In the Healing Formula, Abbé Julio makes the text itself the center of the pentacle. The triangle, crosses, and inscriptions do not serve to surround a scene or a character: they organize a prayer intended, according to his note, to accompany a suffering person. The title belongs to the historical vocabulary of his work.
The drawing includes a space marked with the letter N, intended for the name of the person for whom the formula is written. This detail is essential to understanding the symbol. It shows that the prayer is addressed to a specific situation, rather than presenting an interchangeable figure that could be used without reading it.
Essential points
| Tradition | Written prayer and Christian invocation |
|---|---|
| Figure | Latin formula, triangle, and cross |
| Application | Spiritual aid requested for a person undergoing hardship |
| Source | Abbé Julio, 1908, note no. 61 |
Reading the symbolism
The three persons of the Trinity are invoked throughout the text. The cross recalls the Christian dimension of the request, while the triangle structures the figure. Julio thus combines a statement of religious authority with a written support. This is not a healing drawing whose properties would be independent of the words.
The note conveys an address to evil, asking it to leave a person in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The space marked N indicates the recipient’s name. The image preserves this space and the characters of the plate.
The presence of N corresponds to a notation used in prayers and ancient documents to designate a name to be inserted. This practice is not a secret code. It makes the formula personal by indicating the recipient of the invocation.
History and traditions
Prayers written on a support and worn close to the body have a long history in Christian devotions and blessing traditions. Julio adapted them at the beginning of the 20th century in a collection where writing, speech, and figure are frequently brought together.
His works bear witness to an environment in which religious prayer accompanied requests for aid with health, family, and life’s hardships. The Healing Formula should be placed in this context without confusing historical medical categories with contemporary knowledge.
Attributed effects
Julio describes applications for serious or persistent illnesses and for conditions he calls obsession or possession. He considers the prayer worn on the body to be a permanent repetition of the invocation. These effects are the author’s religious and historical attributions.
Julio connects the formula with serious or persistent illnesses and with conditions he describes as obsession or possession. These attributions are understood within his spiritual system and the language of his time. They are not medical advice or justification for discontinuing treatment.
The author presents the worn prayer as a continuous invocation. The meaning of this permanence lies in the support and the words accompanying it, not in a substance to ingest or a physical action performed on the sick person.
Usage according to Julio
According to the note, the formula is intended to be worn with the name of the person for whom it is prepared. The blessing and consecration of the support are part of Julio’s practical instructions. The page makes it possible to study this function without adding any therapeutic method to his text.
The note describes a formula intended to be worn, with the beneficiary’s name, on a blessed and consecrated support. The religious preparation falls within the practical instructions of the collection. It would be inaccurate to turn this passage into a treatment protocol or to add material preparations that Julio does not prescribe.
To study the engraving, it is useful to identify the letter N first, followed by the crosses and Trinitarian invocations. The sequence of words helps explain why this page is more a figurative prayer than a decorative emblem.
Understanding related figures
The Eye of God also refers, in Julio’s language, to a request concerning health, but through the intercession of Raphael and an image of the eye. The Lamb combines an animal figure with a prayer for aid for humans and animals.
The three notes should remain distinct in their iconography and text. Nevertheless, they illustrate the diversity of prayer supports used in the collection.
The source and variants
Abbé Julio, The Secret Book of Great Exorcisms and Blessings, Vincennes, published by the author, 1908. Explanation and application no. 61, p. 448. Practical instructions on blessed and consecrated supports: pp. 462–463.
Classical directory numbering: 28 of 44. This numbering differs from the inventory of engravings in the old volumes.
Read the note in the 1908 edition
Engraving taken from the copy digitized by the Divinity School Library, Duke University / Internet Archive, at 360 dpi. Composition, characters, and colors preserved.
