: It first appeared in English print in 1634 as the title of Hocus Pocus Junior , a book detailing the art of "slight of hand". The author likely used "Hocus Pocus" as a stage name, which then became a shorthand for any juggler or magician.
In the 21st century, "Hocus Pocus" has found a second life as a playful acronym for . HOCUS POCUS | University of Western Ontario Medical Journal hocus pocus
The phrase was immortalized in modern culture by the , which has since become a cult classic. : It first appeared in English print in
: One popular theory, cited by 17th-century Archbishop John Tillotson, suggests the phrase is a corruption of the Latin Catholic liturgy "Hoc est corpus meum" ("This is my body"), used during the Eucharist. HOCUS POCUS | University of Western Ontario Medical