EARLY CHRISTIAN MAGIC

Magic Spells

**[A sexual curse to leave a man impotent and to protect a woman from sexual advances] It is on Shinte son of Tanheu that I shall work a spell of binding, Keuentios Patilos Kous Makous, the one who has fallen from his invisible chariot (?) and has been cast into the outer darkness: Bind, fasten the flesh of Shinte son of Tanheu, Bar Bare Apakentor Mehalai. Bind, fasten the flesh of Shinte son of Tanheu. It must not have an erection, it must not become hard, it must not ejaculate. May he -- Shinte son of Tanheu -- be like a corpse left in a tomb and like an old rag left on a manure pile. He must not be able to have intercourse and he must not be able to release the virginity of Seine daugher of Moune, yea, yea, at once, at once!

**[Curse of a mother against her son's female companion] I, the miserable, wretched sinner, call unto the lord god almighty, that you perform my judgment against Tnoute, who has separated my son from me so that he scorns me. You must not listen to her, O god if she calls up to you. You must make her without hope in this world. You must strike her womb and make her barren. You must make her consume the fruit of her womb. You must make a demon descend upon her, who will cast her into troublesome illness and great affliction. You must bring a fever upon her, and a chill and a numbness of heart and an itching. Bring upon her the twelve . . . a worm and blood flow out of her all the days of her life. . . take them. She must not live; she comes to death. You must cause her mouth to err. O you who sits upon the chariot of . . ., O cherubim and seraphim, perform my judgment against Tnoute, Michael, you must perform my judgment. Gabriel, . . .Tremuel, Abraxiel, Emmanuel, perform my judgment against Tnoute, quickly! O twenty-four elders and the four creatures who support the throne of the father, perform my judgment. O you who performs judgment for the mistreated, perform my judgment, quickly!

Source: Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power, Marvin Meyer, ed. (San Francisco: Harper, 1994).