Anyone use conlangs as a spiritual technology?

[mikastophiel]

Hello all!

So, for those not familiar, conlangs (constructed languages) are exactly what they sound like: languages that are deliberately made rather than arising from standard human language usage. Now, it may just be my own biases as someone whose formal academic training is in (computational) linguistics, but I've always found language as a particularly relevant facet of semiotics and, by extension, the esoteric/spiritual; our language function is so entrenched in our brains on a physiological level and by extension provides a lot of insights into how we humans organize and structure our experience of the world. Additionally, language and writing alike have been treated as mystical by various traditions, often with close ties to psychopomps (Thoth, Odin, and Hermes as obvious examples) and necromancy/katabasis/contact with the beyond/etc, or being seen as cosmically structural (in Abrahamic religions with Kabbalistic thought, the notion of the logos, God speaking the world into existence; see also the generative role of storytelling in Anishinaabe religion, etc).

All this being said, I've seen what I find to be a remarkably few attempts to deliberately engineer a sort of linguistic spiritual tool. I take this as separate from sacred or liturgical languages, as those are already spoken languages elevated to the status of magical rather than being intentionally designed as such. Off the top of my head, I've only really heard of Hildegard of Bingen’s Lingua Ignota, and perhaps the Damin language used by the Lardil and Yangkaal or the Enochian language of Dee & Kelly, and only the lattermost feels close to what I would expect from a "magic conlang." I imagine that the scarcity is due to the relative obscurity and youth of linguistics as a formal field of science, and the time-consuming process that actually is constructing a language, as well as the pre-existence of ceremonial/sacred/liturgical languages.

I've done some dabbling with smaller conlangs and personal ritual scripts and once attempted to make a sort of consolidated system for shamanic talismans, but I'm curious if and how anyone else has tried to implement or use conlanging as a part of their own spiritual praxis?

 

[AbammonTheGreat]

So I think logic-forward or atleast human will forward full on constructed languages are rather weak in occult contexts though ive seen a few people do this in the LHP when I used to be in those orders.

In letter magic/the science of letters which is a largely lost artform/unpopular occult practice there are tons of practical techniques for generating barbarous strings and magical words from pre-existing magical languages that render words with esoteric content but arent actually words in their respective languages. This is highly useful in occult practice and turns into mantra and magic word generation.

On top of this there is a practice or technique that is more receptive than actually constructed in conjuration where spirits will hand the magus letters, language, and words that over a long enough period of time result in a language that the spirits recognize. This is a common experience amongst regular/frequent conjuration when getting information from spirits. Its just that this type of conjuration doesnt get practiced too often as its incredibly time consuming and taxing on the conjurer and medium.

In my own personal practice ive received plenty of "spirit language" from a certain class of spirits but dont use it except in emergency conjuration. Alot of the vocalizations are nonsensical and hard to translate to an alphabet. I am heavily invested in letter and language magic though and spend a lot of time using occult generative techniques for spells using the Hebrew and arabic alphabets. There are astrological and mathematical techniques you can utilize to do this and its taken my practical magic to a really extreme level. My most recent experiment with this has lasted since April and my medium and I have been utilizing it for body modification with really crazy results.

 

[cosmicctraveller]

This is an intruguing idea since I've have two internet aquiaintences that have learned Taki Pona, a modern minimal constructed language. Maybe they're fluent enough to write in it by now, I'm not sure. It seemed to me initially like one of those internet rabbit holes that geeks and nerds tend to get lost in, like learning Elvish or learning Japanese because you're into Anime. But now I've heard for years how great Taki Pona really is and described in ways that initially surprised me. Things like inspiring clarity of thought and flexibility of choosing different way of looking at a given situation. To my ears it sounds like some sort of meditation practice. Your comment makes me think I should ask and investigate this a little more seriously. However I'm not sure what my friends would say about the comparison to Enochian.

 

[mikastophiel]

So I think logic-forward or atleast human will forward full on constructed languages are rather weak in occult contexts though ive seen a few people do this in the LHP when I used to be in those orders.

In letter magic/the science of letters which is a largely lost artform/unpopular occult practice there are tons of practical techniques for generating barbarous strings and magical words from pre-existing magical languages that render words with esoteric content but arent actually words in their respective languages. This is highly useful in occult practice and turns into mantra and magic word generation.

