Definitions.

The English word "magic" is the accepted translation of the Egyptian word "heka." The extent to which the two terms are synonymous, however, has been a subject of much discussion. The English term "magic" tends to carry pejorative connotations that the Egyptian term does not. Frequently "magic" has been opposed to "religion," the one seen as somehow a debased form of the other. At various times, scholars have seen magic as unauthorized, abnormal, illegal, or as deviant behavior. None of these connotations is present in the Egyptian term. The association of "magic" with "heka" is not an invention of modern scholars, however. Coptic, the last stage of the Egyptian language, written with the Greek alphabet, used the equivalent of heka to translate the Greek terms for magic or magician.

Origin.

The Egyptian Coffin Texts state that the creator god Atum created...