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[A] Let me wave my wand ... It's ancient, first mentioned in a poem by Quintus Serenus Sammonicus in the second century AD. It is believed to have come into English via French from a Greek word abrasadabra (the change from s to c seems to have been through a confused transliteration of the Greek). It originated as a secret and mystical word with a Gnostic sect in Alexandria called the Basilidians (named after their founder Basilides of Egypt). It was probably based on Abrasax, the name of their supreme deity (Abraxas in Latin sources), but is sometimes said to have been constructed from the initial letters of three Hebrew Words: Ab, the father, Ben, the son, and Acadsch, the holy spirit. It was used as a charm, written in the shape of a triangle on a piece of parchment worn round the neck, and was believed to have the power to cure toothaches, malaria and other scourges. And Abraxas itself was said to have magical powers of its own, as a word that represented the number of days in the year, 365. This was derived by adding up the numerical values of its seven Greek letters by a process called gematria. For this reason, it was often engraved on amulets and precious stones.

[alpha], [beta], [rho], [alpha], [xi], [alpha], [sigma].

“Abracadabra,” says the magician, unaware that at one time the thing to do with the word was wear it, not say it. Abracadabra was a magic word, the letters of which were arranged in an inverted pyramid and worn as an amulet around the neck to protect the wearer against disease or trouble. One fewer letter appeared in each line of the pyramid, until only a remained to form the vertex of the triangle. As the letters disappeared, so supposedly did the disease or trouble. While magicians still use abracadabra in their performances, the word itself has acquired another sense, “foolish or unintelligible talk.”

abraxas
abraxa
abrax
abra
abr
ab
a

Does that mean I am the malady?