made the serpent which bit and paralysed the great
solar deity.[52]

Other Egyptian deities, including Osiris and Isis, wept creative
tears. Those which fell from the eyes of the evil gods produced
poisonous plants and various baneful animals. Orion, the Greek giant,
sprang from the body moisture of deities. The weeping ceremonies in
connection with agricultural rites were no doubt believed to be of
magical potency; they encouraged the god to weep creative tears.

Ea, the god of the deep, was also "lord of life" (Enti), "king of the
river" (Lugal-ida), and god of creation (Nudimmud). His aid was
invoked by means of magical formulae. As the "great magician of the
gods" he uttered charms himself, and was the patron of all magicians.
One spell runs as follows:

I am the sorcerer priest of Ea...
To revive the ... sick man
The great lord Ea hath sent me;
He hath added his pure spell to mine,
He hath added his pure voice to mine,
He hath added his pure spittle to mine.

_R.C. Thompson's Translation._

Saliva, like tears, had creative and therefore curative qualities; it
also expelled and injured demons and brought good luck. Spitting
ceremonies are referred to in the religious literature of Ancient
Egypt. When the Eye of Ra was blinded by Set, Thoth spat in it to
restore vision. The sun god Tum, who was linked with Ra as Ra-Tum,
spat on the ground, and his saliva became the gods Shu and Tefnut. In
the Underworld the devil serpent Apep was spat upon to curse it, as
was also its waxen image which the priests fashioned.[53]

Several African tribes spit to make compacts, declare friendship, and
to curse.

Park, the explorer, refers in his _Travels_ to his carriers spitting
on a flat stone to ensure a good journey. Arabian holy men and
descendants of Mohammed spit to cure diseases. Mohammed spat in the
mouth of his grandson Hasen soon after birth. Theocritus, Sophocles,
and Plutarch testify to the ancient Grecian customs of spitting to
cure and to curse, and also to bless when children were named. Pliny
has expressed belief in the efficacy of the fasting spittle for curing
disease, and referred to the custom of spitting to avert witchcraft.
In England, Scotland, and Ireland spitting customs are not yet
obsolete. North of England boys used to talk of "spitting their sauls"
(souls). When the Newcastle colliers held their earliest strikes they
made compacts by spitting on a stone. There