Ancient Christian Magic: Coptic Texts of Ritual Power

This is a scholarly work about early Coptic Christians belief in magic. The little illustrations are charming althought there are not many of them. . Originals are in museums. At the time, you could purchase magical spells from monks and this book details the practice. To me, It's fascinating. I purchased this book as an art reference. Years ago, when moving to smaller quarters, I sold the first copy I owned of this book. There is nothing quite like it and so ordered it again. There is nothing quite like it. Marvin Meyer is a meticulous writer.

Ok, so I think this is a good book, for some people. It was personally disappointing to me, because I guess I was looking for a more Israel Regardie , Light working ir healing sort of magic. there where a lot of silly curses in this book."I WASN"T READY" ( in my Kevin Heart voice) But it is an interesting read as far as history lessons go. I do not recommend that anyone who is into magic engage in a bunch of what is called "Black Magic" which I think would include silly curses. It is interesting however to learn how the ancient Christian choose to use magic to protect themselves from the terrible political climate at the time.

This book gives an interesting view of ancient christian magic, but does not go into detail on the practice. It is more of a general overview of the concept.

I found it to be a good reference book, it's not for people who want a simple how to manual but rather a reference for the advanced practicioner.

Book arrived damaged and wet.

Interesting if you're into textual studies and would like to know more about books written at the same time or earlier but were left out of todays version of the Christian bible. Or are interested in clues to the rituals that were used by some in jesus time but are not spelled out in the gospels.

In dept discussion and examples provided. Great historical support and reasoning. Strong reference source for the topic than others I've seen

Not a good working manual for magickal practitioners. There are word gaps in the spells making them incomplete. This book reminds me of the published Dead Sea Scrolls where words are missing due to the fragments of the deteriorated scrolls. For it's merit, I must say that a lot of hard work went into this book, and for the scholar, it's a good buy and you will get your money's worth, but be prepared, word gaps are there and you will have to guess what was meant to be there.

wonderfull, educational. I personnaly like the ritual with psentebeth. It worked for me and the several different names of Isis just wow