Archive image from page 164 of Discovery Discovery discovery0304londuoft Year: Fig. I.—a W0>L\X in the ACT OP STEPPING OVER TWO OF THE BI,UE-GI,.\ZED .4MUI,ETS, OUTSIDE THE ROCK-CUT TOMB-CHAPEI, WHERE THE AUTHOR LIVED. to one of the ancient decorated tomb-chapels, ac- companied by our servant, who had the key, and on entering they, one by one, stepped seven times back- wards and forwards over what they supposed to be the FIG. 2.—THE AMULETS. lived. Here I produced the charms, two of which were placed on the ground at a time, and then were solemnly stepped over seven times
Archive image from page 164 of Discovery Discovery discovery0304londuoft Year: Fig. I.—a W0>L\X in the ACT OP STEPPING OVER TWO OF THE BI,UE-GI,.\ZED .4MUI,ETS, OUTSIDE THE ROCK-CUT TOMB-CHAPEI, WHERE THE AUTHOR LIVED. to one of the ancient decorated tomb-chapels, ac- companied by our servant, who had the key, and on entering they, one by one, stepped seven times back- wards and forwards over what they supposed to be the FIG. 2.—THE AMULETS. lived. Here I produced the charms, two of which were placed on the ground at a time, and then were solemnly stepped over seven times, backwards and forwards, by each woman (Fig. i). Four charms in all were used, representing the head of Isis, a mummiform divinity, a scarab, and a cat (Fig. 2). When this was accom- plished, a lower jaw-bone of an ancient Egyptian was placed on the ground and a similar ceremony was gone through, this ceremony being also repeated in the case of two heads of the ancient inhabitants, one a well- preserved mummified head, the other a skull. A glass of water was then brought, into which the blue- glazed charms were dropped. Each woman drank some of the water, and then picked out the charms and sucked them. Some of the women also rubbed their bodies with these magical objects. Generally, especially when, as was often the case, I took my charms to women in the \'illages, each woman would have a separate tumbler of water into which the charms were placed, and, after drinking some of the water, sucking the charms, and sometimes rubbing herself with them, she took the remainder of the water and douched her- self with it. It may interest my readers to know that on my re- turn to Egypt at the end of last year one of the first items of news communicated to me by my servant was that at least two of the women who had ' jumped ' over my charms and the ancient heads and jaw-bone would shortly present their husbands with a child. I am told that great efficacy is attached to the pjTa- mids,
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