Sacred Words and Words of Power

Tetragrammaton

The term Tetragrammaton is a sacred word (from Greek τετραγράμματον, meaning "[a word] having four letters")[1] refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH (Hebrew: יהוה‎) used in the Hebrew Bible.

Hebrew	Letter name	Pronunciation
י	Yodh	"Y"
ה	He	"H"
ו	Waw	"W" or placeholder for "O"/"U" vowel (see mater lectionis)
ה	He	"H" (or often a silent letter at the end of a word)

In the Kabbalah and Chassidut

A parallel is often drawn between the four letters of the tetragrammaton and the Four Worlds, whereas the י is associated with Atziluth, the first ה with Beri'ah, the ו with Yetzirah, and final ה with Assiah.

Magical papyri

The spellings of the tetragrammaton occur among the many combinations and permutations of names of powerful agents that occur in Jewish magical papyri found in Egypt.[7] One of these forms is the heptagram ιαωουηε.[8] In the Jewish magical papyri, Iave and Iαβα Yaba occurs frequently.[9]

In a Ethiopic Christian list of magical names of Jesus,^[when?^] purporting to have been taught by him to his disciples, Yawe is found.[10]

Kotodama

Kotodama or kototama (言霊?, lit. "word spirit/soul") refers to the Japanese belief that mystical powers dwell in words and names. English translations include "soul of language", "spirit of language", "power of language", "power word", "magic word", and "sacred sound". The notion of kotodama presupposes that sounds can magically affect objects, and that ritual word usages can influence our environment, body, mind, and soul.

Kotodama is related with Japanese words such as kotoage 言挙 "words raised up; invoke the magical power of words", kotomuke 言向 "directed words; cause submission though the power of words", and jumon 呪文 "magic spell; magic words; incantation".

Kiai (気合?) (English pronunciation: /ˈkiː.aɪ/)is a sacred word and is a Japanese term used in martial arts. There are numerous examples of the battle cry in other cultures: kiai is perhaps primarily a development of this.

Kabbalah

Kabbalah teaches that every Hebrew letter, word, number, even the accent on words of the Hebrew Bible is a sacred word and contains a hidden sense; and it teaches the methods of interpretation for ascertaining these meanings. One such method is as follows:

As early as the 1st century BCE Jews believed that the Torah (first five books of the Hebrew Bible) and wider canonical texts contained encoded messages and hidden meanings. Gematria is one method for discovering its hidden meanings. Each letter in Hebrew also represents a number; Hebrew, unlike many other languages, never developed a separate numerical alphabet. By converting letters to numbers, Kabbalists were able to find a hidden meaning in each word. This method of interpretation was used extensively by various schools.

Decimal	Hebrew	Glyph
1	Aleph	א
2	Bet	ב
3	Gimel	ג
4	Daled	ד
5	He	ה
6	Vav	ו
7	Zayin	ז
8	Heth	ח
9	Teth	ט

Decimal	Hebrew	Glyph
10	Yud	י
20	Kaph	כ
30	Lamed	ל
40	Mem	מ
50	Nun	נ
60	Samech	ס
70	Ayin	ע
80	Pe	פ
90	Tsadhe	צ

Decimal	Hebrew	Glyph
100	Qoph	ק
200	Reish	ר
300	Shin	ש
400	Taw	ת
500	Kaph Sofit	ך, ת"ק
600	Mem Sofit	ם, ת"ר
700	Nun Sofit	ן, ת"ש
800	Pe Sofit	ף, ת"ת
900	Tsadhe Sofit	ץ, תת"ק
1000		תת"ר

Mantra

A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation" (cf. spiritual transformation).[1] Their use and type varies according to the school and philosophy associated with the mantra.[2]

Mantras (Devanāgarī originated in the Vedic tradition of India, later becoming an essential part of the Hindu tradition and a customary practice within Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism. The use of mantras is now widespread throughout various spiritual movements which are based on, or off-shoots of, the practices in the earlier Eastern traditions and religions.

