The Goddess Isis as Magician
Bronze
Roman Period, probably 1st century A.D.)
05.395, Charles Edwin Wilbour Fund
(The relief behind Isis is of Prince Khaemwaset
Photos © Joan Lansberry, May 2008

(From the info card):
"Isis here holds a divine cobra, sometimes described as 'great of magic,' as if it were a magic wand symbolic of power and a conductor of supernatural force. For the Egyptians and many other cultures, a name was an integral part of its owner. Isis herself became 'great of magic' by leanring the the sun-god Re's secret name. With it, she could use Re's magic to revive her husband Osiris..."

Ritner in _Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice_(page 33), makes reference to Isis:


"Isis...who repels the deeds of the enchanters by the spells of her mouth."

"Further unrecognized examples of sp.w, "spells" (translated 'deeds') appear in Faulkner 1958, pp. 29* and 13 (col. 18/12): 'Isis Lady of spells' (cf. col. 18/13" 'Isis who pacifies the gods with what she says')..." (Robert Ritner, _Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice_, page 69 Footnotes)