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The Latin incantare, which means "to consecrate with spells, to charm, to bewitch, to ensorcel", forms the basis of the word "enchant", with deep linguistic roots going back to the Proto-Indo-European kan-prefix. So it can be said that an enchanter or enchantress casts magic spells, or utters incantations.
The Latin language adopted this meaning of the term in the first century BCE. Via Latin, the concept became incorporated into Christian theology during the first century CE. Early Christians associated magic with demons, and thus regarded it as against Christian religion.
Abracadabra is of unknown origin, and is first attested in a second-century work of Serenus Sammonicus. [1]Some conjectural etymologies are: [2] from phrases in Hebrew that mean "I will create as I speak", [3] or Aramaic "I create like the word" (אברא כדברא), [4] to etymologies that point to similar words in Latin and Greek such as abraxas [5] or to its similarity to the first four ...
Medical magic and protective magic were regarded as helpful, and called ‘white’, while sorcery was considered evil and ‘black’. Distinguishing between black magic and white magic often relied on perspective, for example, if a healer attempted to cure a patient and failed, some would accuse the healer of intentionally harming the patient.
This design for an amulet comes from the Black Pullet grimoire.. A grimoire (/ ɡ r ɪ m ˈ w ɑːr /) (also known as a book of spells, magic book, or a spellbook) [citation needed] is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms, and divination, and how to summon or invoke supernatural ...
A magic circle is a circle of space marked out by practitioners of some branches of ritual magic, which they generally believe will contain energy and form a sacred space, or will provide them a form of magical protection, or both. It may be marked physically, drawn in a material like salt, flour, or chalk, or merely visualised.
The addressing of a deity in a prayer or magic spell is the invocatio, from invoco, invocare, "to call upon" the gods or spirits of the dead. [278] The efficacy of the invocatio depends on the correct naming of the deity, which may include epithets, descriptive phrases, honorifics or titles, and arcane names.
The occult is a category of supernatural beliefs and practices, encompassing such phenomena as those involving mysticism, spirituality, and magic in terms of any otherworldly agency. It can also refer to other non-religious supernatural ideas like extra-sensory perception and parapsychology .