Anyone know about Heka?

[LearningMan]

Heka was the ancient Egyptian form of magic. I wasn't sure whether this would fall under "Kemetic Traditions" or "Magic and Witchcraft", so forgive me if I misplaced this. I have a few questions. How does it work? By what mechanism does it change the universe?

[Gleb]

Re: Anyone know about Heka?

Hehe, we have a user here, Heka.

I think it falls under both categories. Basically Heka was considered to be magick performed by the power of word. Almost everything we say is Heka. Sometimes people use it and aren't even aware of it.
In addition, Heka had responsibilities too. The caster of Heka had to be responsible for the consequences of his Heka, that will be thrown upon him in Ausar's court, or even in his life.

Also Heka requires some resources of energy, whether it's a deity performing the Heka for you, an amulet or your own energy. That's what I know so far about the subject.
I hope that helped you a bit.

[LearningMan]

Re: Anyone know about Heka?

So basically heka is change performed by speaking.

[Gleb]

Re: Anyone know about Heka?

In some way, yes.

[LearningMan]

Re: Anyone know about Heka?

Thank you. I've been looking at Kemetism and I'm seriously considering converting.

[Gleb]

Re: Anyone know about Heka?

But don't take my words as the only true answer. There are many users here who know a great deal about Kemetism as well. I suggest that you listen to them too and make your own conclusion, since nowadays, a lot depends on one's understanding of things.

[Corvus]

Re: Anyone know about Heka?

Gleb hit it pretty well. Heka is literally just the Kemetic word for magic. In Egyptian tradition language is the most powerful form of magic, especially one's Ren - their proper name. In the beginning the creator god (varies depending on region and period but usually some variant of Amun-Re) brings things into existence by speaking their true name. In another myth Isis tricks Re into revealing his true name and thus gains greater power. Related is the common practice for people to erase the names of unpopular people from their tombs after death, thus removing their power and harming their spirit (also an attempt to destroy their living memory, true death is when no one knows you have lived). Kemetic magic is all about titles, names, and speech. If you look into transcripts of spells you can see frequent use of epitaphs, titles, and phrases like "I am" or "I do this" because by speaking the name and proclaiming oneself as that being, one gains power.