After... getting my hands on lots of Alchemy books (and related
stuff), I came across a book on Egyptian magic, titled appropriately as
Egyptian Magic,
written by E. A. Wallis Budge, 1901. The following is one part of the
preface. Parts especially relevant to the series are bolded. (Not
putting the quotation in quote code because that makes it a pain to read
in my opinion.)
"Egyptian magic dates from the time when the predynastic and prehistoric dwellers in Egypt
believed that the earth, and the underworld, and the air, and the sky were peopled with countless beings, visible and invisible,
which were held to be friendly or unfriendly to man according as the
operations of nature, which they were supposed to direct, were
favourable or unfavourable to him.
In -nature and attributes these
beings were thought by primitive man to closely resemble himself and to
possess all human passions, and emotions, and weaknesses, and defects;
and the chief object of magic was to give man the pre-eminence over such
beings. The favour of the beings who were placable and friendly to
man might be obtained by means of gifts and offerings, but the cessation
of hostilities on the part of those that were implacable and unfriendly
could only be obtained by wheedling, and cajolery, and flattery, or by
making
use of an amulet, or secret name, or magical formula, or figure, or
picture which had the effect of bringing to the aid of the mortal who
possessed it the power of a being that was mightier than the foe who
threatened to do evil to him. The magic of most early nations aimed
at causing the transference of power from a supernatural being to man,
whereby he was to be enabled to obtain superhuman results and to become
for a time as mighty as the original possessor of the power; but the
object of Egyptian magic was to
endow man with the means of
compelling both friendly and hostile powers, nay, at a later time, even
God Himself, to do what he wished, whether the were willing or not.
The belief in magic, the word being used in its best sense, is older in
Egypt than the belief in God, and it is certain that a very large number
of the Egyptian religious ceremonies, which were performed in later
times as an integral part of a highly spiritual worship, had their
origin in superstitious customs which date from a period when God, under
any name or in any form, was unconceived in the minds of the Egyptians.
Indeed it is probable that even the use of the sign which represents an
axe, and which stands the hieroglyphic character both for God and
"god," indicates that this weapon and tool was employed in the
performance of some ceremony connected with religious magic in
prehistoric, or at any rate in predynastic times, when it in some
mysterious way symbolized the presence of a supreme Power. But be this
as it may, it is quite certain that magic and religion developed and
flourished side by side in Egypt throughout all periods of her history,
and that any investigation which we may make of the one necessarily
includes an examination of the other."
- We know the people of Egypt in Yu-Gi-Oh! believed that evil
spirits lived in the hearts of men, which they sealed in tablets upon
obtaining the Millennium Items.
- Said monsters reflected their owners.
- The amulet would be the Millennium Items here, the secret name could
be Atem's name, which caused Horakhti to be summoned. Magical formula
could be the magic in general, like how the story was passed down as
"Magicians who used monsters to fight each other". The novelization of
Pyramid of Light also describes Pegasus deciphering the magic words
found in the images of the monsters. The picture obviously refers to the
tablets, and pictures are also shown to have important in the modern
game as well.
- Atem did control the Egyptian Gods, and Simon summoned Exodia.
And well, that's just the preface. There could be much more to it, but I
thought I'd stop by and share this. And the book itself is like 100
pages long.
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