cosmology
Cosmic Sympathy
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
495 passages · 16 traditions
neoplatonism152
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter I
“Hermes, the God who presides over language, was formerly very properly considered as common to all priests; and the power who presides over the true science concerning the Gods 18 is one and the same in the whole of things. Hence our ancest…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter III
“In the first place, therefore, you say, “ it must be granted that there are Gods .” Thus to speak, however, is not right on this subject. For an innate knowledge of the Gods is coexistent with our very essence; and this knowledge is superio…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Va
“In the next place, let us direct our attention to the solution of your inquiries.
There is, therefore, the good itself which is beyond essence, and there is that good which subsists according to essence; I mean the essence which is most an…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Vb
“Again, however, according to another mode of considering the subject, it is necessary to ascribe to the Gods the whole of that which is united, of whatever kind it may be; that which is firmly established in itself, and which is the cause o…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IXa
“I consider you, therefore, as asking, for it is your inquiry, “ Why, since the Gods dwell in the heavens alone, there are invocations by theurgists of terrestrial and subterranean Gods?
” For 45 what you assert in the beginning is not true…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IXb
“For in things which are of a kindred nature, according to essence and power, or which are, in a certain respect, of the same species, or homogeneous, a certain comprehension, or conservation, may be discovered.
But in such things as are en…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIa
““ How therefore ,” you ask, “ are many things performed to them in sacred operations, as if they were passive?
” I reply, that this is asserted through an ignorance of sacerdotal mysticism.
For of the things which are perpetually effected…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVb
“Or what passion can accede to a thing of this kind, the purity of which the most worthy human manners cannot easily equal?
You say, however, “ that the things which are offered in supplications are offered as to sensitive and psychical nat…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVII
“We will exchange, therefore, this division for the doubt which may be adduced by you against the present opinion. “ For ,” it may be said by you, “ how, conformably to what we assert, can the sun and moon, and the visible natures in the hea…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVIIIa
“Your next inquiry doubts, “ how some of the Gods are beneficent, but others malefic .” This opinion, therefore, is assumed from the predictors of nativities.
It is, however, entirely remote from the truth.
For all the Gods are good, and i…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVIIIb
“A certain thing of this kind also may take 71 place in the harmony and crasis of the universe: for the same things may be the salvation of the whole, through the perfection of the things inherent and the recipients; but may be noxious to th…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIXa
“In the next place, therefore, we shall answer your question, “ What it is which conjoins the Gods that have a body in the heavens with the incorporeal Gods.
” What this is, therefore, is evident from what has been before said.
For 72 if t…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIXb
“And secondary genera, indeed, remain with invariable sameness in the one of such as are primary; but the primary impart from themselves union to the secondary genera, and all of them possess in each other the communion of an indissoluble co…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter II
“It follows, therefore, that in the next place we should define the energies of them. And those of dæmons, indeed, must be surveyed as occupied about the world, and more widely extended in their effects; but those of heroes as less extended,…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter II
“Concerning the divination, therefore, which takes place in sleep, you say as follows: “ We frequently obtain through dreams, when we are asleep, a knowledge of future events, not being in an ecstasy, through which we are much agitated, for…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter V
“There are, therefore, many species of divine possession, and divine inspiration is multifariously excited; whence, also, the signs of it are many and different. For either the Gods are different, by whom we are inspired, and thus produce a…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“If, therefore, true divination was a solution of the divine part of the soul from the other parts of it, or if it was a separation of intellect, or a certain extension of it; or if it was a vehemence 128 and extension of energy or passion,…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IX
“What you afterwards say is as follows: “ That some of those who suffer a mental alienation, energize enthusiastically on hearing cymbals or drums, or a certain modulated sound, such as those who are Corybantically inspired, those who are po…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter X
“Let us, however, discuss what pertains to divination more particularly; not asserting this, that nature leads each thing to its like; for the enthusiastic energy is not the work of nature; nor again asserting that the temperature of the air…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XII
“It appears, therefore, that the divination of oracles accords with all the hypotheses which we have before adduced concerning prediction. For if a power of this kind was inseparable from the nature of places, and of the bodies which are the…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIV
“Concerning another kind of divination, also, you say as follows: “ Others who are conscious what they are doing in other respects, are divinely inspired according to the phantastic part, some indeed receiving darkness for a cooperator, othe…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XV
“Let us, therefore, pass on to the mode of divination which is effected through human art, and which possesses much of conjecture and opinion. But concerning this you say as follows: “ Some also establish the art of the investigation of futu…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVI
“Descending, however, to particulars, the soul of animals, the dæmon who presides over them, the air, the motion of the air, and the circulation of the heavens, variously change the viscera, [74] 156 conformably to the will of the Gods. But…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVIIb
“For, as he sometimes makes some stupid man to speak wisely, through which it becomes manifest to every one, that this is not a certain human but a divine work; thus, also, he reveals through things which are deprived of knowledge, conceptio…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVIII
“Another contest, however, awaits us, not less than that in which we have been before engaged, and which you immediately announce, concerning the causes of divination, “ whether a God, an angel, or a dæmon, or some other power, is present in…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXII
