Download or read book Theurgy Theory and Practice written by P. D. Newman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2023-12-05 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Connects the magical practice of theurgy to the time of Homer • Explores the many theurgic themes and events in the Odyssey and the Iliad • Analyzes the writings of Neoplatonists Porphyry and Proclus, showing how both describe the technical ritual praxis of theurgy in Homeric terms • Examines the methods of telestikē, a form of theurgic statue animation and technique to divinize the soul, and how theurgy is akin to shamanic soul flight First defined by the second century Chaldean Oracles, theurgy is an ancient magic practice whereby practitioners divinized the soul and achieved mystical union with a deity, the Demiurge, or the One. In this detailed study, P. D. Newman pushes the roots of theurgy all the way back before the time of Homer. He shows how the Chaldean Oracles were not only written in Homeric Greek but also in dactylic hexameter, the same meter as the epics of Homer. Linking the Greek shamanic practices of the late Archaic period with the theurgic rites of late antiquity, the author explains how both anabasis, soul ascent, and katabasis, soul descent, can be considered varieties of shamanic soul flight and how these practices existed in ancient Greek culture prior to the influx of shamanic influence from Thrace and the Hyperborean North. The author explores the many theurgic themes and symbolic events in the Odyssey and the Iliad, including the famous journey of Odysseus to Hades and the incident of the funeral pyre of Patroclus. He presents a close analysis of On the Cave of the Nymphs, Porphyry’s commentary on Homer’s Odyssey, as well as a detailed look at Proclus’s symbolic reading of Homer’s Iliad, showing how both of these Neoplatonists describe the philosophical theory and the technical ritual praxis of theurgy. Using the Chaldean Oracles as a case study, Newman examines in detail the methods of telestikē, a form of theurgic statue animation, linking this practice to ancient Egyptian and Greek traditions as well as theurgic techniques to divinize the soul. Revealing how the theurgic arts are far older than the second century, Newman’s study not only examines the philosophical theory of theurgy but also the actual ritual practices of the theurgists, as described in their own words.

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 For the Love of the Gods written by Brandy Williams and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2016-09-08 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Follow the Footsteps of History and Discover the Path to the Gods For the Love of the Gods tells the epic story of theurgy, from its roots in ancient Egypt to its modern day practice. The lives and passions of the early Pagan philosophers come alive in these pages, immersing you in the bustling cities and diverse cultures that spawned theurgy as we know it today. Theurgy is best understood when it is deeply experienced. The stories presented here re-create the experience of these ancient practices and show how they were passed down through generations of teachers and students of differing ethnicities, genders, and ages. It's commonly believed that ancient Pagan theurgy traditions were erased from the earth and replaced by monotheistic religions—but this is a myth. The way to the gods was never lost. For the Love of the Gods shares step-by-step instructions for theurgic rituals, so that you can create relationships with the gods and love them as the ancients did. Discover how to offer devotionals, create living statues, invoke into yourself and others, and achieve personal communion so that you, too, may dwell in the happy presence of the divine.

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 The Practical Art of Divine Magic written by Patrick Dunn and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2015-08-08 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The ancient world of Egypt, Greece, and Rome was home to a set of magical and spiritual technologies, called theurgy, that unite the practice of magic with the aims of religion. Theurgy, or "godwork," is the art of creating a stronger bond between the theurgist and his or her deities. The results of this stronger bond were imminently practical: stronger magic, more meaningful existence, and a better life. With the fall of Rome, these techniques faded into obscurity, and many of them were lost forever. This book revives, restores, and reinvents these practices for a contemporary pagan or magical practitioner. A mixture of scholarly research and examination of source texts and daring experimentation and extrapolation leads to a complete and workable system that can inform a variety of practices, all presented in a relaxed, lighthearted, and readable way. Whether you practice witchcraft, ceremonial magic, or chaos magic, you can benefit from the practice of theurgy. You will learn techniques to create stronger bonds with divine forces, call up and communicate with spiritual beings, summon a magical assistant, create statues imbued with divine spirit, and master your own mind. The ultimate goal is union with the divine, but theurgy is a practical path, and every step on that path is designed to improve your life.

