The Whisperwood Alphabet

You have heard of the runes, hieroglyphics and Tolkien’s Elven alphabet at one point in your life but not this. Rediscover the innovation of this occult genius and learn that the magickal isn’t that ancient afterall.

By Christian Fernandez.

"...Alikona me'vispe alo'dima, il'e ahu'vekha kino'seth..."
(Something whispered to my ear, it was in a language I do not understand)
--- Al'agrath Zaredathi

It was my interest in studying foreign languages that spurred me to create my own 'secret tongue'. Perhaps I was not satisfied with the ultra-romantic slur of the French language, or the coarseness of German, or the monotony of Japanese sounds. I am a fantasy fiction enthusiast, and I wanted a spoken language the sound of which would bring me to a distant magical fantasy world. Mr. Tolkien has already done a great job at this area, but I find his invented languages too limiting and a bit difficult to manipulate. 'Whisperwood' (Vispervo), which I temporarily call my own invented language (my apology for the corny name), is actually a mixture of the sounds of Hebrew, Russian, Japanese, the Romance languages, Filipino, and even Tolkien's Quenya. I shall describe the nature of this 'magical' language in a different article, but for now I shall concern myself with its system of writing.

What started to be a simple cryptic code my bestfriend and I invented to write notes to each other has now become the 'official' Whisperwood system of writing. Although admittedly I rarely write Whisperwood using this alphabet, perhaps because of the fairly complex design of each letter (I shall perhaps address to this problem soon), I have found it to be very useful to convey ideas and symbolize personal thoughts and experiences which cannot otherwise be represented by symbols of traditional magical and religious systems. I have begun using the first set of alphabet in sigil magick for a few weeks now, and I have yet to find out how effective it is.

The Whisperwood alphabet consists of 24 letters, and as in the Hebrew system of writing, each letter corresponds not only to a phoneme but also to an idea, a number, as well as an elemental, planetary or zodiacal correspondence. The alphabet can thus be used in both linear (phonetic) and iconic (symbolic) style of writing. Some may find that the attributions of the letters differ totally from that of the Golden Dawn system. But those attributions that are shown herein are those that appeals to me, i.e. my conscious and unconscious levels, and the elements, planets, and zodiac signs here are used as a convenient device or mediums to represent ideas or concepts from my own world-view. Those who wish to use this system (if there's any) may of course change their attributions, as they deem appropriate.

The Tattwas, the planets and signs of the zodiac represent archetypal ideas, and it is therefore almost impossible to describe their meaning in a single word. Hence the single-worded 'meanings' given to each alphabet are used merely for the sake of convenience, rather than to describe in totality their essences. There is also another set of meanings which are more personal, more specific, and which is more related to the structure of each letter. I have not included them here as it may only tend to baffle the reader. I have derived some of their names from Paul Christian’s A History and Practice of Magic, some from Hindu and Jewish terms, some from fantasy literature and some I have devised myself.

The Whisperwood Alphabet taken from the author's notes

The five vowels correspond to the Tattwas. The 7 planetary forces are represented by the unvoiced consonants P(elon), K(etolath), T(elohim), their voiced equivalents B(erashith), G(omor), D(a'ath), and the letter TH(eresh). The remaining 12 letters correspond to the 12 zodiac signs.

The letters are grouped according to the quality of their sounds. Letters corresponding to the Airy triplicity therefore, produce 'airy' or 'breathy' sounds. Those corresponding to the Watery triplicity produce 'liquid' sounds, and so on. Phonemes whose sounds are produced on the front part of the mouth are considered Cardinal, those produced on the rear considered Mutable, and those whose sound are produced in between, are considered Fixed.Numerals, on the other hand, are given attributions as well, each letter corresponding to a sephira as well as a set of letters.

In the numerical system, vowels correspond to the different levels of existence according to the Cabbalistic doctrine and are thus assigned accordingly. A (1) = corresponding to the primordial consciousness, the Yechidah, as well as the KIA. E (2-3) = the Chiah and the Neshamah, as well as the ultimate male and female principle. I (4-8) = Ruach. O (9) = Nephesh. And U (10) = Guph or the Material Body. Consonants are paired accordingly as well, with voiced consonants considered Male, positive and active, and unvoiced consonants considered Female, negative, and passive. TH, having no apparent phonetic 'relative', is considered neutral (hermaphroditic).

About the Author: CHRISTIAN FERNANDEZ (a.k.a. Murmurwoods) is a practitioner of chaos magic and a former follower of Wicca. Famous for his recipes, compilation of local herbs and self-programmed magickal software, he is one of the moderators of the Engkanto group. In the material plane, he’s a full time banker and a part time programmer.

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