Download or read book Theurgy and the Soul written by Gregory Shaw and published by Penn State University Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Iamblichus was once considered one of the great philosophers. The Emperor Julian followed Iamblichus's teachings to guide the restoration of traditional pagan cults in his campaign against Christianity. Although Julian was unsuccessful, Iamblichus's ideas persisted well into the Middle Ages and beyond. His vision of a hierarchical cosmos united by divine ritual became the dominant worldview for the entire medieval world. Even Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that he expected a reading of Iamblichus to cause a "revival in the churches". But modern scholars have dismissed him, seeing theurgy as ritual magic or "manipulation of the gods". Shaw, however, shows that theurgy was a subtle and intellectually sophisticated attempt to apply Platonic and Pythagorean teachings to the full expression of human existence in the material world.
Download or read book Theurgy or the Hermetic Practice written by E.J. Langford Garstin and published by Nicolas-Hays, Inc.. This book was released on 2004-06-01 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theurgy means "the science or art of divine works." In alchemy, this process is called the "Great Work," which is the purification and exaltation of our "lower" nature by the proper application of esoteric principles, so that it may become united with its higher counterparts, whereby we may attain spiritual, and ultimately divine, consciousness. Drawing on the teachings of the Egyptian, Greek, and Hebrew mystery schools and quoting extensively from important alchemical writers, Garstin details this process of purification. Students who are curious about alchemy but daunted by the body of its literature and its strange allegories will find this book to be an excellent introduction. Garstin discusses source alchemical works and clearly explains what their esoteric symbolism means. With the information in this book, students of alchemy can then proceed to make a more informed exploration of the alchemical works and other writings of the Western Mystery Tradition.
Download or read book Living Theurgy written by Jeffrey S. Kupperman and published by . This book was released on 2014-05 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Living Theurgy is a masterpiece combining scholarly excellence with lucid practicality. Theurgy ('god-working') is a combination of ritual mystical practices interwoven with philosophy and theology. It was developed by Iamblichus and other Neoplatonists inspired by the works of philosophers including Plato, Aristotle and Pythagoras, and Julian the Chaldean. Author and scholar Jeffrey Kupperman elucidates and makes accessible the core ideologies and practices of Theurgy, which evolved through more than 1000 years of Platonic philosophy and cultural transformations. Kupperman guides the reader through the contemplative and theurgical practices used by the Neoplatonists to create effective spiritual transformation in the practitioner. Philosophia (Philosophy) as the foundation of Theurgy is explored through techniques such as lectio divina ('divine reading') contemplation and visualisation. It focuses on discussion of key concepts including virtue, wisdom, bravery, temperance, justice, evil, political philosophy, beauty and love. Theologia (Theology) considers the One, also known as the Good, which is the source of all, through the spectrum of monotheism, polytheism and panentheism. It also explores different views regarding the nature and functions of the Demiurge, angels and daimons, and the human soul, and the practices of Theurgy, including the use of hymns and prayers. Theourgia (Theurgy) focuses on the practices, from purification and the use of signs, symbols and tokens to talismancy and the ensouling of eikons (divine images). The work concludes with a complete guide to the Invocation of the Personal Daimon, an essential step in the theurgic process of purification and illumination in seeking the Divine. Living Theurgy is a literary psychopomp for practitioners seeking effective methods of developing their knowledge and relationship with the divine through Neoplatonic praxis. It is essential reading for all those interested in traditional forms of magical, philosophical, and religious practice, and the history of the western mysteries. "Philosophy is purifying, religion illuminating, but theurgy is uplifting." Introduction, Jeffrey Kupperman
Download or read book Philosophy and Theurgy in Late Antiquity written by Algis Uzdavinys and published by Angelico Press / Sophia Perennis. This book was released on 2010-03-10 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book clearly establishes that traditional myth is the symbolic expression of metaphysics, as metaphysics is the exegesis of myth; and that Greek philosophy was not an isolated 'miracle' but a reinterpretation of perennial themes common to the ancient Near Eastern, Mesopotamian, Indian, and especially Egyptian religions.