“You say, therefore, “ that the soul generates the power which has an imaginative perception of futurity, through motions of this kind, or 177 that the things which are adduced from matter constitute dæmons through the powers that are inhere…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXIII
“The animadversions which are after this adduced, at first, indeed, doubt about the mode of divination, but as they proceed, endeavour entirely to subvert it. We shall, therefore, discuss both these. And, in the first place, we shall begin t…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXVI
“There are many other contentious innovations also, which may be the subject of wonder. But some one may justly be astonished at the contrariety of opinions produced by admitting either that the truth of divination is with enchanters, the wh…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXVIIa
“Moreover, neither is it sufficient to assert, “ that nature, art, and the sympathy of things in the universe, as if they were the parts of one animal, contain premanifestations of certain 188 things with reference to each other; nor that bo…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXX
“You say, however, “ that the makers of images observe the motion of the celestial bodies, and can tell from the concurrence of what star, with a certain star or stars, predictions will be true or false; and also whether the things that are…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter I
“Let us then, in the next place, consider the opposing arguments, what they are, and what reason they possess. And if we should discuss some things a little more abundantly, in consequence of speaking freely and at leisure, it is requisite t…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter II
“But we sometimes see that take place which is now proposed to be considered. For it happens that spirits are commanded [to do this or that] who do not use a reason of their own, and have not the principle of judgment. Nor does this occur ir…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter III
“Dissolving, however, the doubts in a way still more true, we think it requisite, in invoking superior natures, to take away the evocations 208 which appear to be directed to them as to men, and also the mandates in the performance of works,…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter V
“The multitude, also, are accustomed to doubt in common the very same thing concerning providence, viz. why certain persons are afflicted undeservedly, as they have not done any thing unjustly prior to their being thus afflicted. For neither…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“We may, however, beginning from another hypothesis, demonstrate the same thing. We must admit that the corporeal parts of the universe are neither sluggish nor destitute of power, but as much as they excel our concerns in perfection, beauty…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IX
“After the body of the universe, also, many things are generated by the nature of it. For the concord of similars, and the contrariety of dissimilars, effect not a few things. Farther still, the assemblage of many things into the one animal…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter X
“We shall collect, therefore, what happens from these conclusions. For if certain invocators employ the physical or corporeal powers [91] of the universe, an involuntary gift of energy [from these powers], and which is without vice, takes pl…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XI
“Moreover, you inquire, and at the same time doubt, “ how it comes to pass that the Gods do not hear him who invokes them, if he is impure from venereal connexions; but, at the same time, they do not refuse to lead any one to illegal venery…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XII
“It is, necessary, however, to discuss these things particularly, and to show how they subsist, and what reason they possess. It is requisite, therefore, to understand that the universe is one animal; and that the parts in it are, indeed, se…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter II
“The hostile opposition, therefore, in the things that are now proposed, may be easily dissolved by demonstrating the dignity of wholes with 226 respect to parts, and by recalling to your recollection the exempt transcendency of the Gods abo…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter III
“Here, therefore, the same reasoning is likewise sufficient. For with us the enjoyment of bodies which once were united to soul, impresses in us heaviness and defilement, ingenerates in us voluptuousness, and produces many other diseases in…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VII
“The discussion therefore requires that we should show what it is through which sacrifices are effective of things, and are suspended from the Gods, the precedaneous causes of 234 effects. If then we say that the communion of similar powers,…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IX
“It is better, therefore, to assign as the cause of the efficacy of sacrifices friendship and familiarity, and a habitude which binds fabricators to the things fabricated, and generators to the 241 things generated. Hence when, this common p…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Xa
“We, however, admit all these assertions; physical essences, indeed, being coexcited as in one animal, according to aptitude or sympathy, as in another respect being subjects, and following and being subservient to the cause of the efficacy…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XI
“It appears to me, also, that the present question errs in another respect. For it is ignorant that the offering of sacrifices through fire has the power of consuming and destroying the matter of them in a greater degree; that it assimilates…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXI
“I think, therefore, that all who are lovers of the contemplation of theurgic truth will acknowledge this, that the piety which pertains to divine natures ought not to be exercised towards them partially or imperfectly. Hence, since prior to…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXIII
“The various mode, therefore, of sanctity in sacred operations partly purifies and partly perfects some one of the things that are in us or about us. And some things, indeed, it restores to symmetry and order; but others it liberates from mo…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXV
“If, therefore, these things were human customs alone, and derived their authority through our legal institutions, it might be said that the worship of the Gods was the invention of our conceptions. Now, however, divinity is the leader of it…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXVIa
“Since, however, prayers are not the smallest [but on the contrary a very great] part of sacrifices, especially give completion to them, and through these the whole operation of them is corroborated and effected; and since, besides 271 this,…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXVIb
“And, in the third and last place, it may easily be conceived from hence how prayer and sacrifice mutually corroborate and confer on each other a sacred and perfect power in divine concerns.
