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Theban Letters

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Origin 1518

Theban Letters, sometimes called the witches' alphabet, is a magical script first published by Agrippa in the sixteenth century. Modern Wicca adopted it widely as a cipher for writing spells and journal entries, a practical use quite different from the letter mysticism built around the Hebrew alphabet.

Facts
Origins
Origin PeriodSourced to the subject's own account
1518 2
Whose Classification This IsSourced to the subject's own account
First known from Johannes Trithemius's Polygraphiae of 1518, where Trithemius ascribes it to Honorius of Thebes. It reached later occultism through Agrippa, who studied under Trithemius and reprinted it in the Three Books of Occult Philosophy in 1533. 2
Overview
What Defines This GroupingSourced to the subject's own account
A substitution cipher for the Latin alphabet, sign for sign. It has no words, no grammar and no sounds of its own, so a Theban text is ordinary language in disguise rather than a language. 2
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Category
Alphabet Letters 1
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The Theban letters

This group gathers the letters of the Theban alphabet, a cipher script first published in the sixteenth century and attributed to the legendary Honorius of Thebes, used as a magical substitution alphabet to conceal writing. It was later adopted by modern Wiccans and Pagans, for whom it is sometimes called the witches' alphabet.

The browser will find the individual letters, each a one-to-one substitute for a Latin letter. The atlas describes the script's history and its modern esoteric use.

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