For the authors of the Hindu scriptures of the Upanishads, the syllable Aum, or OM, is a sacred word, itself constituting a mantra, represents Brahman, the godhead, as well as the whole of creation. 

Gayatri

Gayatri Mantra

The Gayatri mantra is considered one of the most universal of all Hindu mantras, invoking the universal Brahman as the principle of knowledge and the illumination of the primordial Sun.

Aum Bhūr Bhuva Svaha
(Aum) Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dhīmahi
Dhiyo Yo Nahah Prachodayāt, (Aum)[

Mantras, the Sanskrit syllables inscribed on yantras, are essentially 'thought forms' representing divinities or cosmic powers, which exert their influence by means of sound-vibrations.[

Yantra

Yantra  is the Sanskrit word for "instrument" or "machine". Much like the word "instrument" itself, it can stand for symbols, processes, automata, machinery or anything that has structure and organization, depending on context.

One usage popular in the west is as symbols or geometric figures. Traditionally such symbols are used in Eastern mysticism to balance the mind or focus it on spiritual concepts. The act of wearing, depicting, enacting and/or concentrating on a yantra is held to have spiritual or astrological or magical benefits in the Tantric traditions of the Indian religions.

The Sri Yantra is a sacred symbol.

Mana

Mana is an indigenous Pacific islander concept of an impersonal force or quality that resides in people, animals, and (debatably) inanimate objects. The word is a cognate in many Oceanic languages, including Melanesian, Polynesian, and Micronesian.

In ancient Hawaii words and names held power. (They still do, but this knowledge is kept very private.) Each name in a genealogy chant carried the mana (power) of the ancestor. All names were linked by birth. The longer this link of names in the chant, the more mana. The accumulation of power, which was sacred, could lift a person to the ranks of the gods among mortals. Only specially trained kahunas (masters) could haku (compose) and memorize the long chants of aristocratic lineage.  The power of words The words of the oli (system of verses) were selected with the greatest care and consideration. Naturally, the finely tuned art of mnemonics facilitated remembering the chants. More important, however, when it came to word choice, was the Hawaiian intuition that both language as a whole and words individually were like veiled images brimming with energy, which could manifest themselves in the physical environment. Hawaiian language always covered several layers of meaning acting like veils obscuring what shimmered underneath. It was up to the intelligence and sophistication of the listener to interpret the different layers. Only the most initiate could reach into the deepest center, where the spiritual realm of words and chants spoke. The sounds themselves carried power in determining the fate of men. With so much power in language, naturally its rendition had to be flawless! The Kumulipo Each of the Hawaiian islands held on to its own lineage chants linking its chiefs to the realm of the gods, the origins of humanity, and the ancestry of the Hawaiians.

The Kumulipo is shown in its entirety in the following link to this sacred chant

http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/ku/ku31.htm


The Kumulipo Chant

Types of Kahuna Kahuna were experts - whether in building canoes, predicting weather or healing disease. Their homes were often used as temples, perhaps to Lono or to Uli. Tales of competition and battles between rival kahuna seem to have been common ... see Kahuna Sorcerers of Hawaii by Julius Rodman. Some Kahuna Specialties Ana'ana - cause death by chanting; capturing human spirits Ho'opiopio - sorcery - cause or prevent death or magical events Ho'okomkomo - causing sickness and ill-health Ho'onohonoho - causing possession by entities Ho'oponopono - healing relationships & communities Ho'ounauna - controlling enslaved entities; necromancy Kilokilo - divination; predicting future events Kahea - changing reality by chanting (la'au kahea) La'au lapa'au - healing with herbs, plants and chants Poi-uhane - trapping and controlling human spirits

Logos

The Christian concept of the Logos is derived from the first chapter of the Gospel of John, where the Logos (often translated as “Word”) is described in terms that resemble, but likely surpass, the ideas of Philo:[28]

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

—[29]

John also explicitly identifies the Logos with Jesus:

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only,[a] who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'"