Anyone who’s familiar with this one?I’m searching for the magic formulas with no results for the moment.
I had thought the Wikipedia page had listed the specific words.
That’s all they are, those 6 words.
But, what else would you like to know?
I read the Wiki page, do you think this could be Latin?
(Seeing Latin in everything lately, not saying it is - just theorizing)
ΑΣΚΙ(ΟΝ) ΚΑΤΑΣΚΙ(ΟΝ) ΛΙΞ ΤΕΤΡΑΞ ΔΑΜΝΑΜΕΝΕΥΣ ΑΙΣΙΟΝ (or ΑΙΣΙΑ)
aski(on) kataski(on) lix tetrax damnameneus aision (aisia
Might be something like
as qui qua tas qui lux tetra damno / nomen eius a is iam
I would say it probably isn’t because it was written on the cult image of Artemis in Ephesus, which was a Greek city in Anatolia; also, references to the Letters (they’re often called the Ephesian Letters in English) in the PGM predate the predominance of Latin in the Mediterranean, but it doesn’t rule it out; who can truly know the will of the Spirit?
Thought has been given to a couple of the names: Damnameneus has been suggested to mean ‘Hammer’ and could possibly be a reference to a Dactyl, which was a group of wizard-smiths from Crete, which suggests a Minoan origin to at least that specific word.
Tetrax has been thought to mean ‘four-square’ referring to the Astronomical highlights of the Solar year; I would also like to note that ‘tetrax’ is also the genus name of the bustard, a small game bird common in the Aegean. Some scholars have also suggested (based on research in the PGM and I think the Chaldean Oracles, as well as some rabbinical sources) that Tetrax, or Tephras as it is sometimes written, is another name for Azazel.
Lix, which is quite obscure, is cited as being a sacred name of the Mother; it is not unusual for original cult names of deities to become lost to time as (especially in Goddess oriented cults, look at Demeter, literally 'The Mother) and any online research refers you to Roman Numerals or a really nice pen.
Aisia, Asia and Asion give far too broad of a scope with online searches to really narrow anything down, and the Wikipedia article gives a pretty good summation of the literature that is available.
My personal experience suggests to me that these are spirits who are tied to the deity of Ephesus and the rites there, which unfortunately are mostly lost to time, and you are calling their names when you read the formula. Experience also tells me Damnameneus is spot-on, as using this name has resulted in affiliations with people who are into smithing and metallurgy seemingly out of the blue, people nicknamed ‘Hammer’, the word hammer itself popping up in conversation, even so far as to find hammers in odd places, especially in roadside ditches (which are under the dominion of Hekate, my patron, with whom these words are often classically associated).
The others I have had less of a reaction with, except maybe the word “Lix” who I intuitively have linked to the Minoan snake goddess, and have come to believe personally, that the continuation of Her cult was manifested in the cult of Artemis of Ephesus, whose worship is markedly different-again, from what we know- from that of Artemis elsewhere.
1 Like
My last name is an old word for Smith and I am into silversmithing 
Thank you for this post. Very interesting
Very welcome.
Have found a scholarship article from Bryn Mawr College that might interest you, but am having trouble with the link. In the Google search bar, type in ‘Ephesia Grammata Bryn Mawr College’ and an archival article by RG Edmonds III should be the second result, titled ‘The Ephesia Grammata: Logos Orphaikos or Apolline Alexima Pharmaka’.
1 Like