Do

"The positive word of magic says 'do'; the negative word of magic says 'don't.'"
—George Henderson, Survivals in Belief Among the Celts, 1911

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Meanwhile, Shoeb Hakim discusses the power of the magic word ask.

Magic Words in review

Don't miss Bonnie Cehovet's review of Magic Words: A Dictionary, over at Aeclectic Tarot.

Green

Is the color green a magic word in its own right? It is for blogger Pia Taylor, who recalls: "I saw that magic word that somehow never fails to get my attention—'green.'" Indeed, green shifts the gray areas in life into the limelight. Green recalls the "Green Man" vegetative deity found in cultures all over the world, symbolizing the cycle of rebirth.

"Green things, green things, green things, green things. Magic, magic, magic, magic, word magic, word magic, word magic, word magic." —Geraldine Dimondstein, Exploring the Arts with Children, 1974

Buzz

Laurent François, a "digital influence strategist," doesn't like the word "buzz" because it's a magic word that camouflages a wide scope of meanings.

"Buzz" is indeed a magic word. Here's our favorite buzzy incantation from the dictionary of magic words:

Abra-cadabra, buzz, buzz bil-i-ous, Buzz, buzz, bob bob-a-loo.
—Ralph Allen, The Best Burlesque Sketches (1995)

The Magic Power of a Wish

When an East Greenland Eskimo chants a magic prayer, "At the back of the holy or strange word he feels in his heart the magic power of the wish, and believes in its realisation" (William Thalbitzer, The Ammassalik Eskimo, 1923).

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Meanwhile, over at the Covert Hypnosis blog:

Covert Hypnosis or Simple Persuasion? The Magic Word “Because”

Glowing Days

A whisper of spring on a wintry day:
Of glowing days some magic word
Is warbled when the grosbeaks sing;
And in the moaning pines is heard
The whisper of returning spring.
—Roscoe Brumbaugh, "Winter," Field and Stream, 1904

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Meanwhile, Myfanwy explores the magic word pesenesach over at the Walking on Fire blog.

Ouranos

A mysterious word is written on the side of an abandoned temple: OURANOS, meaning "heaven" in Greek. Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio recalls: "I would sit there for a long time, half hidden by the tall weeds, looking through the leaves of the bay laurels at the strange word without understanding. It was a word that took you a long way back, to another time, to another world, like the name of some imaginary land. ... This was the time when it was most beautiful: the blue, cloudless sly and the white stone of the temple so intense, so dazzling, I would have to shut my eyes. Then I'd look at the magical name, and with only that name, I'd be able to take off, like going to another land, like entering a world that didn't really exist yet. There would be nothing but the blank sky and the white stone, the tall white marble columns, and the chirping sound of summer insects, as though they made up the very sound of the light. I would sit for hours at a time on the threshold of that world, without really wanting to enter it, simply looking at those letters that said the magic word and feeling the power of the light and smells. Even today, I can still recall it, the pungent smell of laurel, of bark, of broken branches baking in the heat of the sun, the smell of the red soil. It's more powerful than reality, and the light that I gathered at that moment in the garden still shines within me more clearly and more intensely than the light of day" (The Round & Other Cold Hard Facts, 2002).