Carry Your Magic Close to You

Do you have a talisman? A special object to keep you safe, make you strong, avoid the evil eye? Whether it’s a shell you found at the beach or a necklace you wore when you won a prize, your magic object protects you and shows you the path you want to take. Once you have a talisman, you feel protected. You can concentrate on what you need to accomplish, and Voila! Magic.

I choose my magic carefully, even if I have to resort to the help of a jeweler. Some time ago, while doing research for something else I came across the word abracadabra–the magic word you’ve know since childhood.

It turns our that it is, indeed a magic word. There is one story about its use as a cure for illness, but I found another meaning, far more magical to someone who makes a living with words.

The phrase appears in one of the tellings of origination myth. The Semitic Aramaic phrase, avra kehadabra, means, “I will create as I speak.” In the Aramiac translation, it was used when the Spirit divided the light from darkness, creating day and night simply by speaking the words.

It has a second meaning, one of trust. “I will create as a I speak” is a promise to do what we say, to carry through. The idea of creation and trust are both, at least in my opinion, attributes of writers.

It seems good to wear it when I write, particularly when I journal, when I create my life and meaning with words.