This is an ancient ritual instruction preserved in a 3rd century ritual manual written in Greek and found in Egypt. Today the scroll is cut in two parts, the first part is kept at the Muzeum Narodowe in Warsaw and the second part at the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection in Berlin.
The divine assistant (paredros) of Pnouthis, the sacred scribe
(…) the spell of Pnouthis has the power to persuade the gods and all the goddesses (…) This is the sacred rite for acquiring the divine assistant. It is acknowledged that he is the god, he is an aerial spirit, that you have seen. If you give him a command, straightway he performs the deed: He sends dreams, he brings women and men without the use of magical material, he kills, he destroys, he stirs up winds from the earth, he carries gold, silver, bronze, and he gives them to you whenever the need arises. He frees from bonds a person chained in prison, he opens doors, he causes invisibility so that no one can see you at all, he is a bringer of fire, he brings water, wine, bread and whatever you wish in the way of foods (…)
As soon as you order him to perform a service, he will do so (…) He will carry you [into] the air, and again hurl you into the billows of the sea’s current and into the waves of the sea; he will quickly freeze rivers and seas and in such a way that you can run over them firmly, as you want. And especially will he stop, if ever you wish it, the sea-running foam, and whenever you wish to bring down stars and whenever you wish to make warm things cold and cold things warm. He will light lamps and extinguish them again (…) He will serve you suitably for whatever you have in mind, o blessed initiate of the sacred magic, and will accomplish it for you, this most powerful assistant, who is also the only lord of the air. And the gods will agree to everything, for without him nothing happens (…)
When you go abroad, he will go abroad with you; when you are destitute, he will give you money. He will tell you what things will happen (…) When you are dead, he will wrap [up] your body as befits a god, but he will take your spirit and carry it into the air with him (…)
If you do not have immediate orders, say to him, “Go, lord,” and he will depart. The god will be seen by you alone, nor will anyone ever hear the sound of his speaking, just you yourself alone. And he will also give you wild herbs and the power to cure, and you will be [worshiped] as a god since you have a god as a friend.
Translation by E. N. O’Neil, in: H. D. Betz, The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation (1986), 4-8.
Left part: Muzeum Narodowe, Warsaw, Eastern Christian Art, inv. no 140159, with kind permission; Right part: Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, P. 5025B, Photo: Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Antikensammlung / Norbert Franken, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
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