Australian researchers have decoded an ancient Egyptian handbook of black magic that reveals ancient magical spells and invocations.

The book is a 20-page codex called the "Handbook of Ritual Power" and dates back to the 8th century. 

The codex is about the Egyptian occult and explains how to cast love spells, exorcise evil spirits and treat "black jaundice," a fatal bacterial infection that still exists today, among others.

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Researchers said there's a specific spell for gaining control over someone. You have to speak the spell over two nails before driving the nails into the person's doorpost.

Researchers Malcolm Choat and Iain Gardner said the 20-page parchment codex was completely written in Coptic, a deviation of Greek. Surprisingly, the codex contains many references to Christianity since many Egyptians at that time were Christians.

Researchers believe the book wasn't commonly used by religious officials but by someone that wasn't a professional magician.

Several invocations in the book, however, are likely associated with a group sometimes called "Sethians."

This group expanded in Egypt during the early centuries of Christianity and held Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, as its god. One invocation in the codex reads "Seth, Seth, the living Christ."

The opening of the codex refers to a divine figure named "Baktiotha." The identity of this deity remains a mystery, said the researchers.

"I give thanks to you and I call upon you, the Baktiotha: the great one, who is very trustworthy; the one who is lord over the forty and the nine kinds of serpents," says the codex.

The book was originally bought in 1981 from an antiques dealer. There has been no additional information about the origins of the codex. Researchers believe the codex likely came from Upper Egypt.

TagsAncient Egyptian spells, Egyptian spell book, love spells, exorcise evil spirits, treating black jaundice, magic spells, Christianity, Sethians, codex