Spells, Witchcraft, Magick Spells & Rituals

MAGIC SQUARES have fascinated humanity throughout the ages, and have been around for over 4,000 years. They are found in a number of cultures, including Egypt and India, engraved on stone or metal and worn as talismans, the belief being that magic squares had astrological and divinatory qualities, their usage ensuring longevity and prevention of diseases.

A MAGIC SQUARE is a square divided into equal squares, like a chess board, where in each individual square is placed one of a series of consecutive numbers from 1 up to the square of the number of cells in a side, in such a manner that the sum of the numbers in each row or column and in each diagonal is constant. From a very early period these squares engaged the attention of mathematicians, especially such as possessed a love of the marvellous, or sought to win for themselves a superstitious regard. They were then supposed to possess magical properties, and were worn, as in India at the present day, engraven in metal or stone, as amulets or talismans. According to the old astrologers, relations subsisted between these squares and the planets.

There are many ways to construct magic squares, but the standard (and most simple) way is to follow certain configurations/formulas which generate regular patterns. Magic squares exist for all values of n, with only one exception - it is impossible to construct a magic square of order 2. Magic squares can be classified into three types: odd, doubly even (n divisible by four) and singly even (n even, but not divisible by four). Odd and doubly even magic squares are easy to generate; the construction of singly even magic squares is more difficult but several methods exist, including the LUX method for magic squares (due to John Horton Conway) and the Strachey method for magic squares.

For more on Magic Squares, a couple of good starting points are this Wikipedia Article on Magic Squares and this Article from the Online 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.