However, people could also use magic in a harmful way, directed against one’s enemies as a curse, hex, or a personal kind of voodoo!
It could also be used to cast love spells, protect young children or women in childbirth, or accompany a dead or dying person on his/her journey through the underworld. When magic is beneficial, it is typically used to heal and to protect. In Ancient Egypt and other ancient cultures, there were believed to be two kinds of magic: protective, beneficial magic, or “white” magic and harmful, negative “black” magic, which could come in the form of curses and hexes. Amuletic wand made from Hippopotamus ivory and incised with deities, Twelfth Dynasty, via The British Museum, London