I'm familiar with gematria and 3ilm al-ḥuruf praxis, I find it quite handy. I'm just left feeling that there are additional depths to be explored beyond just the phonological/phonetic ~ orthographic layers; I know that each letter in Kabbalistic and ḥurufi thought also has its own symbolic elaborations to be had but, while reading about such hidden meanings is fascinating, it moreso adds an ideogrammatical angle rather than outright semantics and syntax, which are really the parts of language that imo are most rife with potential for esoteric experimentation (or, at the very least, are such new fields of study that they haven't yet been explored to the same magical depths as letters and phonetics).

On top of this there is a practice or technique that is more receptive than actually constructed in conjuration where spirits will hand the magus letters, language, and words that over a long enough period of time result in a language that the spirits recognize. This is a common experience amongst regular/frequent conjuration when getting information from spirits. Its just that this type of conjuration doesnt get practiced too often as its incredibly time consuming and taxing on the conjurer and medium.

In my own personal practice ive received plenty of "spirit language" from a certain class of spirits but dont use it except in emergency conjuration. Alot of the vocalizations are nonsensical and hard to translate to an alphabet. I am heavily invested in letter and language magic though and spend a lot of time using occult generative techniques for spells using the Hebrew and arabic alphabets. There are astrological and mathematical techniques you can utilize to do this and its taken my practical magic to a really extreme level. My most recent experiment with this has lasted since April and my medium and I have been utilizing it for body modification with really crazy results.

What texts or systems for letter magic are you primarily working from, if you don't mind my asking? I've spent a lot of time with the theoretical/exegetical sort of gematria but never could decide on a path for practical usage.

Post automatically merged: Jun 29, 2026

This is an intruguing idea since I've have two internet aquiaintences that have learned Taki Pona, a modern minimal constructed language. Maybe they're fluent enough to write in it by now, I'm not sure. It seemed to me initially like one of those internet rabbit holes that geeks and nerds tend to get lost in, like learning Elvish or learning Japanese because you're into Anime. But now I've heard for years how great Taki Pona really is and described in ways that initially surprised me. Things like inspiring clarity of thought and flexibility of choosing different way of looking at a given situation. To my ears it sounds like some sort of meditation practice. Your comment makes me think I should ask and investigate this a little more seriously. However I'm not sure what my friends would say about the comparison to Enochian.

I learned Toki Pona a while back, not for any esoteric purpose though. The comparison to a meditation practice is quite apt, the limited vocabulary kinda forces you to think of things in a very experiential and phenomenal rather than ontological way... perhaps I'll try exploring this further.

 

[Suayakoat]

@mikastophiel although I believe it's not a constructed language, but rather a tongue I have spoken in a previous life, I have been using a "special" language for spiritual practices only for about 15 years now that is remarkably different from any language I know. It's called hwasaut and I believe it was the language of a humanoid race known as the Tuatauan which lived on a planet very similar to Earth many many years ago. You can learn more about my story in my journal thread I have started precisely to write my memories of previous lifetimes down. The thread is incomplete and I do need to get back at it sometimes in the future but that is all I have got for now. I'm constantly low on time. Here is a link

Does such a language attract your interest? Or are you looking for completely constructed languages only? I swear I did never use words from other languages to make hwasaut up and every word and sound in it is as I did remember it. If you are interested in it, and the idea of people remembering entire languages from their previous lives, I can share more about it here, in this thread. But you didn't specify exactly what conlangs interest you, so I'm just testing the ground now with this comment.

I just want to share that, as far as I remember it, and it has been many incarnations ago in a different body to what I now have, hwasaut was indeed rather constructed than evolved. It took literally thousands of years for us, the Tuatauan, to create it, so I write in this thread here and now with the clear conscious that it's a constructed, rather than merely ceremonial/sacred/liturgical language although it did serve as such for us back in the day. Should you express interest I can tell you more details about its grammar, phonetics, use and so on but I don't know exactly what you are interested in. So, please, if you still want to learn more about hwasaut, tell me what would you like to know about it and does it qualify as a conlang you would like to learn more about?

