Theurgy And The Soul

Author : Gregory Shaw
Publisher : Penn State University Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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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.

Author : Jeffrey S. Kupperman
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781905297719
Total Pages : 282 pages
Book Rating : 4.18/5 ( download)

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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

Author : E.J. Langford Garstin
Publisher : Nicolas-Hays, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 0892545704
Total Pages : 144 pages
Book Rating : 4.04/5 ( download)

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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.

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 382 pages
Book Rating : 4.01/5 ( download)

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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:

Author : Claire Fanger
Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271051434
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.37/5 ( download)

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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.

Author : Algis Uzdavinys
Publisher : Angelico Press / Sophia Perennis
ISBN 13 : 9781621386346
Total Pages : 326 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

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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.

Author : Crystal Addey
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317148991
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

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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.

Author : John F. Finamore
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 194 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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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:

Author : Tim Poteat
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 327 pages
Book Rating : 4.22/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Theurgy and the Soul: Theurgy Put Into Practice Into Daily Life written by Tim Poteat and published by . This book was released on 2021-06-12 with total page 327 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Until recently, Neoplatonic theurgy has been defined by scholars as an attempt to manipulate the gods through ritual, and its influence in late antique Platonic circles has been interpreted as evidence for the decline of Greek rationality caused in large part by the teachings of the fourth-century Syrian Platonist, Iamblichus. Although scholarly research on theurgy and Iamblichus has now corrected these misunderstandings, they have left their mark on related areas of research: a notable example is the role of theurgy in the Christian liturgy of Dionysius the Areopagite. This book contains the core ideologies and practices of Theurgy, which evolved through more than 1000 years of Platonic philosophy and cultural transformations. It also guides the reader through the contemplative and theurgical practices used by the Neoplatonists to create effective spiritual transformation in the practitioner.

Author : Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler
Publisher : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
ISBN 13 : 364754020X
Total Pages : 329 pages
Book Rating : 4.07/5 ( download)

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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.