Categories
Mystical / Spiritual

Abracadabra

1) a magical charm or incantation, which
2) gibberish or unintelligible language

Magic spells usually come to mind when this word is heard. It does, in fact have ancients roots, stemming back to the 2nd Century AD – it was in a poem written by Quintus Sammonicus Serenus entitled De Medicina Praecepta. As physician to the Roman emperor Caracalla, he prescribed that a sufferer from disease wear it as an amulet, in the form of a triangle:

A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B-R-A

A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B-R

A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A-B

A-B-R-A-C-A-D-A

A-B-R-A-C-A-D

A-B-R-A-C-A

A-B-R-A-C

A-B-R-A

A-B-R

A-B

A

 

Supposedly, this would diminish the hold the disease has over the patient / sufferer. It may have a Semitic origin, but it is also similar to the Aramaic ‘Abrahadabra’ which roughly translates to “I will create as I speak.”

Other associations with this word: ‘Abracadabra’ was used as a magical formula by the Gnostics of the sect of Basilides to invoke the aid of beneficient spirits against disease (according to the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica) .

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