Heka was considered morally neutral and was applied to the practices and beliefs of both foreigners and Egyptians alike. The Coptic term hik is the descendant of the pharaonic term heka, which, unlike its Coptic counterpart, had no connotation of impiety or illegality, and is attested from the Old Kingdom through to the Roman era. While the category magic has been contentious for modern Egyptology, there is clear support for its applicability from ancient terminology. In ancient Egypt ( Kemet in the Egyptian language), Magic (personified as the god heka) was an integral part of religion and culture which is known to us through a substantial corpus of texts which are products of the Egyptian tradition. Regardless of how they came, omens were always taken with the utmost seriousness. The ancient Mesopotamians also believed in omens, which could come when solicited or unsolicited. The Sumerian god Enki, who was later syncretized with the East Semitic god Ea, was closely associated with magic and incantations he was the patron god of the bārȗ and the ašipū and was widely regarded as the ultimate source of all arcane knowledge. An āšipu probably served not only as a magician, but also as a physician, a priest, a scribe, and a scholar. The profession was generally passed down from generation to generation and was held in extremely high regard and often served as advisors to kings and great leaders. Most magical rituals were intended to be performed by an āšipu, an expert in the magical arts. When a person became ill, doctors would prescribe both magical formulas to be recited as well as medicinal treatments. The ancient Mesopotamians made no distinction between rational science and magic. Other spells were used to reconcile a man with his patron deity or to reconcile a wife with a husband who had been neglecting her. Such spells were believed to cause a person to fall in love with another person, restore love which had faded, or cause a male sexual partner to be able to sustain an erection when he had previously been unable. The person would then burn the objects and thereby purify themself of all sins that they might have unknowingly committed. One such ritual was known as the Šurpu, or "Burning", in which the caster of the spell would transfer the guilt for all their misdeeds onto various objects such as a strip of dates, an onion, and a tuft of wool. The ancient Mesopotamians also performed magical rituals to purify themselves of sins committed unknowingly. Then, once the nature of the sorcerer's crimes had been determined, the person would burn the effigy and thereby break the sorcerer's power over them. The person viewed as being afflicted by witchcraft would create an effigy of the sorcerer and put it on trial at night. One ritual to punish a sorcerer was known as Maqlû, or "The Burning". The only major difference was the fact that curses were enacted in secret whereas a defense against sorcery was conducted in the open, in front of an audience if possible. Black magic as a category didn't exist in ancient Mesopotamia, and a person legitimately using magic to defend themselves against illegitimate magic would use exactly the same techniques. The ancient Mesopotamians also used magic intending to protect themselves from evil sorcerers who might place curses on them. If that failed, they also sometimes took a figurine of the deceased and buried it in the ground, demanding for the gods to eradicate the spirit, or force it to leave the person alone. To defend themselves against the spirits of those they had wronged, they would leave offerings known as kispu in the person's tomb in hope of appeasing them. The ancient Mesopotamians believed that magic was the only viable defense against demons, ghosts, and evil sorcerers. Defensive or legitimate magic in Mesopotamia ( asiputu or masmassutu in the Akkadian language) were incantations and ritual practices intended to alter specific realities. Magic was invoked in many kinds of rituals and medical formulae, and to counteract evil omens. Bronze protection plaque from the Neo-Assyrian era showing the demon Lamashtu
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