A five-line palindrome Magick Square

Inspired by the Sator Square (or Rotas-Sator Square or Templar Magic Square), a word square containing a five-word Latin palindrome, I constructed my own 5×5 Magick Square: By using the language directly from the Great Work: metal transmutation, purification, harmonious balance, and the sacred pause between stages.

The Sator Square is a two-dimensional acrostic class of word square containing a five-word Latin palindrome. The earliest squares were found at Roman-era sites (pre-AD 60).

The rows and columns are the same five words in the same order. Perfect 180° rotational symmetry (2-D palindrome): – Row 1 (HALES) is the reverse of Row 5 (SELAH) – Row 2 (AMENE) is the reverse of Row 4 (ENEMA) – Row 3 (LEMEL) is a perfect palindrome. The same holds for every column.

Rotate the entire square 180°, flip it, read it upside-down or backwards — it is identical. It reads the same in every direction, just like the ancient magical archetype, but freshly forged from the vocabulary of alchemy itself.

This square evokes the entire alchemical opus in miniature: drawing the essence (HALES), achieving harmony (AMENE), grinding the prima materia (LEMEL), purifying (ENEMA), and resting in the divine pause (SELAH) before the next cycle.

HALES – to draw forth or pull (as alchemists “hale” the spirit from base matter)

AMENE – pleasant, agreeable, harmonious (the balanced state of the perfected elixir or philosopher’s stone)

LEMEL – metal filings or shavings (a genuine archaic alchemical term for the powdered metals used in calcination, dissolution, and the nigredo stage)

ENEMA – ritual cleansing or purging of the vessel (symbolic purification of body and matter before coagulation)

SELAH – sacred pause or meditative interlude (Hebrew mystical term from the Psalms, used in grimoires and alchemical meditations to mark the silent turning point between operations)

ROTOR – something that rotates
OTORO– the Japanese name for the fattiest, most luxurious part of the blue-fin tuna
TOROT – the teaching of Judaism, given to them by God at Mt. Sinai. Another name for Tarot
OROTO – a healing plant from Papua New Guinea

T E N E T
E T E N E
N E T E N
E N E T E
T E N E T

S E X E S
E S E X E
X E S E X
E X E S E
S E X E S

R O T O R
O T O R O
T O R O T
O R O T O
R O T O R

The square has long associations with magical powers. Over the centuries and throughout the Middle Ages, the Sator Square was imbued with magical properties, including a perceived ability to extinguish fires and to ward off evil or illness. It was believed it could cure anything from dog bites and rabies (by eating a piece of bread inscribed with the 25 letters) to toothaches, a fear of water, insanity and provide relief during childbirth.