Likely started as a Kabbalistic charm for healing or good luck, it then spread to other cultures over time.
In the year 2 AD, the Roman emperor Caracalla's physician prescribed wearing an amulet with abracadabra written in a certain triangular form in order to cure malaria and asthma. I think from the point of view of sacred patterns and geometrics, it is an interesting thing to observe. There are other versions of the word, some thought to be the original words that it derived from. Abracalan (or aracalan) was thought to be a name of lost Syrian god and a magic symbol for the Jews. This has not been easily proven though. Abraxas, or abracax, was the name given to the supreme god of the Basilidean Gnostics, who existed around the same time as Caracalla's physician. Said to contain great mysteries, the 7 Greek letters for the name formed the number 365, the number of days in a year (at least by certain calendars). It was said that there were 365 sub-gods for each day of the year, each representing a different virtue. Some mythologists or demonologists would even describe Abraxas as part of the Egyptian pantheon of gods or as a demon with a king's head and serpentine feet. The famous occultist Aleister Crowley has said the word abracadabra contained great significance and power, though the true form is 'abrahadabra.' The British rock group Black Sabbath have used their own twist on the word in a song title of theirs, 'Sabbra Cadabra.' As with anything mystical, occult, or esoteric, who can easily fill in all these blanks?
