
I, having been kept from my altar, do write this prayer as though this were my altar, and may our honoured dead be witness to this prayer as they have been witness to all the prayers that have come before and will be witness to all the prayers that will come after.
It is not me who says this but Isis, Aset, Ast, fiercely-bright one, she who knows Ra by His own name, bringer of flame, maker of the sunrise, mother of the king and of all the gods, She-who-Avenges. If my son, the Great One of Magic, bone-breaker, Lord of Faces, is not safely returned to me, I will stop the sun in the sky, I will destroy the bodies of the gods, I will break the circle of the sky. If my son, the Enchanter, the Falcon upon the ramparts of the house of him of the hidden name, He who is Above, is returned to me safely, I will offer a black bull, free of blemish, to any of the gods and our honoured dead who may spare him.
It is not me who says this but he before whom the sky shakes, the black boar who swallows the moon, the bringer of storms, lord of the red places. I am the lord of death, who embodies death, who defends life by summoning death, as befits the natural order of that which is and will ever be. I cast out the serpent, he who was spat out, encircler of the world, the great undying destroyer, the lord-of-undeath. I abjure thee. I abjure thee. I abjure thee. I will not let your breath touch the body of my son; I will not let your bau persecute him further.
I say this as I have said every night since my son was taken from me and will say until he is returned unto me: may the Seven Arrows of Sekhmet, lady of the place before the beginning of time, be turned from him and strike his enemies; may Amon-Ra, he who listens to prayers, shield him and seal him so no evil may come to him; may his enemies be under the soles of his feet; may Wepwawet, he who separates heaven and earth, open the way to victory and clear his passage home.
May all the gods and saints and all our honoured dead shelter and guide me and mine always and eternally, now and ever and to the ages of ages, amen. Sanctus Deus, Sanctus Fortis, Sanctus Immortalis, miserere nobis. Ἅγιος ὁ Θεός, Ἅγιος ἰσχυρός, Ἅγιος ἀθάνατος, ἐλέησον ἡμᾶς. Holy God, Holy Almighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us, both now and ever and to the ages of ages, amen.