Disclaimer: I myself am not as fluent in hwasaut as I would like to be. As I said it all began with sounds and meanings when I was trying to remember stuffs from my previous lives so it's not like I know every word in hwasaut. The reality is I can barely speak about banal things. But I do get the grammar, the phonetics and its use and I have build a simple, but useful, vocabulary over time. As I said above, if you are interested in it I can teach you.

P.S.: I do use hwasaut for magical purposes but the most frequent use for it is for me to "download" knowledge from my previous lives. This is why it is rather the technical language that I practice instead of the more frivolant everyday speech. Everything in the Tuatauan "archive" which I want to "read" from is in hwasaut. This is why I use it not for speaking it outright. This will create some problems as I use only a fraction of the language which is directly bound with knowledge I want to remember but if that doesn't bother you I will be more than happy to show you what I know.

 

[JJB5]

Does Pig Latin count?

 

[AbammonTheGreat]

I'm familiar with gematria and 3ilm al-ḥuruf praxis, I find it quite handy. I'm just left feeling that there are additional depths to be explored beyond just the phonological/phonetic ~ orthographic layers; I know that each letter in Kabbalistic and ḥurufi thought also has its own symbolic elaborations to be had but, while reading about such hidden meanings is fascinating, it moreso adds an ideogrammatical angle rather than outright semantics and syntax, which are really the parts of language that imo are most rife with potential for esoteric experimentation (or, at the very least, are such new fields of study that they haven't yet been explored to the same magical depths as letters and phonetics).



What texts or systems for letter magic are you primarily working from, if you don't mind my asking? I've spent a lot of time with the theoretical/exegetical sort of gematria but never could decide on a path for practical usage.

Post automatically merged: Jun 29, 2026

I learned Toki Pona a while back, not for any esoteric purpose though. The comparison to a meditation practice is quite apt, the limited vocabulary kinda forces you to think of things in a very experiential and phenomenal rather than ontological way... perhaps I'll try exploring this further.

Abulafias Life in the World the Come is incredibly practical and then Sepher Yetzirah (Kaplans Commentary) fills in a lot for practical application as well.

As for Arabic Al-bunis extensive writings on the science of letter magic is incredibly useful for understanding the practical magical application.

As a magician you have to marry the two disciplines - the jews help with the meditative, ecstatic, and gematric application (i would suggest reading and practicing Abulafias system then approaching the Sepher Raziel HaMalach as it will open your eyes to the formulas in there) and then the arabic Ilm al-Huruf, specifically Al-Bunis extensive writings on it, provides practical insight into the generation of the strings and names. I believe the Ilm Al-Huruf contains the secrets of the Vocaes Magica/Nomina Barbara from antiquity. If you marry those two schools of thought on mystical and magical language together it blows open the doors on the practical application of language and alphabets. Atleast is has for me. Abulafia, Sepher Yetzirah, and Al-Buni have been key for my understanding of this amazing occult science.

 

[BlackRose97]

I'm so glad someone started this topic it's rare to meet people who think about these things with such depth! I’ve always felt that language is like an 'operating system' for our reality, so it makes total sense that when we craft a new language, we’re essentially learning how to communicate with the world around us more clearly.

In my experience, these 'magical languages' don't have to be grammatically perfect to work. My favorite moments are when we stop overthinking the logic and just let the sound and rhythm lead the way that’s when everything feels so much more natural. And I find your point about receiving letters from spirits so interesting! That feels very familiar to me I have a sense that it’s not really 'inventing' anything, but more like a quiet remembrance of a frequency that has always been there.

Thank you both for sharing this, it really means a lot to me. Tell me, when you use these languages of yours, do you notice the space around you shifting in some way, or is the feeling mostly internal for you? I’d love to hear how you experience it!

 

[Robert Ramsay]

I'm so glad someone started this topic it's rare to meet people who think about these things with such depth! I’ve always felt that language is like an 'operating system' for our reality, so it makes total sense that when we craft a new language, we’re essentially learning how to communicate with the world around us more clearly.

If you haven't seen it, I recommend the film "Arrival" where this idea is a major plot point.

