AN EXAMPLE OF A SYMBOL

                              

                                 ABRACADABHRA

''This charm was used throughout the Middle Ages. One only had to write it down in the triangular pattern shown below and wear it round one's neck as a sort of phylactery or charm to be protected from various diseases and to be cured of fever:

 ABRACADABRA

  ABRACADABR 

   ABRACADAB

    ABRACADA

     ABRACAD

      ABRACA

       ABRAC

        ABRA

         ABR

          AB 

           A

The word derives from the Hebrew ABREG AD HABRA 'strike dead with thy lightning'. In Hebrew it comprises nine letters. Placing aleph on the left side of the triangle -and its ninefold repetition- is the magical element.''

(The Penguin Dictionary of SYMBOLS, Jean Chevalier, Alain Gheerbrant. Translated from the French by John Buchanan-Brown, 1994)