Saturday, September 9, 2017

Magical Scripts: Theban

Known also as The Witches' Alphabet, Theban Script is commonly used in both Wicca and Traditional Witchcraft.  It's origins are somewhat obscure and the first recorded mention of the script comes from the occultist  Johannes Trithemius in his work Polygraphia in 1518.   Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, a student of Trithemius, would also record the Theban Alphabet in his De Occulta Philosophia in 1531.  

The name of the alphabet is derived from it being attributed to Honorius of Thebes.  Honorius is a possibly mythical figure who is said to have composed the medieval Solomonic grimoire The Sworn Book of Honorius. Theban Script is more of a cipher, or secret code, than a language.  It has a one-to-one correspondence to the old Latin alphabet and, therefore, a one-to-one correspondence to the English alphabet.

Theban can be used in magic to write out magic spells, to compose petitions, as a script on magical sigils or as a cipher to encode magical documents or a Book of Shadows.  



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