Hence, since it appears that there is a perfect c…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter III
“In the next place we shall explain how divination is effected through sacred animals, such, for instance, as hawks. We must never say, therefore, that the Gods accede through bodies that are thus procured, being employed. For they do not pr…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IV
“It is necessary, however, to think that the soul which uses divination of this kind, not only becomes an auditor of the prediction, but also contributes in no small degree from itself to the consummation of it, and of what pertains to its o…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter V
“Let us, therefore, now discuss another species of doubts, the cause of which is occult, and which, as you say, is accompanied with “ violent threats .” But it is variously divided about the multitude of threats. “ For it threatens either to…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VI
“These things also admit of another explanation of the following kind. The theurgist, through the power of arcane signatures, commands mundane natures, no longer as man, nor as employing a human soul; but as existing superior to them in the…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter III
“Since, however, every part of the heavens, every sign of the zodiac, [123] all the motion of the heavens, every period of time according to which the world is moved, and all things contained in the wholes of the universe, receive the powers…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IV
“These things, therefore, having been accurately discussed, the solution of the doubts which you have met with in certain books will be manifest. For the books which are circulated under the name of Hermes contain Hermaic opinions, though th…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VI
“You say, therefore, “ that according to many of the Egyptians, that which is in our power depends on the motion of the stars .” What the truth, however, is respecting this, it is necessary to unfold to you from the Hermaic conceptions. For…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter II
“In the next place, here also you appear to me to have cut off only a certain small part of the discussion concerning the peculiar dæmon. For since it is usual with those who artificially operate about nature to invoke this dæmon in an order…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter V
“You say then, in your epistle, “ that the discovery of the lord or lords of the geniture, if there are more than one in a nativity, can scarcely be obtained, and by astrologers themselves is confessed to be unattainable; and yet they say th…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VI
“If, however, it be requisite to unfold to you the truth concerning the peculiar dæmon, we must say that he is not distributed to us from one part of the heavens, or from some one of the visible elements; but that from the whole world, the a…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VII
“From these things, therefore, it is easy to answer your next question. For the peculiar dæmon does not rule over one of the parts in us, but, in short, over all the parts at once, and extends to every principle within us, in the same manner…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter I
“It now remains, in the last place, that we should speak concerning felicity, about which you make various inquiries, first of all proposing objections, afterwards doubting, and then interrogating. Adducing, therefore, all that is said by yo…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter III
“I wish, in the next place, to reply to such assertions as calumniate divine prediction. For you compare with it “ certain other methods which are conversant with the prediction of future events .” To me, however, it does not appear to be an…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IV
“Divine divination, therefore, which is conjoined with the Gods, alone truly imparts to us a divine life; since it participates of [divine] foreknowledge, and divine intellections, and renders us in reality divine. It likewise causes us to b…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VI
“Moreover, after it has conjoined the soul to the several parts of the universe, and to the total divine powers which pass through it; then it leads the soul to, and deposits it in, the whole Demiurgus, and causes it to be independent of all…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIa
“And thus we have answered, to the utmost of our ability, your inquiries concerning divination and theurgy.
It remains, therefore, at the end of this discussion, that I should beseech the Gods to afford me an immutable guard of true concept…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIb
“Or we say that the good which subsists in us may be considered as a habit, in consequence of subsisting in a subject; the next to this ranks as essence, and a part of essence, I mean the good which ranks among forms; and the good which is b…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIId
“For it is necessary that every form in the universe should be never failing, in order that the universe may be perfect, and that, being generated from an immoveable cause, it may be immoveable in its essence.