 

[musaeus]

I toyed with Toki Pona for this purpose, but most of my experience is with creating a phonetic script that I use as a cipher for personal diary, magickal notes, spells/sigils, and poetry. I used phoneme frequency analysis to create a short-hand for quick note taking. It's also useful for recording foreign languages (eg. learning Mandarin phrases during my martial arts classes) which often share the same phonemes as English, or since I can extend the script to include them as needed. A lot of characters, especially vowels, have implicit or empirical psychological and therefore magical affects, so it's natural to use it for creating mantras to use for trance induction and other forms of consciousness alteration. I have a conlang in mind too which I will eventually create based on philosophical insights which can be extended to describe any phenomena of my choosing. Not sure yet what grammar it'll end up with though. It's a 'round tuit' kinda thing. Not something I'm likely to make public though.

 

[Suayakoat]

@BlackRose97 I don't know am I included in the ones you were asking your question to in your last post above but I can definitely say whenever I use hwasaut my soul is rejoicing! It's the language my subconsciousness operates in, I think, and whenever I "uncover" more of it the more my mind probes deeper and deeper into who I am, not merely as a person, but rather as a soul. And this is why I love my "other tongue" besides the known and used ones that I speak. I guess I'm trying to convey something words cannot convey here but what I feel when speaking hwasaut is unity on a very deep soul level. It's like finding your purpose all over again with the deep understanding of your soul that this purpose entails.

P.S.: The words in hwasaut are just a dim cold faint remnants of husks of vessels of meaning I feel I once upon a long long long time had in my current life but even those dim husks contain a wisdom I can hardly describe! Just having and using a language you have access to but no one else does feels...better for you to express your soul into. It's like your own and only yours "key" to a magical land.

 

[BlackRose97]

@BlackRose97 I don't know am I included in the ones you were asking your question to in your last post above but I can definitely say whenever I use hwasaut my soul is rejoicing! It's the language my subconsciousness operates in, I think, and whenever I "uncover" more of it the more my mind probes deeper and deeper into who I am, not merely as a person, but rather as a soul. And this is why I love my "other tongue" besides the known and used ones that I speak. I guess I'm trying to convey something words cannot convey here but what I feel when speaking hwasaut is unity on a very deep soul level. It's like finding your purpose all over again with the deep understanding of your soul that this purpose entails.

P.S.: The words in hwasaut are just a dim cold faint remnants of husks of vessels of meaning I feel I once upon a long long long time had in my current life but even those dim husks contain a wisdom I can hardly describe! Just having and using a language you have access to but no one else does feels...better for you to express your soul into. It's like your own and only yours "key" to a magical land.

I just want to say how deeply touched I am that you shared this with me. There is something truly sacred about finding a 'key' that unlocks your own magical land, and it is beautiful to hear how hwasaut allows you to connect with your soul on such a profound level. Thank you for trusting me with this glimpse into your inner world. It’s so rare and special to find a space where words from known languages aren't enough to capture the truth of who we are. Please know that your journey with this language is so inspiring to witness. If you ever feel like sharing more about how it feels to step into that 'magical land' of yours, I would love to listen in whatever way you feel comfortable.

 

[mikastophiel]

In my experience, these 'magical languages' don't have to be grammatically perfect to work. My favorite moments are when we stop overthinking the logic and just let the sound and rhythm lead the way that’s when everything feels so much more natural. And I find your point about receiving letters from spirits so interesting! That feels very familiar to me I have a sense that it’s not really 'inventing' anything, but more like a quiet remembrance of a frequency that has always been there.

Thank you both for sharing this, it really means a lot to me. Tell me, when you use these languages of yours, do you notice the space around you shifting in some way, or is the feeling mostly internal for you? I’d love to hear how you experience it!

Not sure if this is exactly what you're thinking of, but Lacan's concept of lalangue has been a goldmine for me, as well as phono-semantic iconicity. One of my conlangs works off of these sorts of ideas, as well as the intrinsic arbitrarity and nonexistence of semantic/semiotic assignments, to basically let me "decode" the various strings of sounds I produce while in a shamanic trance state. During these sessions, I don't notice space around me shifting so much as I feel myself stretching flat onto the surface of the world around me, which itself I too experience as being "flattened," while my tongue, mouth, and facial muscles act as absolute conduits for these irreal transcendent matters reduced into, or expressed as, phonetic textures and muscular movement patterns. I've found, or perhaps rather anecdotally confirmed, that syntax is basically inevitably emergent from human language usage, likely due to how our brains are structured, which is compelling to me because I never really know what these utterances mean as I produce them but they always come together grammatically when I sit down and decode them in post.