Opening the Mouth

Setite Sorcery

This magic ritual imitates one of the standard Egyptian rites performed before burial. The funerary rite enabled the deceased to breathe and speak in the Underworld. The Akhu ritual enables a dead person to speak through his own cadaver.
Open the Mouth works only if the body retains an intact head and tongue. The magician sprinkles the cadaver with water and natron (a natural salt used in mummification), places three amulets on the body and recites a funeral prayer. At the end, the magician touches the cadaver's mouth with his ceremonial rod while commanding it to speak.
System: If the priest correctly performs the ritual, the deceased can hear and speak for one minute, but take no other action. The ritual does not compel the deceased to tell the truth; nor does the person know anything he did not know when alive. He cannot speak of the afterlife or Underworld, though. (If asked, he says that Osiris forbids him to speak of such things... even if the person never heard of Osiris in life. Magic is mysterious.) Opening the Mouth works only once for a particular magician upon a given person.