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 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 Theurgy and the Soul written by Gregory Shaw and published by Angelico Press / Sophia Perennis. This book was released on 2014-09-12 with total page 350 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 and the Soul written by Gregory Shaw and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 1971-09-01 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theurgy and the Soul is a study of Iamblichus of Syria (ca. 240-325), whose teachings set the final form of pagan spirituality prior to the Christianization of the Roman Empire. Gregory Shaw focuses on the theory and practice of theurgy, the most controversial and significant aspect of Iamblichus's Platonism. Theurgy literally means "divine action." Unlike previous Platonists who stressed the elevated status of the human soul, Iamblichus taught that the soul descended completely into the body and thereby required the performance of theurgic rites--revealed by the gods--to unite the soul with the One. Iamblichus was once considered one of the great philosophers whose views on the soul and the importance of ritual profoundly influenced subsequent Platonists such as Proclus and Damascius. 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 world view for the entire medieval world and played an important role in the Renaissance Platonism of Marsilio Ficino. 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 Drawing Down the Moon written by Radcliffe G. Edmonds (III) and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-07-02 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the foremost experts on magic, religion, and the occult in the ancient world provides an unparalleled exploration of magic in the Greco-Roman world, giving insight into the shifting ideas of religion and the divine in the ancient past and in the later Western tradition.

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.

Download or read book A Theurgist s Book of Hours written by Jeffrey S Kupperman and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-21 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A daily praxis for theurgists of any background looking to engage in a structured and effective everyday spirituality.

Download or read book Magic Power Language Symbol written by Patrick Dunn and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2008 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All forms of magic are linked to language. As a magic practitioner and a linguist, Patrick Dunn illuminates this fascinating relationship and offers breakthrough theories on how and why magic works. Drawing on linguistics and semiotics (the study of symbols), Dunn illuminates the magical use of language, both theoretically and practically. He poses new theories on the mechanics of magic by analyzing the structure of ritual, written signs and sigils, primal language, incantations across cultures, Qabalah and gematria (Hebrew numerology), and the Enochian vocabulary. This revolutionary paradigm can help magicians understand how sigils and talismans work, compose Enochian spells, speak in tongues for magic, create mantras, work with gematria, use postmodern "defixios," and refine their practice in countless other ways. ""Magic, Power, Language, Symbol" is a unique tour de force that reinterprets the very nature of magic—placing it within the modern sciences of symbolism (semiotics) and language (linguistics). Within this paradigm, Dunn explains something that most other books miss: a logical and scientific understanding of how and why real magic actually works." —Donald Michael Kraig, author of "Modern Magick"

Download or read book Proclus Hymns written by Robbert Maarten van den Berg and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2001-12-01 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book studies the hymns composed by the Neoplatonist Proclus in the context of his philosophy. Its main claim is that the hymns should be understood in the context of theurgy, the ritual art adopted by the Neoplatonists in order to obtain mystical experiences. The first part of the book consists of a series of essays which discuss the relation of the hymns to Proclus’ Neoplatonism, his theory of poetry, and especially to theurgy. The second part offers translations of the individual hymns together with a detailed commentary. This study will be of special interest to those working in the field of Neoplatonism and a helpful guide to scholars of Late Antique poetry and religion who wish to explore these intriguing, yet at times obscure poems.

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 The White Goddess written by Robert Graves and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 1966-01-01 with total page 516 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The White Goddess is perhaps the finest of Robert Graves's works on the psychological and mythological sources of poetry. In this tapestry of poetic and religious scholarship, Graves explores the stories behind the earliest of European deities—the White Goddess of Birth, Love, and Death—who was worshipped under countless titles. He also uncovers the obscure and mysterious power of "pure poetry" and its peculiar and mythic language.

Download or read book Magical Theurgy Rituals of the Tarot written by Oliver St John and published by Ordo Astri. This book was released on 2016-02-22 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is a complete course in Hermetic Magick, covering the extended use of elemental mudras or Godforms, meditation and Tantra-yoga, plus examples of simple and advanced magical rituals. The book also includes a complete guide on how to make and charge magical talismans, with illustrations of the Kameas or Magic Squares and sigils of the planetary spirits. When approached in the right way, divination is a magical means of opening and extending lines of communication between the temporal and eternal worlds. The most important function of the Tarot, however, is as an Initiatory device. The core of this book is the Grand Tarot Operation, a 30-day Theurgic operation aimed at mystical and magical Initiation. Format: 6x9 Hardbound; dustjacket; blue linen boards; gold foil stamp lettering on spine; black on cream pages, textured white end-papers.