But every wholeness is a form,…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIe
““The divine Iamblichus, however, doubts how the Gods are said to be allotted certain places according to definite times, as, by Plato in the Timæus, Minerva is said to have been first allotted the guardianship of Athens, and afterwards of S…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIf
“Thus they recognised things supreme in such as are subordinate, and the subordinate in the supreme: in the celestial regions, terrene properties subsisting in a causal and celestial manner; and in earth celestial properties, but according t…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIg
“So that all things are full of divine natures; terrestrial natures receiving the plenitude of such as are celestial, but celestial of supercelestial essences; [153] while every order of things proceeds gradually, in a beautiful descent, fro…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIh
“Hence the ancient priests, by the mutual relation and sympathy of things to each other, collected their virtues into one, but expelled them by repugnancy and antipathy; purifying when it was requisite with sulphur and bitumen, and sprinklin…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIi
“This, however, our philanthropic lord and father Jupiter understanding, that we might not be entirely deprived of communion with the Gods, has given us observation through sacred arts , by which we have at hand sufficient assistance.” For t…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIj
“the connective, perfective, demiurgic, assimilative, and such others as are celebrated posterior to these; so that all are in all, and yet each is at the same time separate and distinct.
“Indeed we obtain this knowledge of their union and…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIl
“Opinion, likewise, and the phantasy, are said thus to energize when they discover arts, and accomplish admirable works, such, for instance, as Phidias effected in the formation of statues, and another in another art, as also Homer says [157…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIm
“Thus, for instance, if the allotment of the soul was as far as to philosophy, the soul would be able, though it should not choose a philosophic but some other life, to energize in that life somewhat philosophically.
There are also said to…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIn
“As, therefore, it is possible for the tyrannic life, when suddenly changed, to become aristocratic, through employing strenuous promptitude and a divine allotment, but the gradual ascent is from a tyrannic to a democratic, and from this to…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIo
“In the next place, departing from intellect, and descending into reasoning and dianoia, it no longer apprehended real beings by simple intuitions, but syllogistically and transitively, proceeding from one thing to another, from propositions…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIp
“It causes us, therefore, to pass through life in an irreprehensible manner; just as the internal prophetic mania contracts and elevates all the multiplied and many powers and lives of the soul to the one , in order that it may in a greater…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII|
“Between souls that always abide on high with purity, such as the souls of essential heroes, and those that descend into the regions of mortality, and are defiled with vice, such as the souls of the greater part of mankind, the class of unde…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII}
“The nature of the one , as it is all-receptive , and all-productive ( πανδεχης και παντοφυης ) exhibits in itself a certain representation and indication of multitude; for it is all things prior to all.
40 .
For the Gods are essentialized…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII~
“But Pythagoras, as he was astronomizing, happened to meet with the Phrygian piper at an unseasonable time of night, and persuaded him to change his Phrygian for a spondaic song; through which the fury of the lad being immediately repressed,…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“Ταις ενεργειαις της μελῳδιας συμπασχειν ημων αντικρυς τας ψυχας, την συγγενειαν ωσπερ επιγινωσκουσας ——et, ποτε μεν εις ησυχιαν και κατασολην τρεπεσθαι, ποτε δε εις οἱσρον και ενθυσιασμον.
And, in the last place, see Plato in his Io, and A…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“with evil dæmons], which are hurled forth before the Gods, but on entering the interior parts of the temple, unmoved, and guarded by the mystic rites, they genuinely receive in their bosom divine illumination, and divested of their garments…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“To this, also, what every where occurs about prediction from the laurel pertains.
For if the leaves of the laurel when committed to the fire made a noise, it was considered as a good omen, but if they made none, a bad one.
77 .
Gale, in…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“Prior, there are three orders of dæmons, the first of which are more intellectual , the second are of a more rational nature , and the third, of which Iamblichus is now speaking, are various, more irrational, and more material .
86 .
Char…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“Η γοητεια δε εστι τεχνη τις περι τους ενυλους και χθονιους δαιμονας φαντασιοσκοπουσα τοις εποπταις τα τουτων ειδωλα.
και τους μεν ωσπερ εξ αδου αναγουσα, τους δε υψοθεν καταγουσα, και τουτους κακωτικους.
και ειδωλα αττα υφιστησι φαντασματ…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“It must also be observed, that this MS.
of Psellus On Dæmons forms no part of his treatise On the Energy of Dæmons , published by Gaulminus; for it never was published.
94 .
Hence Iamblichus (apud Stob.
Eclog.
Phys.
p.
114), says, Ου…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“But the Egyptians honoured the asp, the weasel, and the beetle, in consequence of observing in them certain dark resemblances of the power of the Gods, like that of the sun in drops of water.
