Magical Practice in Present Day Upper Egypt and Its Roots
| Date: | 07/08/2026, 4:15 PM - 06/17/2026, 6:00 PM |
| Location: | Domerschulstraße 1, Seminarraum 01.001 |
| Organizer: | MagEIA, MagEIA-Haus, 1. Stock |
| Speaker: | Dr. Mohamed Sayed (Edfu) |
Egypt has been considered as a centre of magic ever since. The Babylonian Talmud claims that 10 shares of magic came down to earth, and Egypt took nine of them. The Egyptian magical practice is rooted in antiquity, and neither Christianity nor Islam could stop the traditions.
Living in a village near Edfu, the speaker is a pharmacist with wide ranging historical interests. He is eye witness of magical practices for healing purposes. Thus, he can report on living magic in rural Upper Egypt for which not much research has been done so far. The talk will be a unique opportunity to get ethnographic insights into magical practice in present day Upper Egypt. In addition, he has reflected on possible roots in the Egyptian conceptualizations of human beings and will present his ideas.
