Alchemy

“Spoken words are silver, unspoken words are gold.”
—Leo Tolstoy, War & Peace, 1869; translated by Anthony Briggs, 2005. (p. 491)
(via DJMisc)

Sorcerer

"The word 'sorcerer' is magical itself and conjures up images as different as Merlin the Magician, the Sorcerer's Apprentice and Dr. Faust."
—Lynn Edelman Schnurnberger, Kings, Queens, Knights, & Jesters (1978)

Praise and Blame

"The human use of word magic extends as far as magical practice itself. Without oversimplifying, it might be helpful to categorize the magical use of verbal power in literary terms: as praise and blame." —Stephen Murphy, The Gift of Immortality

The Fairy Origin of Abracadabra

Our article tracing the magic word abracadabra back to fairy origins is now available for free reading over at Witches & Pagans.

Allaminar

In the World of Warcraft game universe, Allaminar is a magic word used by night elves for creating illumination.

Magic and Erudition

Magic and erudition in alliance
Opened the door to every mystery.
—Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game,
translated by Richard and Clara Winston

Transcend

"['Transcend'] has been a veritable magic word for me, like 'awakening,' an impetus, a consolation, and a promise. My life, I resolved, ought to be a perpetual transcending, a progression from stage to stage; I wanted it to pass through one area after the next, leaving each behind, as music moves on from theme to theme, from tempo to tempo, playing each out to the end, completing each and leaving it behind, never tiring, never sleeping, forever wakeful, forever in the present."
—Hermann Hesse, The Glass Bead Game, translated by Richard and Clara Winston