Heka

Heka


 * Other Names:**[[image:hekadfhdghbgf.jpg width="128" height="246" align="right"]]

Hike


 * Meaning of Name:**

“Heka” was the Egyptian word for “magic.”


 * Titles:**

"Lord of the Kas"


 * Hieroglyphics:**

or


 * Family:**

Heka was thought to be the son of Menhit and Khnum, or Atum.

Heka was a god who stood for all magic, supernatural powers, and miracles. Because of his great power the Pyramid Texts make it clear that Heka was feared by the gods themselves. The patron of wizards and physicians, who were called the “Priests of Heka.” Heka helped Ra on his journey across the sky by casting spells to keep monsters away, and protected the moon. He was shown as a man, sometimes with a falcon head, or child standing in the sun barque, sometimes holding a magic staff and a knife, the tools of a healer. He wore the Atef Crown, Hemhem Crown, or the White Crown.

The hieroglyphic for his name featured a twist of flax within a pair of raised arms; however, it also vaguely resembles a pair of entwined snakes within someone's arms. Consequently, Heka was said to have battled and conquered two serpents, and was sometimes depicted as a man choking two entwined serpents. Medicine and doctors were thought to be a form of magic in Egypt, and so Heka’s priesthood used two entwined snakes as their emblem. Even today, one of the symbols of medicine is a snake. The Coffin Texts contain a spell “to become the god Heka.” Medicine and magic both drew upon the idea of heka, the term for the power that came from all creation. A potion, a prescription, a prayer; all turned toward the same source. This ultimate power could be embodied in animals and statues, and woven into amulets and magic charms, carried about for good fortune.

Egyptian Deities - H