Daniel Schwemer on the Bit Meseri Ritual

Sofie Schiødt on Studying Magical Spaces in Ancient Egypt

We speak with Egyptologist Sofie Schiødt about her work-in-progress at Würzburg, exploring the evidence for ancient Egyptian magic in situ. How did the ancient Egyptians relate to the spaces in which they performed rituals? How did the spaces relate to them? She plans to find out.

Daniel Schwemer on the Bit Meseri Ritual

We speak with Daniel Schwemer about an intensive ritual practice for driving out demonic forces and/or hostile magic. Bit Meseri, the ‘House of Enclosure’, took the ashipu (and forty-nine protective apkaluspirits) four days, at the end of which period the patient was good to go. We talk ritual, theology, and divine handbags.

Martin Stadler on Magic and Religion at the Ancient Egyptian Temple of Edfu

We speak with Martin Stadler on his work deciphering and interpreting the extraordinary temple-complex at Edfu in Egypt. We discuss myth, ritual, the priestly temple-hierarchy, and magical ritual embodied in physical architecture.

Beatrice Baragli on the Bīt Rimki Ritual Cycle

We dive back into the world of Akkadian purification magic with Beatrice Baragli, who is working on an edition of the ritual sequence known as Bīt Rimki (`The Bathhouse'). Politics used to be very magical.

Gideon Bohak on the Pishra de-Rabbi Ḥanina Ben Dosa

We discuss a fascinating text of all-purpose protective and apotropaic magic with a history spanning millennia with the inimitable Gideon Bohak. Attributed to a first-century rabbi, the Pishra may have its roots in late-antique Babylonia, but it was still being copied into the twentieth century, and, who knows? perhaps today.