Heka
The Egyptian word for the creative power invoked in spells and medicine, and the name of the god who personified it.
Also: hekau, heqa, egyptian magic
Heka (ḥkꜢ) is the Egyptian term translated as magic, though it meant something nearer to effective power, the force by which the creator was believed to have made the world. Heka was also a god, shown as a man with a staff. Texts, from the Pyramid Texts onward, give spells, words and actions to be spoken and done together: a priest of the House of Life might recite while preparing a remedy, and amulets, wands and protective figures were made. Papyri against snakes and scorpions, birth spells and the Book of the Dead belong to this world. Egyptologists note the Egyptians saw no sharp line between medicine, religion and magic. The surviving texts are often the work of priests.