x Common Magician's Applications: Card tricks, particularly the "Five Card Stud" routine. When a magician incorporates a "good luck" talisman and intones the mysterious word Xatanitos, he can color his card routine with an ancient Egyptian mystique. Xor-thax Teray In Literature: • "Alexei fastened his eyes to that rampart as he began to cast a spell. 'Xorthax, teray.' In the blink of an eye, Alexei teleported to the center of the ramp, materializing in one place as he vanished from the other." -- Douglas Niles, Black Wizards (2004) Xum Origins: Xum is the name for the North Wind in the language of the Tlingit Indians of the Pacific Northwest Coast. In Literature: • "The magical word xum [pronounced 'etz-oom'] corresponds to the Root Center (the Muladhara chakra of Kundalini yoga) . . ." -- Gerald Schueler, The Angels' Message to Humanity: Ascension to Divine Union: Powerful Enochian Magic (1996) Xyzzy A note on the wall says: "Magic word xyzzy." -- Susan Holtzer, The Wedding Game (2001) Origins: Xyzzy is "a mnemonic device to remember how to do cross prod ucts" in math, the letters consisting of the subscripts in an equation.4 Facts: This magic word is pronounced "exs-wie-zee-zee-wie" Xyzzy is featured in early "interactive fiction" computer games such as "Adventure" and "Colossal Cave." Game analyst Graham Nelson explains that "[T]he traditional magic word 'xyzzy,' written on the cave's walls, Frank Caldwell, Land of the Ocean Mists (1986) 4 Ron Hunsinger, quoted in "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Magic Word XYZZY," RickAdams.org 5 The Jargon File (1990)