Download or read book Theurgy and Numbers written by Frederick J. Veldman and published by Waning Moon Publications, LLC. This book was released on 2010-03-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ''As a writer I thought that magical arts were language driven. I mean, we call them 'spells.' We have 'Words of Power, ' mantras, chants, and invocations. But with mathematics we have something else entirely. If I write down I saw three bluebonnets blooming today, you know exactly how many (even if you don't have the pleasure of knowing that it is the state flower of Texas). In fact, you can know the number even if you do not know English. In fact, you can know the number even if every single human perishes and you are some visiting alien from Tau Ceti. This would be true as your ability to grasp the Fundamental Theorem of the Calculus or the quadratic formula or )amusingly enough) Goedel's Incompleteness Theorems. Mathematics is where the mind can grasp the stuff of the Cosmos. We need only think of the terrible flash seen on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, or the beauties of the Mandelbrot set, or watch children play at cutting a Moebius, to understand that math is at he secret heat of the physical world. And that math is the key to 'wonderworking'.'' -- Don We
Download or read book Iamblichus on the Mysteries of the Egyptians Chaldeans and Assyrians Translated from the Greek by T Taylor written by and published by . This book was released on 1821 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Invoking Angels written by Claire Fanger and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A collection of essays examining medieval and early modern texts aimed at performing magic or receiving illumination via the mediation of angels. Includes discussion of Jewish, Christian and Muslim texts"--Provided by publisher.
Download or read book De Mysteriis written by Iamblichus and published by Society of Biblical Lit. This book was released on 2003 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume presents the first modern English translation of Iamblichus’s De mysteriis alongside the standard critical edition of the text by Édouard Des Places (Les Belles Lettres, 1966). This important work, which provides a unique insight into the mystical side of late Neoplatonism, has hitherto been neglected to an unfortunate degree, partly due to its inaccessibility. Iamblichus argues that the only true good is union with the gods and that the only route to this divine union is theurgy—religious ritual demonstrating supernatural power—which both symbolizes and encapsulates the extraordinary miracle of the soul’s conversion back to its divine origin. The process of sacrifice, the activities of angels and demons, the meaning of divine possession, and the functioning of oracles are all examined in this extraordinary defense of theurgic mysticism against contemporary critics such as Porphyry. Clarke, Dillon, and Hershbell bring this famous and fascinating text to light through their introduction and extensive notes.
Download or read book Christian Mysticism written by Dr Kevin Magill and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2013-06-28 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces students to Christian mysticism and modern critical responses to it. Christianity has a rich tradition of mystical theology that first emerged in the writings of the early church fathers, and flourished during the Middle Ages. Today Christian mysticism is increasingly recognised as an important Christian heritage relevant to today's spiritual seekers. The book sets out to provide students and other interested readers with access to the main theoretical approaches to Christian mysticism – including those propounded by William James, Steven Katz, Bernard McGinn, Michael Sells, Denys Turner and Caroline Walker-Bynum. It also explores postmodern re-readings of Christian mysticism by authors such as Jacques Derrida, Jean-Luc Marion and Jean-François Lyotard. The book first introduces students to the main themes that underpin Christian mysticism. It then reflects on how modern critics have understood each of them, demonstrating that stark delineation between the different theoretical approaches eventually collapses under the weight of the complex interaction between experience and knowledge that lies at the heart of Christian mysticism. In doing so, the book presents a deliberate challenge to a strictly perennialist reading of Christian mysticism. Anyone even remotely familiar with Christian mysticism will know that renewed interest in Christian mystical writers has created a huge array of scholarship with which students of mysticism need to familiarise themselves. This book outlines the various modern theoretical approaches in a manner easily accessible to a reader with little or no previous knowledge of this area, and offers a philosophical/theological introduction to Christian mystical writers beyond the patristic period important for the Latin Western Tradition.
Download or read book Theurgy in Late Antiquity written by Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler and published by Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. This book was released on 2013-05-15 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theurgy is commonly taken to denote a complex of rites which are based on the so-called Chaldean Oracles, a collection of oracles in hexameters, which were probably composed during the late 2nd century AD. These rituals are mostly known through Neoplatonic sources, who engage in a passionate debate about their relevance to the salvation of the soul and thus to the philosopher's ultimate goal. Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler examines the development of the discourse on theurgy, attempting to reconstruct what was understood as theurgic ritual in the late antique sources. Withstanding the temptation to impose a unity on the disparate sources which span several centuries, she thus goes beyond the picture of a coherent, extra-philosophical tradition drawn by the Neoplatonists to sketch the variations in the rituals subsumed under 'theurgy' and their function, and shows how every author constructs his own 'theurgy'. This perspective leads to consider theurgy as an example of an 'artificial' ritual tradition, composed from already existing elements to create something claimed as sui generis. Theurgy offers the great opportunity to look at such a tradition from its beginning up to its end and to analyse the mechanisms of inventing and reinventing such a ritual tradition in process.
