Page 78 - J. C. Turner - History and Science of Knots

66 History and Science of Knots

were placed on the mummy..
The same notion can be found in texts included in burials to protect the
dead. Spell 50 from the Book of the Dead is a spell which the deceased should
use to protect him from `going inside the slaughterplace of the god'. The
slaughterplace is the nightmare of all dead, because here the body is cut up,
just like that of Osiris, and the deceased meets his `second death', which is the
final end of the afterlife. In the text of spell 50, the deceased is protected by
three knots, knotted around him by three gods.

A& I

Fig. 33. The ancient Egyptian hieroglyph for the word tjeset, `knot'
The ancient Egyptian word for knot is tjeset (Fig. 33). This word is used
for the reef knot, but also for the half knot, as is clear from magical texts
used by the living. Seven knots in a piece of string, tied around the neck, is
used to cure headaches. This is done in analogy of the cure found in the myth
of Isis, hiding the child Horus in the marshes. When Horus is ill, Isis cures
him by transferring the illness to a young swallow. She makes seven knots
in seven strings and ties this amulet around the neck of the child (Grapow,
Westendorff 1958: 293). In another myth Seth cures a headache of Horus by
tying a string with seven knots around Horus's left foot (Borghouts 1971: 18).
One explanation of the use of the half knot for medicinal purposes is that the
knot is thought to hold the power of spells recited whilst making the knot.
Parallels for knots which are able to `store' power are the windknots, brought
on ships to make certain that there is enough wind for sailing (Day 1967:
44). Another explanation is that the knots are used to block the way of evil.
This seems to be the case in a number of texts which contain spells for the
protection of mother and child. A number of spells prescribe that a specific
number of knots should be made to ward of dangers. One spell describes even
the time at which the knots have to be made: `One has to knot seven knots,
one knot in the morning, another one in the evening, untill seven knots are
knotted' (Erman 1901: 40-41)* Thus the last knot is made on the morning of
the fourth day. This might indicate that knots in Egypt to some extent also
had a mnemonic function.

*The spells in connection to which the making of knots is prescribed are M , N, 0, P, Q and
U.