"Sorcery has been called Magic: but Magic is Wisdom, and there is no wisdom in Sorcery"
-PARACELSUS.

"Men have always strived to control nature and the elements. The earliest shamans, before the existence of any organized religion's sought to heal the sick and get rain when the crops needed or otherwise render weather more favorable to their pursuits and lifestyle.

These holy men had the luxury of ignore hunting or fighting parties, they did not need to toil the land, and their needs were met by the community. So they had the time and luxury to spend all their time with contemplative pursuits. This was a luxury then as it is undoubtedly a luxury today.

Those who followed and learned the tenets of the Ancient Wisdom, eventually also mastered the practice right-hand magic. This usually consisted of communicating and working with the elements and elementaries. Certain men who were open minded and intelligent found out that most things that were important and elusive were not always visible and more often than not were out of their control. With respect and careful cajoling the holy men learned to coexist and harness the elements via their spirit proxies. The key word was always respect and coexistence.

These early holy men were not anointed by any power-structure or leader. They existed at the side of the head of the tribe offering guidance and fortune telling, healing and rainmaking among other things. These men eventually learned which herbs were beneficial and which were poison, how to protect their own from the hostility of others while offering useful and practical guidance to the members of the tribe and its leader.

As tribal life became more structured and earth became more populous these scattered tribes eventually morphed into kingdoms or principalities. What commonality existed in most of these early human societies was the benign nature of the ruler. The rulers while wielded ultimate power and control over their subjects were often benign and held the welfare and prosperity of their people to a high regard.

As the role of the ultimate ruler was handed down from generations to generations, quite often the royal family had connections to the higher worlds and higher beings. They were the extended arm of the white brotherhood that existed since the dawn of times. The intermediaries between the royal family and the white brotherhood were always the magician, the consigliere, the seer and advisor to the king and his family.

At times, the dark forces gained access to a member of the royal family and by brewing ill content and animosity among brothers and sisters they instigated kin against kin, son against the father. Unspeakable acts were done between the royal families to gain the power and wealth, but more often than not the dark forces were behind the scene controlling the events and their main purpose was to hinder and interrupt the hierarchy of the light.

The most famous magician was Merlin, from the Anglo tradition of King Arthur. Merlin first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written around 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures depicting the relationship between the royal family and the holy-man who advises the family, tells the fortune and guides the monarchy through tick and thin.

Often the royalty itself practiced magic and the Ancient Wisdom. In the case of Cleopatra she sidestepped the intermediary and as the priestess of Philae, she acted as ruler and sorceress as one. She managed to beguile two Roman leaders to keep Egypt independent and free from foreign rule.

History portrayed her as enchantress and manipulator of men but the little known facts that the history books failed to catch on was her intimate knowledge of the Ancient Wisdom and magic. She was well versed in the Egyptian and Hellenistic mysteries and was very popular among her people.

Cleopatra's father Auletes was a direct descendant of Alexander the Great's general, Ptolemy I Soter, son of Arsinoe and Lacus, both of Macedonian heritages. As such, Cleopatra's background was Greek, spoken by the Hellenic aristocracy, though she was known to be the first ruler of the dynasty to learn Egyptian. She also adopted common Egyptian beliefs and practices them. Her patron goddess was Isis, and thus, during her reign, it was believed that she was the re-incarnation and embodiment of the goddess of wisdom.

Christianity and the decline of the Roman Empire slowly forced magic underground. Anyone with a whiff of alchemy, natural science like astronomy, which the church disapproved, was in grave danger. The church considered Gnosis of transcendental god, science, the dark arts and the Ancient Wisdom in the same category, dangerous and forbidden. Anyone who wanted to learn or see more was labeled as witch and had to confess under torture."