Is a new magical language needed? Aren’t existing languages, such as Hebrew and Enochian, associated with magic and mysticism enough? What features would make a language inherently magical or useful to magic? Should such a language be personal (for use only by an individual – who creates and develops it), or would a open language for magicians be desirable or useful?
Occultism and mysticism certainly has a long history of usage natural languages, development of artificial languages, as well various languages with purported divine or mystical origins. The following is a brief list of some known mystical languages:
- Enochian
- Lingua ignota (the “unknown language” of Hildegard von Bingen)
- Language of the Birds
- Langue verte (the “Green language”, mentioned by Fulcanelli and Agrippa)
- Rosaecrucian language (aka Rosae Crucis, from AMORC circa 1918)
- The undeciphered language of the Voynich manuscript
- Tarot (as a language of symbolism)
- Dreams (a language of symbolism, sometimes equated with the Language of the Birds)
- Hebrew (a natural language, central to the Kabbalah)
- Latin (a natural language)
As well as languages there are various magical alphabets that can be used to write almost any language.
- Enochian alphabet
- Alphabet of Desire (described by Austin Osman Spare)
- Daggers Alphabet (Aleister Crowley)
- Alphabet of the Magi (Paracelsus)
- Angelic / Celestial Alphabet (Agrippa)
- Malachim Alphabet (Agrippa)
- Passing the River (Agrippa)
- Theban Alphabet (aka the Witch’s Alphabet)
- Runic Alphabet (Runes / Furthark)
- Ogham
This series of articles will explore various aspects of mystical languages and language in general. Comments, suggestions, and feedback are invited.