For at present, many believe and assert that th…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“65, when he says, “The cathartic prayer is that which is offered for the purpose of averting diseases originating from pestilence, and other contagious distempers, such as we have written in our temples .” Καθαρτικαι δε (ευχαἰ, επι αποτροπα…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 94
“Section 4 4. But matters are involved here which demand specific investigation and cannot be treated as incidental merely to our present problem. We are faced with several questions: Is the heavenly system exposed to any such flux as would…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 95
“Section 5 5. But how explain the permanence There, while the content of this sphere- its elements and its living things alike- are passing? The reason is given by Plato: the celestial order is from God, the living things of earth from the g…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 98
“Section 8 8. Now: given a light of this degree, remaining in the upper sphere at its appointed station, pure light in purest place, what mode of outflow from it can be conceived possible? Such a Kind is not so constituted as to flow downwar…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 101
“Section 2 2. And what of lower things? [Why have they not this motion?] [Their case is very different]: the single thing here is not an all but a part and limited to a given segment of space; that other realm is all, is space, so to speak,…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 105
“Section 2 2. Are these planets to be thought of as soulless or unsouled? Suppose them, first, to be without Soul. In that case they can purvey only heat or cold- if cold from the stars can be thought of- that is to say, any communication fr…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 106
“Section 3 3. Possibly, however, they act not by choice but under stress of their several positions and collective figures? But if position and figure determined their action each several one would necessarily cause identical effects with ev…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 108
“Section 5 5. When they tell us that a certain cold star is more benevolent to us in proportion as it is further away, they clearly make its harmful influence depend upon the coldness of its nature; and yet it ought to be beneficent to us wh…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 110
“Section 7 7. But, if the stars announce the future- as we hold of many other things also- what explanation of the cause have we to offer? What explains the purposeful arrangement thus implied? Obviously, unless the particular is included un…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 115
“Section 12 12. All that thus proceeds from the supernal combines into a unity and every existing entity takes something from this blended infusion so that the result is the thing itself plus some quality. The effluence does not make the hor…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 119 (part 1)
“Section 16 16.
The question arises what phase of the Soul enters into the union for the period of embodiment and what phase remains distinct, what is separable and what necessarily interlinked, and in general what the Living-Being is.
On…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 161
“Section 5 5. Still more unreasonably: There are men, bound to human bodies and subject to desire, grief, anger, who think so generously of their own faculty that they declare themselves in contact with the Intelligible World, but deny that…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 180
“Section 4 4. Another theory: The Universe is permeated by one Soul, Cause of all things and events; every separate phenomenon as a member of a whole moves in its place with the general movement; all the various causes spring into action fro…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 181 (part 1)
“Section 5 5.
But perhaps the explanation of every particular act or event is rather that they are determined by the spheric movement- the Phora- and by the changing position of the heavenly bodies as these stand at setting or rising or in…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 182
“Section 6 6. But in fact everything follows its own Kind; the birth is a horse because it comes from the Horse Kind, a man by springing from the Human Kind; offspring answers to species. Allow the kosmic circuit its part, a very powerful in…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 183
“Section 7 7. It remains to notice the theory of the one Causing-Principle alleged to interweave everything with everything else, to make things into a chain, to determine the nature and condition of each phenomenon- a Principle which, actin…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 184
“Section 8 8. What can this other cause be; one standing above those treated of; one that leaves nothing causeless, that preserves sequence and order in the Universe and yet allows ourselves some reality and leaves room for prediction and au…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 192
“Section 5 5. Now, once Happiness is possible at all to Souls in this Universe, if some fail of it, the blame must fall not upon the place but upon the feebleness insufficient to the staunch combat in the one arena where the rewards of excel…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 195 (part 2)
“Bad men rule by the feebleness of the ruled: and this is just; the triumph of weaklings would not be just.…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 199
“Section 12 12. Suppose this Universe were the direct creation of the Reason-Principle applying itself, quite unchanged, to Matter, retaining, that is, the hostility to partition which it derives from its Prior, the Intellectual Principle- t…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 205
“Section 18 18. Souls vary in worth; and the difference is due, among other causes, to an almost initial inequality; it is in reason that, standing to the Reason-Principle, as parts, they should be unequal by the fact of becoming separate. W…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 210 (part 1)
“Section 4 4.
If man were all of one piece- I mean, if he were nothing more than a made thing, acting and acted upon according to a fixed nature- he could be no more subject to reproach and punishment than the mere animals.
