Out of context
The biggest problem is lacking an understanding of the Ancient Cultural Context. The PGM was created in a vastly different cultural, religious, and historical setting. Misinterpreting rituals or symbolism without full historical and linguistic context can lead to unintended psychological effects or misunderstandings about the rituals’ original intent. To make matters worse the PGM was written across several different cultural contexts by writers who often did not understand each other’s Gods or magical systems, or were trying to relate to them in terms of their own. A Greek might see Isis and Hera and confuse their myths.
Another issue is that some papyri are incomplete or damaged, leading to unclear instructions that could result in distorted or ineffective rituals. To make matters worse, there is evidence that the person copying the spells might have been a collector rather than a user. They might have been writing down spells that they did not understand.
Persephone mess up
One example was pointed out to me by my wife, Paola. In PGM IV 2785-2890, a prayer to Hekate and Selene features the following line:
“You are Justice and the Moiria’s threads: Klotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Three-headed you are Persephone, Megaira and Allekto…”
The line links Hekate to Justice and her enforcers—the Furies. The only problem was that Persephone was not a Fury. The names of the Furies were Alecto (“the unceasing” or “relentless”), associated with eternal anger and the constant pursuit of wrongdoers; Megaera (“the jealous” or “grudging”), who embodied envy, jealousy, and resentment, relentlessly pursuing criminals; and Tisiphone (“the avenger of murder”), who avenged acts of murder and bloodshed, ensuring violent offenders faced retribution.
The PGM copiest made a typo and flipped Tisiphone for Persephone. It is an easy mistake to make as Persephone is identified with Hekate elsewhere in the spell. Betz when he did his famous translation of the spell failed to comment on that mistake when he noticed others. But the point is that if you accept a worldview that the PGM spells must be said as written, you are in trouble.
While it is unlikely that you will incur the wrath of Persephone by identifying her with a fury (or the Fury for thinking she was the Queen of the Dead), these sorts of cock ups are something to be avoided.
Wrong functions
In other cases, a spell has been designed for one function but later adapted to another, with the original intent mixed with a later one.
In PGM VII 973–980, there’s a spell intended to compel a woman to fall in love with the practitioner. The ritual involves writing specific magical names on a seashell using the blood of a black donkey and then reciting an incantation. However, scholars have noted that using a seashell and donkey’s blood is more commonly associated with other rituals, suggesting that this love spell may have been adapted from a different magical tradition without fully integrating the original context.
Piss takes
Some spells within the PGM appear to serve more playful or social purposes, which might indicate parodies of actual rituals to more light-hearted uses. For instance, there’s a spell designed to make men at a drinking party appear to have donkey snouts to outsiders. The instructions involve taking a wick from a lamp, dipping it in donkey’s blood, making a new lamp with this wick, and touching the drinkers.
This suggests that PGM is a starting point for magical research and experimentation rather than the end game. To understand magic and mythology properly, you need a thorough grounding in them, as well as a healthy dose of cynicism.
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