The Black Flame

The Black Flame is from The Papyrus of the Undying, unearthed by Maspero in 1885 and quickly disposed of by private auction. A translation of the text was later published in an article in The Cairo Archaeological Critique May 1902 and in the book Textes et dessings magiques by G. Daressy (Cairo 1903) and reprinted by Lexa in volume 2 of his La Magic dans I'Egypte Antique (Paris 1925). The Papyrus of the Undying was generally dismissed as rambling, illogical, profoundly incoherent, perverse and profane to such an extreme extent that the text became regarded as a curio, a minor text of secondary import that originated from a small, uninfluential serpent cult. The papyrus is believed to date to the end of the Fifth Dynasty, about 2350 BC., and appears to be the work of the priests of the Cult of Seta. It deals with the matters of the underworld, afterlife and magical regenerative formulae, as well as several blasphemous chapters devoted to the destruction of the sun god Ra. The historical value of such questionable material was, at that time, no doubt considered to be of lesser import than the other more popular works such as the new translations of The Book of the Dead, for this reason the radical and unpopular Papyrus of the Undying fell to dismal obscurity. The text did not reappear again until 1912 when it was purchased by Rollo Ahmed, a native Egyptian occult expert and author of several books around the turn of the century. Mr. Ahmed did much further research of the papyrus and circulated several new translations of the text. However, because of his reputation among legitimate scientists as a serious occult practitioner, largely from his early years spent studying the dark arts first hand in Africa, South America and Asia, his views and interpretations of The Papyrus of the Undying were dismissed as unsubtantiated, and never fully accepted among the mainstream of the academic community of his time. The original manuscript was quietly acquired in 1928 by the Museum of Cairo where it remained on display until 1939 when famed Nazi occultist Otto Van Anza took it to Germany. Presumed lost during the fall of Berlin in 1945, it was recently rediscovered in the burnt out remains of a bunker underneath a construction site in East Berlin in 1998. The papyrus has been partially restored and is now on private display in the Berlin Museum of Aegyptologic. The lyrics of The Black Flame are taken line by line from chapter 30 "The Chapter for being Reborn" It mentions Baboui, the dog-faced ape, guardian of the Lake of Flames, who feeds upon the overturned bodies of the enemies of Osiris-- rending, raping and devouring the souls of the damned. Baboui also holds the power to open the gates of Duat, or Underworld. The chapter seems to be a magickal formula for escaping fiery chained imprisonment in the underworld. It bears a strong resemblance to Spell 316 of the Pyramid Text of Unas, but seems to have several distinct variations, probably relative to its use by the priests of the Cult of Seta.