But as the sche…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 212
“Section 6 6. But, if all this be true, how can evil fall within the scope of seership? The predictions of the seers are based on observation of the Universal Circuit: how can this indicate the evil with the good? Clearly the reason is that…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 228 (part 1)
“Section 7 7.
This is the significance of Plato's account of the birth of Love.
The drunkenness of the father Poros or Possession is caused by Nectar, "wine yet not existing"; Love is born before the realm of sense has come into being: Pen…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 267
“Section 1 1. Supposing we played a little before entering upon our serious concern and maintained that all things are striving after Contemplation, looking to Vision as their one end- and this, not merely beings endowed with reason but even…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 290
“Section 3 3. Is it a question of part in the sense that, taking one living being, the soul in a finger might be called a part of the soul entire? This would carry the alternative that either there is no soul outside of body, or that- no sou…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 293
“Section 6 6. But how comes it that while the All-Soul has produced a kosmos, the soul of the particular has not, though it is of the one ideal Kind and contains, it too, all things in itself? We have indicated that a thing may enter and dwe…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 303
“Section 16 16. The punishment justly overtaking the wicked must therefore be ascribed to the kosmic order which leads all in accordance with the right. But what of chastisements, poverty, illness, falling upon the good outside of all justic…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 306
“Section 19 19. Are we to think of the indivisible phase of the soul and the divided as making one thing in a coalescence; or is the indivisible in a place of its own and under conditions of its own, the divisible being a sequent upon it, a…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 336
“Section 16 16. But if in the soul thing follows thing, if there is earlier and later in its productions, if it engenders or creates in time, then it must be looking towards the future; and if towards the future, then towards the past as wel…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 344
“Section 24 24. The next question is whether perception is concerned only with need. The soul, isolated, has no sense-perception; sensations go with the body; sensation itself therefore must occur by means of the body to which the sensations…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 347
“Section 27 27. If the earth transmits the generative soul to growing things- or retains it while allowing a vestige of it to constitute the vegetal principle in them- at once the earth is ensouled, as our flesh is, and any generative power…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 349 (part 1)
“Section 29 29.
But- keeping to our illustration, by which the body is warmed by soul and not merely illuminated by it- how is it that when the higher soul withdraws there is no further trace of the vital principle?
For a brief space there…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 352
“Section 32 32. If we can trace neither to material agencies [blind elements] nor to any deliberate intention the influences from without which reach to us and to the other forms of life and to the terrestrial in general, what cause satisfac…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 354
“Section 34 34. For ourselves, while whatever in us belongs to the body of the All should be yielded to its action, we ought to make sure that we submit only within limits, realizing that the entire man is not thus bound to it: intelligent s…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 355 (part 2)
“Why else do certain groupments, in contradistinction to others, terrify at sight though there has been no previous experience of evil from them?
If some men are alarmed by a particular groupment and others by quite a different one, the rea…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 359
“Section 39 39. We cannot, then, refer all that exists to Reason-Principles inherent in the seed of things [Spermatic Reasons]; the universe is to be traced further back, to the more primal forces, to the principles by which that seed itself…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 362
“Section 42 42. It follows that, for the purposes which have induced this discussion, the stars have no need of memory or of any sense of petitions addressed to them; they give no such voluntary attention to prayers as some have thought: it…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 368 (part 2)
“And, further, once we reject the theory that these images reach us by way of some outstreaming from the objects seen, there is no reason to think of the air being affected and passing on to us, in a progression of impression, what has been…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 401
“Section 1 1. Many times it has happened: Lifted out of the body into myself; becoming external to all other things and self-encentered; beholding a marvellous beauty; then, more than ever, assured of community with the loftiest order; enact…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 488
“Section 10 10. This is why Zeus, although the oldest of the gods and their sovereign, advances first [in the Phaidros myth] towards that vision, followed by gods and demigods and such souls as are of strength to see. That Being appears befo…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 568
“Section 7 7. But Matter, it may be contended, is the source of existence to the Sensible things implanted in it. From what source, then, we retort, does Matter itself derive existence and being? That Matter is not a Primary we have establis…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 604
“Section 14 14. But, admitting this one soul at every point, how is there a particular soul of the individual and how the good soul and the bad? The one soul reaches to the individual but nonetheless contains all souls and all intelligences;…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 636 (part 2)
“When you enumerate two things- say, animal and beauty- each of these remains one thing; the number is your production; it lay within yourself; it is you that elaborate quantity, here the dyad.
