“ABRACADABRA, an Inſscription, antiently uſed as a Charm or Spell, for the curing of ſeveral Diſeaſes, and driving out Devils. See CHARM, PHYLACTERY, &c.
The Author of this piece of Superſtition, who is ſaid to have lived under the Emperor Adrian, form’d the Name from that of the Deity he adored, Abraſax, or Abraxas; whom he made God-paramount; having ſeveral petty Divinities under him, and particularly ſeven Angels who preſided over the ſeven Heavens; and to whom he attributed 365 Virtues or Powers, the Number of Days in the Year; with other idle Reveries.
This ΑΒΡΑΞΑΣ S. Jerom will have to be the ſame God whom the Perſians and other Heathens worſhip’d under the Name Mitra; which is warranted by ſome antient Grave-ſtones. ‘Tis added, that moſt of the Fathers aſcribe the Fable of the God Αβρασάξ, to Baſilides and his Followers, a Branch of Gnoſtics. See BASILIDIANS.
The Gnoſtics, ‘tis known, ſuppoſed wonderful Virtues in Numbers; and accordingly, this ſame Abraxas, or rather Abraſax, was thus denominated, as including or comprehending the Power of Virtue of 365 dependent Intelligences: which Number is expreſs’d by the Greek Letters of the Word; it being the Cuſtom of the Greeks to expreſs their Numbers by the Letters of their Alphabet: The Value of thoſe in the preſent Word are thus;
Α - I.
Β - 2.
Ρ - I00.
Α - I.
Ξ - 60.
Α - I.
Σ - 200.
which added together make the Number 365.
Abracadabra still continues in uſe and eſteem among ſome ſuperſtitious People, who pretend to do Wonders hereby in the Cure of Agues and Fevers. The manner of preparing this extraordinary Medicine, they have been at Pains to deſcribe in the following Verſes.
Inſcribas chartæ quod dicitur Abracadabra
Sæpius & ſubter repetas, mirabile dictu;
Donec in anguſtum redigatur littera conum.
That is, ‘The Word is first to be wrote at length, Abracadabra; then, under that Abracadabr; and in the third Line Abracadab, &c.”
ABRACADABRA
ABRACADABR
ABRACADAB
ABRACADA
ABRACAD
ABRACA
ABRAC
ABRA
ABR
AB
A
–Ephraim Chambers, Cyclopædia: or, an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (vol. I, 1728, p. 7).
