What is Heka?

( Extract from the book - "Heka - The Practices of Ancient Egyptian Ritual & Magic by David Rankine - for more information on this book click here)

The word heka can mean several things, each contributing to our understanding of the complexities of ancient Egyptian magic. The function of heka is described in the Instruction for Merikara, the Middle Kingdom teaching of the Pharaoh Amenemhet I (c. 2000 BCE):

"He [Re] gave them [mankind] the heka as a weapon in order to ward off the effect of dangerous events."

Heka was seen as a gift from the sun god Re to mankind (his offspring), a manifestation of his creative energy as an embodiment of his Ba (his soul). It empowered man to create using words and actions, mirroring the sun god's creation of the universe. Heka can be seen as the creative force or life-giving energy connecting the objects, links and symbols of life with the universe, like a subtle tapestry of energy, which the magician must learn to read if s/he is to effectively work magic.

Heka is also the inherent magical energy (mana or personal power) found within living beings. Different creatures were perceived as possessing different amounts of heka. The gods had the most heka. The pharaoh (as a channel for the divine energy) also had a lot of heka, as did people who were considered unusual, such as dwarfs and people with birth defects. Red hair was considered a sign of having much heka, due to the magical associations with that colour. And of course the other class of being with a lot of heka was the dead, hence the use of spells calling on the dead to assist with performing rites.

Today the practice of heka is open to anyone who wishes to pursue it. Although we do not have the worldview of the ancient Egyptians and much of their material has been lost, we do have some major advantages that make heka more accessible.

For a start literacy and numeracy are the norm, rather than being restricted to the rich and priestly castes, as was the case in Egypt. Technology has made the power of the written and spoken words, so vital to Egyptian magic, available to all of us. For this reason you do not need to have a university education or have studied Egyptology or classics to appreciate Egyptian magic. Freedom of information has brought truth to the statement that magic is for all, or rather meant that is accessible to all who have the desire and dedication to pursue a magical life.

As well as being the term for magic, Heka was a god, indeed he was the god of magic. Or perhaps it would be more correct to say he was magic, being the divine personification of magic. He is sometimes shown in images as appearing among the crew of the solar barque. He was depicted as a bearded man wearing a lion nemes headdress.

Another definition of heka is given in funerary spell 261 of the Coffin Texts, from a Middle Kingdom sarcophagus. The spell is entitled "To become the god Heka", and reads:

"I am he whom the Lord of all made before duality had yet come into being … the son of him who gave birth to the universe … I am the protection of that which the Lord of all has ordained … I am he who gave life to the Ennead of the gods … come to take my position that I may receive my dignity. Because to me belonged the universe before you gods had come into being. You have come afterwards because I am Heka."

The hieroglyph used from 1000 BCE to write his name was interchangeable with the concepts of god and power. Visually the hieroglyph depicted the hindquarters of a lion, and may well be linked with his attribution as one of the sons of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet. In this form he was shown as a young child with a solar disk on his head.

With Sekhmet's son Nefertem (purity) being considered to be an avatar of the Sun God Re, it is possible that Heka may also have been seen in this light. This presents a line of apostolic succession of power, from Re to his daughter Sekhmet, and hence to her sons Heka and Nefertem, who also embody the qualities of Re between them.

One of the titles of the god Heka was The one who consecrates imagery, referring to the ability of the god to empower creative thoughts and actions and translate them into their physical equivalents in the physical world. So Heka was also perceived as the animating and manifesting force of every ritual act. In this context heka is thus both intent and action: the cause, the act and the effect.

From the point of view of Sau (the magical use of amulets), this title is extremely suggestive, as any amulet or talisman is ultimately an image that is given form and then consecrated with the power of Heka. So not only is Heka the god who consecrates the image, but it is his power that is relied upon to create the image.

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( Extract from the book - "Heka - The Practices of Ancient Egyptian Ritual & Magic by David Rankine - for more information on this book click here)