Steven Pinker

A word is an arbitrary label - that's the foundation of linguistics. But many people think otherwise. They believe in word magic: that uttering a spell, incantation, curse, or prayer can change the world. Don't snicker: Would you ever say, 'Nothing has gone wrong yet' without looking for wood to knock?

Canadian Scientist

Josh Gates

The mummy's curse really didn't catch on as a premise until they opened Tut's tomb. But it is true that there are spells, and incantations, and warnings on some of the pharaoh's tombs that do promise destruction to anyone who disrupts their eternal sleep, so there is precedence for it.

Alice McDermott

Much of my experience with language was formed in the church, which has an oral tradition. There are lots of repetitions in prayers and song refrains. There's a sense of incantation, that if you call not once and not twice but for a third time, the spirit appears.

American Writer

Jonathan Dimbleby

Rolling my trousers down to expose the upper part of my buttocks and having a knife pressed up and down my spine by a Russian white witch, as she murmured incantations, was certainly a new experience to cure my backache. It was surprisingly soothing.

British Writer

David Brin

Those who use 'Correlation is not the same as causation' as a magic incantation to dismiss all fact-using professions are fools holding a lit match in one hand and an open gas can in the other, screaming, 'One has nothing to do with the other!

American Author

Louis MacNeice

The poet is primarily a spokesman, making statements or incantations on behalf of himself or others - usually for both, for it is difficult to speak for oneself without speaking for others or to speak for others without speaking for oneself.

British Poet

Molly Ivins

Anyone who has ever spent time listening to a legislature knows the astonishing speed at which all presiding officers and reading clerks can spit out the formulaic incantations of parliamentary procedure.

American Journalist

Christopher Hitchens

I don't think souls or bodies can be changed by incantation. Or anything else by the way.

Sophocles

A wise doctor does not mutter incantations over a sore that needs the knife.

Greek Poet

Often found in fantasy genres and folklore, setting a mystical atmosphere in the story.

Literary Device

Incantations often use archaic or obscure language to sound ancient or ceremonial.

Specific Vocabulary

Incantations may have a rhythmic or rhyming structure making them memorable or chant-like.

Rhyming Patterns

Used in various cultural rituals; understanding context helps grasp its significance or intention.

Cultural Rituals

Incantations aren't always negative or dark but can be protective or healing as well.

Not Always Dark

Used to dramatize scenes in storytelling or performance, heightening suspense or intrigue.

Dramatic Effect

Demonstrates belief in the power of words to influence the world in supernatural ways.

Power of Words

Learning and reciting incantations might involve memorization, underscoring their ritualistic aspect.

Memorization Required

 Her next stop is the House of Life. On her way, a woman intercepts Peseshet in the street. The woman’s son has been stung by a scorpion. Peseshet has seen many similar stings and knows exactly what to do. She must say an incantation to cast the poison out. She begins to recite the spell,

A day in the life of an...

 I have a very peculiar background, attitude and approach to the real world because I am a conjurer. Now, I prefer that term over magician, because if I were a magician, that would mean that I use spells and incantations

Homeopathy, quackery and...

 conjurations were often terrifying physical restraints fevered prayers haunting incantations clergy and victim battled over the soul of the possessed