A look into the past: the mythology of Egypt, the gods
Egypt is renowned for its legends, for the various fantastic elaborations and for the related choreographies; the findings of archaeological research confirm the link of the population (from the simple servant to the Pharaoh) to myths and magic.
For the Egyptians, magic was considered the most effective protection against the inability to face difficulties. When they felt defenseless and opposed, they practiced magical formulas so that daily life would be strengthened and protected from all types of evil.
The cults of the ancient Egyptians were many and the gods were never of a unitary character throughout Egypt. In fact, each city had its particular deities, and these were represented in different ways: in the form of animals, in the form of men, in the form of men-animals. Each god had different representations and at least one temple dedicated to him.
Religion therefore, characterized by polytheism, was a mixture of tribal cults and magic that was handed down from generation to generation. The 10 plagues inflicted by God on the Egyptians (Exodus chapters 7-12) are in stark contrast to their main deities, this highlights God's supremacy over everything; God is infinitely above every principality.
God's intervention not only neutralized and dismantled the occult powers, but also demolished the solidity in which the Egyptians relied. The God presented by Moses proves superior to the Egyptian's Gods, to the magicians, to the occult forces of evil and his intervention is for the benefit of those who invoke him; his strength has dismantled the "power" so proclaimed, venerated and feared.
Pharaoh and Moses confront each other, both are aware of having a supreme "help", one advances in the name of ATON i.e. "solar disk", the other in that of I AM i.e. "He who is" (Ex. 3:12-14; 7:9-13 – 2nd Tim. 3:8). The two forces meet, compare each other and then reach a single result: YHWH is the absolute and only God.
We observe the prevalence and lordship of the Almighty over the seductions and subtle deceptions operating in the mythological world: God intervention highlights the absolute superiority over the elements and the natural and preternatural spheres, His power is not contrary, but superior as True, Unique and Almighty God. (Isaiah 45:6 - Col. 1:15-17).
The intervention of the magicians in managing to only partially imitate two of the ten plagues, denotes their limits and their deceptions (Matt. 24:24 - 2 Thess. 2:9) because their powers did not have to consist only in making the plagues come frogs from ponds and rivers but also in bringing them back. The same thing must have happened with water turned into blood; if there had truly been real power, the enchanters had to change the blood into water rather than wait for the plague to cease, which lasted seven days.
The table below is relevant to the 10 plagues, and clearly highlights the absolute superiority of God over witchcraft, divinities, occult forces, magic, etc..., since the "protector gods" have never managed to defend their own cause.
| Plague | Description | Deities |
| 1st | Water turned into blood | Sobek |
| 2nd | Frogs | Thoth, Maat |
| 3rd | Gnats | Geb |
| 4th | Venomous flies | Khepri |
| 5th | Livestock mortality | Apis, Hathor |
| 6th | Boils | Ptah |
| 7th | Hail | Horus, Nut |
| 8th | Locusts | Isis |
| 9th | Darkness | Amon-Ra |
| 10th | Death of the firstborn | Osiris, Anubis, Seth |
Furthermore, the goddess Sekhmet and the god Neith (gods of war) could not resist the power of the Creator. God fought on behalf of his people, protecting them by day, with a cloud, and by night, with a pillar of fire. He opened the sea allowing the passage of the Jews on dry land and closed it on the Egyptians to their detriment (Ex. 14:14,25).
In the Egyptian pantheon, the list of gods is very long, we will only mention a few. Their depictions have human features with the head of an animal or the features of an animal itself:
Heket, The frog Goddess
She was the divine midwife of ancient Egypt, the protector of new life and was frequently invoked to bring protection to the birth process or to defend the family unit and guard the home. The amulets and scarabs worn by women for protection at the time of childbirth often bore her image, as it was believed that she brought relief to her mother. Heket's influence manifested itself in instilling the first signs of life in an unborn child, and in hastening the final moments of labor. Midwives were called "servants of Heket" in honor of their task of dispensing life.
Heket was represented as a frog or as a woman with a frog's head and her colors were green and pink. But why this animal? Frogs have existed since the beginning of civilization, procreating by the thousands in the waters of the Nile and for the Egyptians life began precisely from the primordial waters. By similarity, the child, born from the broken waters in the mother's womb, was associated with the frogs that emerged from the water.
Min, the god of fertility
The god Min represented sexual procreation, therefore protector of fertility and crops. He was a natural spirit who celebrated the fertility of the earth and the free sexuality of all living things.
Black, ithyphallic, mummiform with two feathers on his head, he holds the flail in his raised fist.
Khunum, the ram god
The Creator of New Life and Abundance. Khnum presided over childbirth alongside the frog deity Heket. He was believed to create all children on his potter's wheel, carefully molding them from clay and planting them like a seed in their mother's womb. He was a god of fertility and procreation and marked life cycles, blessing the womb with new life, the earth with new crops and the Egyptian people with prosperity and abundance. It was also believed that the veneration of Khnum, with adequate monetary offerings at his temple, ensured the prosperity of Egypt. He was also associated with the creation of animals, birds, fish and other deities; perhaps he represented the creative process and the potential for creation and also regulated the floods of the Nile, in fact he was also called "the lord of the waterfall".