Download or read book Iamblichus and the Theory of the Vehicle of the Soul written by John F. Finamore and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1985 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Brill s Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity written by Harold Tarrant and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 679 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity demonstrates the variety of ways in which ancient readers responded to Plato, as author, as philosopher, and as leading intellectual light, from his own pupils until the sixth century CE.
Download or read book Neoplatonism written by Pauliina Remes and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-12-05 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although Neoplatonism has long been studied by classicists, until recently most philosophers saw the ideas of Plotinus et al as a lot of religious/magical mumbo-jumbo. Recent work however has provided a new perspective on the philosophical issues in Neoplatonism and Pauliina Remes new introduction to the subject is the first to take account of this fresh research and provides a reassessment of Neoplatonism's philosophical credentials. Covering the Neoplatonic movement from its founder, Plotinus (AD 204-70) to the closure of Plato's Academy in AD 529 Remes explores the ideas of leading Neoplatonists such as Porphyry, lamblichus, Proclus, Simplicius and Damascius as well as less well-known thinkers. Situating their ideas alongside classical Platonism, Stoicism, and the neo-Pythagoreans as well as other intellectual movements of the time such as Gnosticism, Judaism and Christianity, Remes provides a valuable survey for the beginning student and non-specialist.
Download or read book Iamblichus and the Foundations of Late Platonism written by Eugene Afonasin and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2012-05-25 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on recent scholarship and delving systematically into Iamblichean texts, these ten papers establish Iamblichus as the great innovator of Neoplatonic philosophy who broadened its appeal for future generations of philosophers.
Download or read book Aesthetics and Theurgy in Byzantium written by Sergei Mariev and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2013-07-31 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The general scope of the present volume is to present a variety of approaches and topics within the growing field of research on Byzantine aesthetics. Theurgy in Neoplatonic and Christian contexts is represented by the contributions of W.-M. Stock and L. Bergemann; theories of beauty are at the centre of interest of the papers by S. Mariev and M. Marchetto. A. Pizzone approaches Byzantine aesthetics by looking for aesthetic experience in the literary texts, while the remaining contributions explore issues related to the iconoclast controversy: An important moment in the development of Byzantine philosophy on the eve of iconoclasm is the primary interest of A. del Campo Echevarría, who looks at the question of universals in John of Damaskos. The relationship between image and text in Byzantine illustrated manuscripts occupies the attention of B. Crostini. D. Afinogenov explores from a philological perspective the fate of important iconophile terminology in Old Bulgarian, while L. Lukhovitskij reconstructs from historical and philological perspectives the historical memory of the iconoclast controversy during the Late Byzantine Period.
Download or read book Proclus written by Radek Chlup and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2012-04-26 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An introduction to the philosophical and religious thought of Proclus the Neoplatonist, one of the most complex thinkers of antiquity.
Download or read book Divination and Theurgy in Neoplatonism written by Crystal Addey and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-05-13 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why did ancient philosophers consult oracles, write about them, and consider them to be an important part of philosophical thought and practice? This book explores the extensive links between oracles and philosophy in Late Antiquity, particularly focusing on the roles of oracles and other forms of divination in third and fourth century CE Neoplatonism. Examining some of the most significant debates between pagan philosophers and Christian intellectuals on the nature of oracles as a central yet contested element of religious tradition, Addey focuses particularly on Porphyry's Philosophy from Oracles and Iamblichus' De Mysteriis - two works which deal extensively with oracles and other forms of divination. This book argues for the significance of divination within Neoplatonism and offers a substantial reassessment of oracles and philosophical works and their relationship to one another. With a broad interdisciplinary approach, encompassing Classics, Ancient Philosophy, Theology, Religious Studies and Ancient History, Addey draws on recent anthropological and religious studies research which has challenged and re-evaluated the relationship between rationality and ritual.
