Ancient Magickal Words and Incantations
Abracadabra alakazam! It may seem like a bunch of hocus pocus, but magick words and incantations have been around for centuries. We thought it would be fun to highlight a few of the more common ones for your enjoyment. Let’s dive in!
Abracadabra
Abracadabra, one of the oldest incantations known to humankind, carries a rich historical and cultural significance. Its unique triangular format, pointed downward, with a letter removed off the end with each tier down until you’re left with a singular “A,” is a magickal formula created by the Gnostics. This formula was believed to call upon spirits to protect against misfortune and disease. The word's origins are believed to come from a Hebrew phrase, “ha brachah dabarah,” meaning “name of the blessed.” Its first documented appearance in the second century CE by Serenus Sammonicus, the royal physician of Roman Emperor Caracalla, provides a fascinating insight into ancient practices and beliefs.
Hocus Pocus
Hocus pocus is a phrase that generally referred to trickery or deception. It comes from a phrase encouraging magicians and jugglers during the early 1600s. Audiences would chant “hocus pocus” when magicians would perform sleight of hand tricks, which in turn came from a Latin blessing from Catholic mass: “Hoc est corpus meum,” meaning “This is my body.” Hocus pocus came to mean a meaningless distraction that involves tricking people in the process…or the name of one of our beloved childhood movies!
Alakazam
Alakazam is also another old incantation whose roots have been lost to time. Some experts believe it’s originally from the Arabic “al-qasam,” which means “the oath.” It’s an invocation for magickal power and used to transform something immediately by magick.
Open Sesame
This phrase comes from the fictional work by Antoine Galland: “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” a story contained within the larger One Thousand and One Nights. It was a phrase spoken aloud to open the cave of treasures. Sesame seeds open when their seed pods mature, so the correlation between the seed itself and opening to treasures inside is pretty obvious. Its potency in your magickal practice? Less likely.
Less Known Incantations
Trust me when I say you can go down a rabbit hole of ancient words and incantations. Claude LeCouteux’s book, Dictionary of Ancient Magic Words and Spells: From Abraxas to Zoar, will tell you everything you could possibly want to know about ancient words and spells. Here are some of my favorites:
Balrung. Banriror. Fluxuel. This spell will make a horse invincible in a race. To use it, you have to write it on a piece of paper and attach it to his left ear.
Faul: This 10th-century English word was believed to protect an individual from snake bites.
Calamaris: This word is a Scandinavian equivalent to Abracadabra and was best used for curing fevers.
Q F: These letters are an abbreviation of the Latin words “quid faciunt,” taken from Jesus’s last words in the book of Luke. They were used to protect a person against misfortune.
In fact, many of the magick words that we have records of today come from the early versions of the Bible and other religious texts.
Zara. Zai. Dezeval.: This is an unknown spell found in a ring on the Glamorgan coast in Scotland. It would be so cool to find out what it means!
Sancitan sanamiel samafoelis: It was once believed that these words whispered into the ear of a young woman would win you her love. But remember consent is sexy!
Have you heard of any ancient incantations or spells? Share them with us on social media!
Stay Magickal,
Megan W.