Abrac, Obscure Latin in Goetia Options

At the end of the Address to the Spirit, there is an obscure and enigmatic phrase:

Name of the Lord BATHAL, rushing upon ABRAC, ABEOR, coming upon BEROR. (Waite)

name of the Lord Vathat rushing upon a brack Abeor coming upon a Boror (Long)

name of the Lord: Bathal or Vathat rushing upon Abrac! Abeor coming upon Aberer! (Crowley)

name of ye Lord Bathat rushing upon Abrac Abeor coming upon Aberer. (Peterson)

Bathal vel Vathat super Abrac ruens! Abeor veniens super Aberer! (Sloane)


Isn't it strange how none of the standard reference editions agree with each other on this phrase?

Crowley takes care in his personal copy to note a change in the Latin form to "venientis" and "ruentis," though this is his innovation, as is the colon after "name of the Lord."

Take into account that all known manuscript copies of the Lemegeton date from the 17th century (at the earliest) and are written in English. Why, then, do they include this one single phrase in Latin?

I would like to explore the significance of these words with some speculation. Bear with me as my linguistic knowledge is mediocre at best. I have made several attempts at this task and all have left me wanting something more precise or at least something comprehensible.

We can be relatively certain that Bathal is "Bath Al" or "The House of God." This is a common term used for synagogues and is in appropriate context here.

Since "vel Vathat" simply means "or Vathat" I assume the copyist was uncertain of how to transcribe House of God into Latin characters, and it is redundant. In Hebrew, the V and B are often represented by the same letter, and the scribe probably wrote "vel Vathat" just to make sure he didn't make a mistake.

The words super, ruens, abeor, veniens, and aberro are all actual Latin words. Super means "upon." Ruens means "collapsing" or putting to ruin and is the present participle form of Ruo. Abeor is passive-indicative form of "depart." Aberer is to deviate or go astray, first person subjunctive. I am very uncertain about how exactly these would be arranged according to the rules of Latin grammar, and equally unsure about their person, number, and tense; but it is at least evident that they are real words and not merely names.

One word that could not be conclusively ascribed to Latin is ABRAC. The 2731 manuscript, which appears to have been scrawled by a monkey with Parkinson's disease and then run through the laundry a few times, has a word that could be "abrack" or "abrage." For some time I assumed this was a mistranscription of abrogo, which is the defendant in a legal accusation. This does not produce a compelling final product when the words are put together.

About the time of the Lemegeton's writing, there was some interest in the word Abrac among Freemasons. I am not a Mason and know next to nothing about Freemasonry, but apparently this was quite a stir at the time. Abrac was being used to refer to the ability to conjure spirits with magical circles, sigils, and incantations. It is my assumption that the masonic Abrac is thematically identical to the same word used in Goetia, and that the two have a close relationship. I can only speculate whether the masons derive the term from Goetia or vice versa, or whether it was simply included to implicate Freemasons in demon-conjuring.

If these two are related directly, it would appear that the Latin phrase means something like "The House of the Lord upon Abrac collapses, you may depart if I go astray." If this is correct, it gives some quarter to the spirit in that it permits the spirit to depart, relieving it of obligation, if the magician goes astray. I assume this refers to ceremonial protocols, advising that the House of the Lord is superior to one's magical practices. I am not entirely certain that it was even meant to be spoken! It may only be a footnote provided by the scribe of the source for the manuscript copies.

In any case it is a mystery of the Goetia that has never been properly explored from a scholarly point of view, and I do not feel qualified to do it. Perhaps some of you have something else to share on the subject.

Sloane is the most resonable...
well, if abrac is known to be the faculty thingy, what are the other names: Bathal or Vathat or Abeor or Aberer?

From what I can gather Abrac was used by the freemasons has you point out. It is unclear when this came into being, however there is link which only hints at its use: Quote "Abrac, from Abracadabra and Abraxis, is a magic word or formula used on amulets to work magic charms.45 Eighteenth-century Masons were said to know how to conceal "the way of obtaining the faculty of Abrac, which implied that they knew how to get it."46

This is the link it is from,http://www.signaturebookslibrary.org/skeptic/chapter8.htm

A mystrey wrapped in an enigma. All sources that I have read point to this word as being a connotation of abracadabra, has Bym suggested. My feeling is its use is very much older.

There is some belief that it is also a corruption of the hebrew possibly Abracadabra may have been from:

• a corruption of the Hebrew avar k'davar which means roughly "it will be according to what is spoken;"


• abrakha adabra - Hebrew for "I shall bless, I shall speak."

• abreq ad Habra - Arabic meaning "hurl your thunderbolt even unto death."

It has also been claimed that the word comes from Abraxas, a Gnostic word for God (the source of 365 emanations, apparently the Greek letters for Abraxas add up to 365 when deciphered according to numerological methods). It has also been claimed to come from Abracalan (or Aracalan) who is said to have been a Syrian god. Here's the link :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abracadabra

Don't know if this helps.

Loki