But when you declare virtue to be a Tetrad, yo…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 707 (part 2)
“Note, similarly, that, when we speak of this First as Cause, we are affirming something happening not to it but to us, the fact that we take from this Self-Enclosed: strictly we should put neither a This nor a That to it; we hover, as it we…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 109
“Section 6 6. But that this same Mars, or Aphrodite, in certain aspects should cause adulteries- as if they could thus, through the agency of human incontinence, satisfy their own mutual desires- is not such a notion the height of unreason?…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 112 (part 1)
“Section 9 9.
This brings us to the Spindle-destiny, spun according to the ancients by the Fates.
To Plato the Spindle represents the co-operation of the moving and the stable elements of the kosmic circuit: the Fates with Necessity, Mothe…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 302
“Section 15 15. The souls peering forth from the Intellectual Realm descend first to the heavens and there put on a body; this becomes at once the medium by which as they reach out more and more towards magnitude [physical extension] they pr…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 348 (part 2)
“Thus anger has two phases; there is firstly that which, rising apart from all process of reasoning, draws reason to itself by the medium of the imaging faculty, and secondly that which, rising in reason, touches finally upon the specific pr…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 353
“Section 33 33. The Circuit does not go by chance but under the Reason-Principle of the living whole; therefore there must be a harmony between cause and caused; there must be some order ranging things to each other's purpose, or in due rela…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 355 (part 1)
“Section 35 35.
But we must give some explanation of these powers.
The matter requires a more definite handling.
How can there be a difference of power between one triangular configuration and another?
How can there be the exercise of po…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 356
“Section 36 36. The Universe is immensely varied, the container of all the Reason-Principles and of infinite and diverse efficacies. In man, we are told, the eye has its power, and the bones have their varied powers, and so with each separat…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 357
“Section 37 37. We must not rob the universe of any factor in its being. If any of our theorists of to-day seek to explain the action of fire- or of any other such form, thought of as an agent- they will find themselves in difficulties unles…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 358
“Section 38 38. Whatever springs automatically from the All out of that distinctive life of its own, and, in addition to that self-moving activity, whatever is due to some specific agency- for example, to prayers, simple or taking the form o…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 364
“Section 44 44. Contemplation alone stands untouched by magic; no man self-gathered falls to a spell; for he is one, and that unity is all he perceives, so that his reason is not beguiled but holds the due course, fashioning its own career a…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 365 (part 1)
“Section 45 45.
From this discussion it becomes perfectly clear that the individual member of the All contributes to that All in the degree of its kind and condition; thus it acts and is acted upon.
In any particular animal each of the lim…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 368 (part 1)
“Section 2 2.
If sight depends upon the linking of the light of vision with the light leading progressively to the illumined object, then, by the very hypothesis, one intervening substance, the light, is indispensable: but if the illuminate…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 370 (part 1)
“Section 4 4.
But there is the question of the linked light that must relate the visual organ to its object.
Now, firstly: since the intervening air is not necessary- unless in the purely accidental sense that air may be necessary to light…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 370 (part 2)
“Besides, even on this explanation, the mind must have previously been in contact with the object in the entire absence of intervenient; only if that has happened could contact through an intervenient bring knowledge, a knowledge by way of m…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 372
“Section 6 6. We return, then, to the question whether there could be light if there were no air, the sun illuminating corporeal surfaces across an intermediate void which, as things are, takes the light accidentally by the mere fact of bein…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 387
“Section 8 8. It can be shown also that the intellectual act would similarly be impossible if the soul were any form of body. If sensation is apprehension by means of the soul's employment of the body, intellection cannot be a similar use of…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 418
“Section 2 2. Let every soul recall, then, at the outset the truth that soul is the author of all living things, that it has breathed the life into them all, whatever is nourished by earth and sea, all the creatures of the air, the divine st…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 662
“Section 23 23. That which soul must quest, that which sheds its light upon Intellectual-Principle, leaving its mark wherever it falls, surely we need not wonder that it be of power to draw to itself, calling back from every wandering to res…”
← Collapserenaissance_hermeticism85
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter I — How Magicians Collect Virtues from the Three-Fold World is Declared in these Three Books | Chapter I, Section 1
“CHAPTER I. How Magicians Collect Virtues from the Three-Fold World is Declared in these Three Books . Seeing there is a Three-fold World—Elementary, Celestial and Intellectual—and every inferior is governed by its superior, and receiveth th…”
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter II — What Magic Is, What Are the Parts Thereof, and How the Professors Thereof Must Be Qualified | Chapter II, Section 1a
“CHAPTER II.
What Magic Is, What Are the Parts Thereof, and How the Professors Thereof Must Be Qualified .
