Abracadabra

Abracadabra is derived from a Cabalistic charm (“Abracadabra”). Currently, abracadabra is used as a popular magical incantation and is often used by stage magicians to add an element of the mysterious to their performances; some stage magicians use the term in a satirical fashion (“Abracadabra”). In fact, when the word is used today, the meaning of the word is treated as magical gibberish, rendering the word powerless (“Abracadabra”). Abracadabra has previously been used as an incantation to heal: more specifically, abracadabra was used to heal fevers and most forms of inflammation.

In Sacred Languages and Sacred Texts, John F. A. Sawyer explains the surmised origins of the word abracadabra; around the second century AD, abracadabra appeared in the poem, De Medicina Praecepta by Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, a physician that believed that if an ill individual wore the inscribed incantation on parchment around the neck, the individual would be cured of illness (124). The amulet was one of the most popular in the medieval period (124). Symbolically, the inverted triangle is an inversion of the cone of power. A cone of power is used to draw down energies from a higher source while an inversion of the cone of power is believed to drive out the illness from one’s body. The Roman emperor Caracalla wore the word on an amulet for protection against disease. The word was inscribed in an inverted fashion, in the shape of an upside down triangle or cone:

Michael Quinion explores the various theories pertaining to the word abracadabra’s origin. Abracadabra has been linked to the Aramaic, Hebrew, and the Chaldean languages (Quinion). In An ABC of Witchcraft, Doreen Valiente, linked abracadabra to the Sufis, and argued that abracadabra was similar to Brachab Dabarah, literally meaning to “speak the blessing” (105). What remains clear is that the history of the word abracadabra remains ambiguous.

Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, the fifteenth century magician mentions the word abracadabra in his three-volume work De Occulta Philosophiae (The Occult Philosophy). In the volume pertaining to ceremonial magick, Agrippa writes: “Which the Ancient Doctors of the Hebrews have especially observed, who were wont to do many wonderfull things by words; the Pythagorians [Pythagoreans] also have shewed, how to cure very wonderfully the diseases both of body and mind, with certain words . . .” (374). Agrippa continues:

Also Serenus Samonicus delivereth amongst the precepts of Physick, that if this name Abracadabra be written, as is here expressed, viz. diminishing letter after letter backward, from the last to the first, it will cure the Hemitritean Fever or any other, if the sheet of paper or parchment be hanged about the neck, and the disease will by little and little decline and pass away. (374)

Agrippa, like many magicians, believed that words held power and he contends that the use of abracadabra on an amulet causes disease to diminish gradually.

In 1860, Doctor T.A.G Balfour suggests that abracadabra was a word that used the word Abrá twice, and that the word consisted of the first Hebrew words used to signify the trinity (“Abracadabra”):

Numbers and letters play an important role in the abracadabra charm. Agrippa argued that “all things that are, and are made, subsist by, and receive their vertue from numbers. For time consists of number, and all motion, and action, and all things which are subject to time, and motion” (171-72). Agrippa wrote that the number two is the number of “Science, memory, and light” (177). It also represented the heart and brain, the two “great lights,” or the Sun and moon respectively, and the balance between the masculine and feminine polarities (177). Modern day practitioners of magick believe that the Divine exists both within oneself as well as outside of oneself. The use of ABRA twice within the word abracadabra suggests that one is attempting to achieve an internal divine balance.

Some scholars have argued that abracadabra is closely related to the word “abraxas,” a word derived from a Gnostic sect called the Basilideans. The Basilideans believed that the word “abraxas” had tremendous power because the word contained a total of seven Greek letters that, in a numerological sense, totaled 365. Abraxas was also a cabalistic charm, sometimes carved on gems (“Abraxas”). “The word Abrasax, sometimes spelled Abraxas, was the great mystery of the Gnostics” (“Abraxas”).

In Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World, Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki argue that abracadabra, while sounding nonsensical, at one point may have had some lexical meaning that was lost through the passage of time (120). Meyers further asserts that the original “concrete meaning” is now hidden, and that abracadabra may be derived from a dead language no-longer recognized or understood (120). Thus, to this date, abracadabra is a word that is limited in terms of the traceability of its etymology.

According to Agrippa, the number three is a perfect number, it is considered holy, and represents the divine trinity (180). In The Alphabet Abecedarium: Some Notes on Letters, Richard A. Firmage argues that the Romans believed that the goddess of charms, Carmenta, invented the letter “a” (52). The letter A was, in some instances, used to represent Christ as well as God (52):

The three points of the triangle can thus been considered a representation of the divine trinity. Further, In ancient times, letters were revered as holy and ancient Eastern cultures believed that letters and their use were connected to the divine (Frimage 73). The word abracadabra has five “A’s” in its makeup, and in ancient times, letters were believed to have magical importance.

In De Occulta, Agrippa argues that the number five represented the “five principle wounds of Christ (188),” and the five senses, taste, hearing, seeing, touching, and smelling, are represented by the number five (188). Present day magickal practitioners revere the number five because it represents the five points of the pentacle, and the five elements (earth, air, fire, water, and Akasha). Firmage also argues that the cone shape or triangle inscription of abracadabra represents the divine trinity or that it may be a representation of the mystical pyramid (52). Finally, a total of 30 “a’s” appear in the charm. Agrippa asserts that the number 30 is associated with the baptism of Christ (223).Thirty, when minimized becomes a 3: 30 = 3 + 0 = 3.

