MAGIC WORDS
In Literature:
• "Rushes are not straighter, and ermine is not white, sheep are less gentle,
eagles less proud, and deer less nimble, than Abacaba." -- Voltaire, The
Ingénue (1767)
Abba
(see also abracadabra)
Mystique: The magic word abba indicates that a magical effect will occur
on the authority or with the assistance of a higher power. This power could
be of divine origin, or it could be the forefather who handed down the secret
through the generations.
Meanings:
• Divine connection to the creator
-- Peter Terpenning, "Sacred Unity, Giving Birth to the World" (2004)
• Father; parent
-- Wayne A. Meeks, The HarperCollins Study Bible (1997)
"Since 'Abba' refers to the earliest form of a child's address to father,
I discuss [Jesus'] appeal to the power of Abba's name in light of Freud's
comment in his defense of the 'talking cure' . . . that 'words were originally
magic' . . . This statement has bearing on the controversy in contemporary
Jesus studies whether the word 'magician' applies to him, and moves this
discussion from its exclusively sociological locus to a more psychological
one." -- Diane E. Jonte-Pace, Teaching Freud (200 )
• God; holy name
-- Henry Cornelius Agrippa, Three Books of Occult Philosophy (15 1)
• King
-- Norman Davies, Europe: A History (1998)
• Miracle worker
-- Richard Lee Kalmin, Jewish Culture and Society Under the Christian Roman
Empire (2002)
• Primordial father, supernal father
-- Kala Trobe, Magic of Qabalah (2001)
-- Israel Regardie, The Golden Dawn (1971)
• Sound of the wind
-- Peter Terpenning, "Sacred Unity, Giving Birth to the World" (2004)
• Term of endearment
-- Zondervan, Revolution (200 )
• Unity of all things
-- Peter Terpenning, "Sacred Unity, Giving Birth to the World" (2004)