The Secrets of Helios
The Secrets of Helios: Unlocking the Practical Uses of PGM IV.1596-1715 seeks to help the reader understand the cultural context and nature of the spell, while also providing directions for the modern practitioner to perform this practical and well-tested magic.
PGM IV.1596-1715 is an invocation of the sun as eternal lord and ruler of the cosmos and a request for various blessings to be granted contained in the larger collection known as the Greek Magical Papyri (Papyri Graecae Magicae, or PGM). It was written sometime during the third or fourth century C.E. in Thebes as part of a larger document known as the Great Magical Papyri of Paris, which is believed to have been a manual for the professional practitioner of magic. An example of Egyptian heka for personal use, this spell draws on the original and daily vivifying forces of the sun from Egyptian theology, combined with astrological lore surrounding the changing benefits of the sun in the hours, which are found in several other spells of the Greek Magical Papyri.
The Secrets of Helios: Unlocking the Practical Uses of PGM IV.1596-1715
Alison Chicosky
Original translation by Cory C. Childs
Artwork by Adaline Soothtell
ISBN 978-1-914166-70-9
A Guide to the Underworld.
Published November 2022.
20 pages.
