Researchers in Australia have successfully translated a 1,300 year old Egyptian text, revealing it to be an ancient codex of spells and invocations.
"It is a complete 20-page parchment codex, containing the handbook of a ritual practitioner," Malcolm Choat and Iain Gardner, professors at Macquarie University and the University of Sydney, respectively, wrote in their book of findings.
The text includes love spells, exorcism instructions and even jaundice treatment.
"[The codex] starts with a lengthy series of invocations that culminate with drawings and words of power. These are followed by a number of prescriptions or spells to cure possession by spirits and various ailments, or to bring success in love and business."
Because the book is a codex of incantations and potions, with mixes of both science and religion, it was not necessarily used excluslvey by spiritual leaders
"It is my sense that there were ritual practitioners outside the ranks of the clergy and monks, but exactly who they were is shielded from us by the fact that people didn't really want to be labeled as a 'magician,'" Choat told LiveScience.