The Oxford Thesaurus An A-Z Dictionary of Synonyms - hocus-pocusn.

1) trickery, chicanery, deceit, deception, artifice, cheat, duplicity, mischief, hoax, humbug, trick, swindle, pretence, Colloq con (game) , jiggery-pokery, flimflam, hanky-panky: He tried some hocus-pocus on the company books but was caught. 2) mumbo-jumbo, abracadabra, incantation, nonsense, rigmarole, gibberish, Colloq gobbledegook: The medicine man muttered some hocus-pocus over the body, which began to rise into the air. 3) sleight of hand, legerdemain, prestidigitation, magic, conjuring, jugglery: From the earliest days religion has had its share of hocus-pocus.