MAGIC WORDS
Magicians, who can be thought of as a tribe of flashy philosophers,
constantly demonstrate metaphysical and related dynamics -- from the creation
and destruction of matter (silk handkerchiefs or whatnot), to the concept
of separation (cut ropes and sawed ladies), to the idea of harnessing
limitless power through proper language and skillful handiwork. Magic
words, written upon anything from a mystic-looking parchment scroll to an
ordinary playing card, emblazoned on a t-shirt or appearing on skin rubbed
with ash, can serve to represent and even embody the cosmic laws of energy --
laws proclaimed and encoded within the very lines, curves, and arrangements
of the letters.
The Impact a Single Word Can Make
Words can be magic.
-- Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddha Within (1998)
There's one last step. We have to say the magic words. Does
anyone here know magic words?
-- D.K. Smith, Nothing Disappears (2004)
Professional magician John W. LeBlanc notes that there are "untold numbers
of anecdotes told by professional performers who found that just changing
one, single word made an enormous difference in the response of the audience
to a performance piece. One word. That's magic."68 As in the fables
of old, "It's in the words that the magic is -- 'Abracadabra,' 'Open Sesame,'
and the rest -- but the magic words in one story aren't magical in the next. It
seems . . . that the real magic is to understand which words work, and when,
and for what."69 Hence this dictionary.
There is an early Germanic word, lekjaz, which means "an enchanter,
speaking magic words."70 May every storyteller be a true lekjaz,
enchanting his audience with that one magic word that makes all the difference --
master storyteller Gustave Flaubert's mot juste, or "right word." May
every one of us find and use the magic of words to enhance and increase the
power and mystery in our own lives.71 Mr. Magic (a.k.a. Jeff Russ) encourages
us to "Say the magic words, and the magic will work every single time,
I promise."
68 "NLP -- Neuro-Linguistic Prodding," Escamoteurettes.com (2004)
69 John Barth, The Tidewater Tales (1987)
70 Lewis Thomas, The Youngest Science: Notes of a Medicine-Watcher (1995)
71 "Perhaps Word is the magic stone," suggests Mary Caroline Richards. "Lapis.
The philosopher's stone, the transforming agent in a daily alchemy" (Centering in Pot-
tery, Poetry, and the Person [1962]).