There are two “B’s” in abracadabra, and interestingly enough, the letter B represents dualism (57):

B is the second letter of the alphabet, is viewed as the division of the first letter, the “A” or the “alpha” (57). Greco-Roman beliefs included the idea that the goddess Carmenta also created the letter “B” (58). Firmage asserts, “B thus symbolizes the idea of expanding creation, the division of one into two – the beginnings of dualism” (57). The letter B also “ denotes virility, paternal protection, and interior action and movement. . . . This letter in conjunction with . . . Aleph forms all ideas of progress, of graduated advance, the passage from one state to another: locomotion. Its numerical value is two” (57). The latter contentions suggests that the letter B in abracadabra represents an individual’s interior state and that the dualistic letter, used twice within the text, brings about balance of the individual’s interior being. It also seems to suggest that a person using the charm seeks to move from one state of being to another, or from the state of physical illness into a state of health.

Thirteen B’s appear in the charm. In the abracadabra charm, the number thirteen is particularly significant. In Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of Magical Thinking, Warren H. Jones and Leonard Zusne explain that, to many people, the number 13 is associated with bad luck; part of the superstition is based on the fact that the number 12 represents completion and the number 13 is then viewed as “in excess” of completion (244). Agrippa asserts that the number 13 illustrates the mysteries of Christ as they were revealed to the Gentiles (222). Given the latter argument, the 13 letter B’s in the charm seeks to achieve balance where there is excess.

There is one letter C in the fifth position of abracadabra.

Firmage explains that Hugo von St. Victor, that the letter C, used by the Romans to represent the number 100 had symbolic significance. A medieval mystic believed that the letter C was a “broad letter,” and that it represented “width of God’s love” (69). Agrippa wrote:

There are also seaven degrees in the body, which compleat the dimension of its altitude from the bottome to the top, viz. marrow, bone, nerve, vein, artery, flesh, skin. There are seaven, which by the Greeks are called black members, the Tongue, the Heart, the Lunges, the Liver, the Spleen, and two Kidnies [kidneys]. There are also seaven principal parts of the body, the head, the breast, the hands, the feet, and the privy members. (193)

Since the letter C represents divine love, it can be surmised that the charm seeks to pervade all of the latter mentioned parts of the body with divine love: the arteries, bones, flesh, heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, marrow, nerves, skin, spleen, tongue, and veins, as well as the body, head, breast, hands, feet, and privy members. There are a total of seven C’s in the abracadabra charm:

There is a single D in the word abracadabra, found in the seventh position.

The letter D, the the Phoenicians denoted “door” and the Assyrians considered the letter D as “symbol for the gate of heaven” (Firmage 72). The letter further denotes the “origins of existence,” and “abundance” (Firmage 72). Five D’s appear in the incantation:

The ancient Greeks believed that the letter D was associated with the goddess Demeter, her daughter Persephone, as well as the goddess Kore (Frimage 74). In the Irish Tree Alphabet, the letter D symbolized the oak tree, was linked to the god Zeus, and was considered a royal tree (Frimage 79). Further, the letter D was associated with the Celtic division of the year, and D represented the waxing half of the year (Frimage 74). Given the latter symbolic representations of the letter D, the appearance of D in abracadabra may indicate a “waxing” of healing energies, or an improvement of the body and mind via the doorway of God. It can also symobize the connection between the masculine/feminine polarities of the divine and the individual. This argument is strengthed when one considers that the letter D, meaning “door,” is followed by the Hebrew name of God in the word abracadabra:

Frimage asserts that the letter R denotes individual development, willpower, and growth (204). In terms of the Irish Tree alphabet, the letter was linked to the elder tree and witchcraft (204). There are eleven R's in the abracadabra charm. Eleven, when reduced becomes a 2, and is representative of the unity between the masculine and the feminine. Further, abracadabra contains eleven letters, and the charm creates eleven rows.

There two R's in abracadabra, one in the third position and one in the tenth position.

The entire charm contains 66 letters that are in 11 rows. The letters within abracadabra, when used in an inverted triangle use the word Abra eleven times.

Agrippa considered six as a perfect number (191). Since the number 66 is a doubling of the number 6, it can be viewed as a doubling of perfection or a symbolic representation of achieving perfect balance. Further, when the two sixes are added together, the result is 12, and when 1 and 2 are combined, the result is 3. Thus, the entire charm can be reduced to a complete symbol of the divine trinity.

66 = 6 + 6 = 12
12 = 1 + 2 = 3

Also interesting to note is that the three sides of the triangle, each consisting of 11 letters, totals the number 33. Each side of the triangle is in balance, two sides use the name Abra, and the third side consists of eleven A's, thus representing the unification of the trinity.

Thirty-three has long been associated with the age of Christ when he was crucified. The number 33 can be further reduced to a 6, again representing perfection. Since the number 33 consists of two threes, it can be viewed as a doubling the representation of the divine trinity.

33 = 3 + 3 = 6

Works cited:

“Abracadabra.” Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2nd ed. 1989.

“Abraxas.” Oxford English Dictionary Online. 2nd ed. 1989.

Agrippa, Heinrich Cornelius. Three Books of Occult Philosophy. 1533. Trans.
J. F. London: Printed by R.W. for Gregory Moule, 1651.

Frimage, Richard A. The Alphabet Abecedarium: Some Notes on Letters.
Boston: David R. Godine, 1993.

Jones, Warren H, and Leonard Zusne. Anomalistic Psychology: A Study of
Magical Thinking. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1989.

Magic and Ritual in the Ancient World. Ed. Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki.
Boston: Brill, 2002.

Quinion, Michael. "Abracadabra." World Wide Words. 2007. 7 May 2007
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-abr1.htm .

Sawyer, John F.A. Sacred Languages and Sacred Texts. London:
Routledge, 1999.

Valiente, Doreen. An ABC of Witchcraft. Custer: Phoenix Publishing, 1973.