The prayer in this Coptic magic book from Egypt tells us interesting details about how the practitioner understood ancient magic and especially the power of this individual prayer. The prayer is extensive, here is a selected quote:
I am Seth the son of Adam,
to whom have been revealed the virtues
and mysteries and its executions
and the power of these arts,
more honored even than the prayers
concerning these hidden names
and what exceeds this.
For I am pleased with its operations.
Not every man can bear it
save only those that are sufficiently pure,
who are perfected in all its appellations
and its powers,
for this causes a spirit to dwell upon him
and a wisdom more than any man.
Thou shalt recite it seven times
over some honey and some licorice root.
It establishes a reminder within you
forever and ever,
in your mind and your spirit.
Translation based on:
Worrell, A Coptic Wizard’s Hoard, in: The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Vol. 46, No. 4 (1930), 239-262.
A more recent translation but with a number of critical observations:
Mirecki, The Coptic Wizard’s Hoard, in: The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 87, No. 4 (1994), 435-460. jstor.org/stable/1509968
Image source:
P.Mich.inv. 593, page 4, Egypt, ca. 600 AD
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/a/apis/x-3675/593_2V.TIF