Walk through a forest and listen to the sweet songs of the birds. These are a proto-language. There are only three messages  “Hoy, lady, come over here and I'll give you the best sex ever”, “This is my territory and of you come over here without invitation I'll bash your brains out” and “Look out, danger”   Even chimpanzees, probably our closest relatives have  not been taught to do more than string a few words together. Language seems to be something unique to humans, though there may be  more capacity for language than generally accepted in whales and  dolphins. 

Language has power, even single words have power and much of religion and magical theory is built on this assumption. To know someone's real secret name is to have power over them, whether they be human, demon or deity. Sometimes the power is assumed to lie in the words themselves, which must be pronounced correctly, sometimes the words are only a focus for the powers of the speaker. But the words have power. Even without invoking magical theory, the word “Fire” can cause a panic and the word “subversive” was often a death warrant in the USSR and path to virtual exile in McCarthyite America.

If you are an aspiring magician and want your own secret word of power find two small bags and 26 small woodchips. On each chip write a letter of the alphabet. Put the vowels in one bag and the consonants in the other. Then alternately shake each bag take out a chip and write the letter down, You will end with an alternating sequence of vowels and consonants. That is your word, and it will be pronounceable. Decide what it is to be for and keep it secret.

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Alternatively write down a goal in such a way that the first letters form a recognisable word, or at least as a pronounceable sequence and use that as a power word for your goal. You can then use the word to create a sigil and give it a name which you can speak as you consecrate it. Your unconscious will then take over to manifest your goal.

Language with swing and rhythm has power to reach beyond the conscious mind and skip the boundaries of reason  and logic. Listen to some of the great orators, or preachers,  preferably in a language you do not know  or ones where you disagree with what they are saying. A good orator can whip  crowd into a frenzy, as can a competent rock singer and in the context of magical or religious ritual the language used can change the state of consciousness of listeners and speakers.  But language can deflate as well. In the 19^th Century a female temperance speaker finished by saying “I would rather commit adultery then touch alcohol” and  voice from the back of the crowd said “So would I”

Poetry is language with beat, compressed till the surface meaning is hidden and the words release stirrings from the unconscious like beasts whose cage is left open. In ancient times, in the West at least, prophets were poets (The reverse was not quite true, a bard was an entertainer, graduate of a long training course, while the vatis was inspired, and more like a shaman). Poets have always scared the establishment when they entered into the political sphere or began criticising their society. Alan Ginsberg provoked controversy and the Nigerian government killed their best poet out of fear. The ancient Greeks considered the some types of meter as dangerous. Poets are however tolerated, respected and even venerated if they keep to harmless topics like nature.

Song, poetry deliberately made music combines the powers of language and sound, especially when accompanied by music. Don't just think of religion and magic, think of the way the woodpecker knock of rap numbs your senses till the ideas presented drill into the skull.

If you want to use affirmations to manifest anything I therefore suggest you write them in verse – blank verse will do. Use words with emotive undertones in keeping with the goal of the affirmation. If you can record it and play it at  a subliminal level  while you sleep, it my be more effective.