Khunum was usually represented with the head of a goat with twisted horns.
Renenutet, the serpent goddess
Egyptian deity of fertility and abundance, she protected births and nurses because she was linked to the reproductive cycle of life and was protector of crops.
Renenutet was depicted as a woman with the head or body of a serpent.
Satet, the goddess of Elephantine
As a deity of the cataracts she protected the southern borders, and was the dispenser of the cold water that came from Elephantine.
Depictions of the goddess show Satet with the crown of Upper Egypt, a tiara headdress adorned laterally with gazelle horns.
Sekhmet, the lioness goddess
Goddess of war and Ra's wrath; Sekhmet name meant "the mighty." In fact this goddess, with the body of a woman and the head of a lioness, was the terrible enemy of those who threatened the sovereign, she was vengeful and breathed fire against his enemies. Sekhmet was also the patroness of doctors and magicians.
Tefnut, goddess of moist air
Tefnut means: "the saliva of Atum". Tefnut, like morning dew, welcomed the solar god, which is why it was also called the "eye of Ra".
Its name means "spit" and is written with the shape of a mouth from which a spray of water comes out.
Tefnut was represented as a woman, sometimes with the head of a lioness, who carried on her head a solar disk and a serpent named uraeus.
Bastet, the cat goddess
Legends say that Bastet was originally the goddess Sekhmet who, after spending a period of time in exile, returned to Egypt in the guise of a "peaceful kitten" and with a new name. Probably her transformation from a ruthless warrior to a peacemaker expresses a political change in ancient Egypt, therefore it symbolizes the taming of the wild and bestial forces of human nature or the triumph of civilization and diplomacy over conflict. From the images represented in the hieroglyphics and funerary paintings it can be deduced that Bastet was a divinity with different roles: she was attributed the task of protector of the family and the home but she was also considered the goddess of pleasure and lesbianism, and also lady of the arts and generosity, bringer of fertility and abundance, goddess of the sun and moon, of truth and civilization, and ultimately protector of cats.
Bastet was often represented with the body of a woman and the head of a cat, in her left hand there was a sacred amulet in the shape of an eye which took the name of Utchat, from which most of the names used to identify the cat probably derive (cat, katte, cattus, cat, gatous).
Shu, the god of space between earth and sky
Shu was the God of the void and the air and therefore of the winds, in the form of a lion or a diademed man of the solar disk.
According to Egyptian mythology, Shu was god of the air and after being born from the god Atum together with his sister Tefnut, he separated the sky from the earth. The Egyptians believed that the gods needed air like men, which is why the openings in the temples were called "Shu windows".
Tueret, the hippopotamus goddess
Protector of the home and pregnancy, Tauert was a domestic goddess, that is, worshiped at home and not in temples. Tueret was represented as a pregnant female hippopotamus, and assisted all women, from the queen to the peasant, during the birth of their children.
Selkis, the scorpion goddess
Selkis played an important role in funerary beliefs; with Isis, Nephtis and Neith, she protected the teeth, the entrails of the deceased and the mummified stomach. Selkis was represented on the sarcophagi as a scorpion with a woman's head, or as a woman with a scorpion on her head. In Egyptian mythological thought, the scorpion symbolized the breath of the universe.
Nekhbet, the vulture goddess
Nekhbet was the protector of the pharaoh and the kingdom and all queens were considered her earthly incarnation. Goddess with the appearance of a vulture or woman with a vulture-shaped headdress.
Wadjet the snake goddess
First of all, it is useful to know that the snake, and in particular the female cobra, is an animal which, if threatened, can dilate the back of the head and stretch the skin of the neck until it takes on a shape similar to a racket, a position which allows him to spit venom at the attacker. According to Egyptian mythological tales, the female cobra is the symbol of Wadjet, the eye of the solar god Ra, which detached itself from her father and then returned to it and was placed permanently on her forehead. In this guise the image of the female serpent was placed on the forehead of the pharaoh, the one who represented the solar god Ra on earth. Therefore the serpent on the sovereign's crown symbolizes the destructive force, at the service of the sovereign to exterminate his enemies, who are then also the enemies of Egypt. Wadjet protected the pharaoh (and the sun) by spitting his venom against their enemies. Wadjet means "The Green", "The one of the color of papyrus", and she became the symbol of the protector of Lower Egypt, the one who protected the flood necessary for the country's survival. Wadjet was therefore a kind of "good snake", who kept watch so that the world did not fall into chaos; in general, however, snakes were mostly seen as dangerous animals, regardless of whether the species they belonged to was poisonous or not. The afterlife was believed to be filled with serpents representing the power of chaos, which threatened the smooth functioning of the world.
.... and many others which over time, beyond adoration and devotion, were miniaturized and used in the form of jewels and lucky charms for spells, magic and divinations; even today, such depictions continue to exist through the influences caused by amulets.
