Subject: Re: Abra kadabra???
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 2000 14:41:44 -0800
From: “Tom Schuler” < duo[at]teleport[dot]com >
Newsgroups: alt.magick
< cylobiandreamer@my-deja.com > wrote in message
<< Could anyone explain the history or use of this word and association, I know it has power (given by Djehuti). Alternatively any links that may help. >>
The earliest historical mention of abracadabra appears in the writings of the 2nd Century Gnostic healer Quintus Serenus Sammonicus, who said it cured fevers and agues when inscribed properly on a piece of paper folded in the form of a cross and worn as an amulet.
The inscription should be triangular with each repetition of the word abridged by one letter per line, like this, but spaced to form an equilateral triangle:
ABRACADABRA
ABRACADABR
ABRACADAB
ABRACADA
ABRACAD
ABRACA
ABRAC
ABRA
ABR
AB
A
According to Gnostic lore, it is a formula equivalent to ABRAXAS.
S.A. Mackey, in an 1824 treatise on astrological symbolism, says that it means “The Bull, the only Bull”, ab’r-achad-ab’ra. This is probably nothing more than speculation, though.
The word was probably of Greek origin and spelled abrasadabra, the Greek “s” being confused with the English “c”. Since the Greek version of ABRAXAS is ABRASAX, this makes a little sense.
