Anubis and Hekate. This is an amazing find. I've never seen the Greek and Egyptian magical traditions so closely aligned. Hekate is mentioned in the PGM but I thought it was a Greek source.
It is a plaster impression of an ancient Greco-Egyptian magical gem (intaglio) dating back to around the 2nd Century AD. Part of the collections at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (Berlin State Museums). Cataloged in the Campbell Bonner Magical Gems Database under ID Number DE-Berlin-Aeg_9864 (CBd-221). The gemstone was carved out of green and red jasper.
The voces magicae (magical words of power) combine the incantatory power of the divine world of the Ogdoad and the specific, chthonic powers of the Egyptian god of the underworld and Hekate, guide through the portals of death and to a new life in reincarnation.
The impression given by the museum curator suggests this is a gem to be used to bring down suffering on others. I suggest it's meant to protect the living and to provide guidance after death to a life of wisdom and joy in the afterlife and beyond.
Anubis combines the one who helps prepare the soul for the afterlife, as judge of the soul's life on earth, and guide through the halls of death. Combined with the invocation of the Ogdoad - the primal powers that gave birth to the universe - we see that the charm is meant for regeneration and rebirth.
- ΦΟΡΒΑΦΟΡΒΗ (Phorbaphorbē) - Powerful, rhythmic variation of Phorba; known secret magical name used to invoke Hekate as a cosmic, all-consuming deity.
- ΒΡΙΜΩ (Brimō) - "The Terrifying" or "The Angry One". A formidable epithet used almost exclusively for underworld goddesses like Hekate, Demeter, or Persephone when acting in their fiercest capacities.
- ΟΓΔΩ (Ogdō) - Refers to the divine and holy Ogdoad (the number eight), which represents the eight fundamental primordial deities of Egyptian mythology, bridging Hekate's identity with the Egyptian cosmos overseen by Anubis.