o 17 Ofano, Oblamo, Ospergo Origins: Ofano Oblamo Ospergo was found written in "an Elizabethan manuscript in the British Museum." Facts: These words are purportedly part of a chant to prolong orgasm and were cited in evidence against alleged witches and warlocks in a sixteenth century tribunal. In Literature: • "How about ofano, oblamo, ospergo?" -- Peggy Christian, The Bookstore Mouse (2002) Oh Mighty Isis Facts: In the television series Isis (1977), the heroine is a high school teacher who discovered an ancient Egyptian amulet during an archaeological dig. By intoning the magic phrase "Oh mighty Isis!" she transforms into a superhero with the strengths and abilities of her Egyptian goddess patroness. Om (see also aum, omega) The deep om, the mystic word of might. -- George William Russell, "Magic" (191 ) Mystique: "[B]oth rhythm and melody find their synthesis and their solution . . . in the one profound and all-embracing vibration of the sacred sound om. ... om is the quintessence, the seed-syllable (bija-mantra) of the universe, the magic word par excellence . . . the universal force of the all-embracing consciousness."7 "The extravagance of supposing that all human ideas, sensations, desires can be eventually compressed into one word, the utterance of which shall suffice to annihilate man, or at least to blend him forever with the Unknowable, may certainly be ridiculed . . . but there is poetry in the fancy, as well as a pseudo-philosophy immemorially old. For thousands of years, -- perhaps for thousands of ages, -- men have been seeking after this ideal of expression, just as they have pursued the delusions of alchemy, believed in the lies of astrology, hunted for the jewel in the toad's head, and the dragon- stone, and the self-luminous carbuncle. Various faiths aided the search; the 6 Migene Gonzalez-Wippler, The Complete Book of Spells, Ceremonies and Magic (1988) 7 Anagarika Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism (1969)