About "Hocus Pocus"

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Hocus Pocus or hocus-pocus is a term that may have been derived from an ancient language and is presently used by magicians, usually the magic words spoken when bringing about some sort of change.

The origins of the term remain obscure. According to the Oxford English Dictionary the term originates from hax pax max Deus adimax, a pseudo-Latin phrase used as a magic formula by conjurors. 

Some believe it originates from a corruption or parody of the Roman Catholic liturgy of the Eucharist, which contains the phrase "Hoc est enim corpus meum". This explanation goes back to speculations by the Anglican prelate John Tillotson, who wrote in 1694:
“In all probability those common juggling words of hocus pocus are nothing else but a corruption of hoc est corpus (“This is my body”), by way of [...] imitation of the priests of the Church of Rome in their [...] transubstantiation.”

This is substantiated by the fact that in the Netherlands, the words hocus pocus are usually accompanied by the additional words pilatus pas, and this is said to be based on a post-Reformation parody of the traditional Catholic ritual of transubstantiation during Mass, being a Dutch corruption of the Latin words "Hoc est corpus" and the credo "sub Pontio Pilato passus et sepultus est", meaning "under Pontius Pilate he suffered and was buried". 

In a similar way the phrase is in Scandinavia usually accompanied by filiokus, a corruption of the term filioque, from the Nicene Creed, meaning "and from the Son".