Abracadabra
Wednesday June 27, 2007
The word abracadabra is known universally as the "magic word" of stage conjurers. What little know is that it is a word of ancient origin, used by genuine magicians from about the third century.
The word abracadabra is derived from a Aramaic phrase (Avarah K'Davarah) meaning, "I will create as I speak." (Harry Potter fans might recognize this spelling; however, it is not a curse.) It has appeared in Kabbalistic and Gnostic texts alike.
Comments
These magic word spells were used quite a lot in the ancient past. I have a book, The Greek Magical Papyri In Translation: Including the Demotic Spells by Hans Dieter Betz that lists several of these. Also, the vowels of the Greek alphabet were used in a similar way in spells, too.
Here is one that was part of a healing spell…from the book mentioned above, p. 255
GORGOPHONAS
ORGOPHONAS
RGOPHONAS
GOPHONAS
OPHONAS
PHONAS
ONAS
NAS
AS
S
(PH is a single letter in the Greek alphabet, so the PH disappears as a pair.)
It’s a pretty neat book…a bit hard to find because I think it’s out of print, but well worth looking for.