Magic is a faculty of wonderful virtue, full of most high mysteries, containing the most profound contemplation of most secret thing…”
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter II — What Magic Is, What Are the Parts Thereof, and How the Professors Thereof Must Be Qualified | Chapter II, Section 1b
“It instructs us also concerning Faith, Miracles, the virtues of Words and Figures , the secret operations and mysteries of Seals; and, as Apuleius saith, it teacheth us rightly to understand and to be skilled in the Ceremonial Laws, the equ…”
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter VI — Of the Wonderful Natures of Water, Air and Winds | Chapter VI, Section 1b
“Josephus also makes relation of the wonderful nature of a certain river betwixt Arcea and Raphanea, cities of Syria, which runs with a full channel all the Sabbath day and then on a sudden ceaseth, as if the springs were stopped, and all th…”
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter VII — Of the Kinds of Compounds, what Relation They Stand in to the Elements, and What Relation There Is Betwixt the Elements Themselves and the Soul, Senses and Dispositions of Men | Chapter VII, Section 1b
“The earth signifies a slow and firm motion; the water signifies fearfulness and sluggishness, and remissness in working; air signifies cheerfulness and an amiable disposition; but fire a fierce, quick and angry disposition.
The Elements, t…”
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter X — Of the Occult Virtues of Things | Chapter X, Section 1a
“CHAPTER X.
Of the Occult Virtues of Things .
There are also other virtues in things, which are not from any Element, as to expel poison, to drive away the noxious vapors of minerals, to attract iron or anything else; and these virtues are…”
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XI — How Occult Virtues are Infused into the Several Kinds of Things by Ideas Through the Help of the Soul of the World, And Rays of the Stars; and what Things Abound Most with this Virtue | Chapter XI, Section 1
“CHAPTER XI. How Occult Virtues are Infused into the Several Kinds of Things by Ideas Through the Help of the Soul of the World, And Rays of the Stars; and what Things Abound Most with this Virtue . Platonists say that all inferior bodies ar…”
◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter XII — How It Is That Particular Virtues Are Infused into Particular Individuals, even of the Same Species | Chapter XII, Section 1
“CHAPTER XII. How It Is That Particular Virtues Are Infused into Particular Individuals, even of the Same Species . There are also in many individuals, or particular things, peculiar gifts, as wonderful as in the species and these also are f…”
Show all 85 →western_esoteric81
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Zodiac and Its Signsg
“Augustine expresses it, 'If you join together the initial letters of the five Greek words, Ἰησοῦς Χριστος Θεου Υιὸσ Σωτήρ, which mean Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, they will make ΙΧΘΥΣ, Fish, in which word Christ is mystically understoo…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Bembine Table of Isisb
“Laurentius Pignorius reproduced the Tablet in connection with a descriptive essay in 1605, but his timidly advanced explanations demonstrated his ignorance concerning the actual interpretation of the figures.
THE BEMBINE TABLE OF ISIS.
Co…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Human Body in Symbolisma
“THE oldest, the most profound, the most universal of all symbols is the human body.
The Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, and Hindus considered a philosophical analysis of man's triune nature to be an indispensable part of ethical and religious…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Pythagorean Theory of Music and Colorc
“The allowing arrangement is most generally accepted for the musical intervals of the planets between the earth and the sphere of the fixed stars: From the sphere of the earth to the sphere of the moon; one tone; from the sphere of the moon…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Pythagorean Theory of Music and Colord
“Pythagoras induced the musician to change his air to the slow, and rhythmic Spondaic mode, whereupon the intoxicated youth immediately became composed and, gathering up his bundles of wood, returned quietly to his own home.
There is also a…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Pythagorean Theory of Music and Colorf
“The lower octave (Γ to G) comprises that part of the universe in which substance predominate over energy.
Its harmonies, therefore, are more gross than those of the higher octave (G to g) wherein energy predominates over substance.
"If st…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Pythagorean Theory of Music and Colorg
“A word whispered in one of these apartments was so intensified that the reverberations made the entire building sway and be filled with a deafening roar.
The very wood and stone used in the erection of these sacred buildings eventually bec…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Stones, Metals and Gemsi
“The same multiplied by 20 gives 432,000, the fourth age, Kali-Yuga ." (It will be noted that these multipliers decrease in inverse ratio to the Pythagorean tetractys: 1, 2, 3, and 4.) H.
P.
Blavatsky declares that Orpheus taught his follo…”
Show all 81 →christian_mysticism38
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1a
“CHAPTER XI Concerning ” Peace “ and what is meant by ” Very Being “ Itself , ” Very Life ,” ” Very Power ,” and similar phrases .
1.
Now let us praise with reverent hymns of peace the Divine Peace which is the Source of all mutual attract…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1b
“Plotinus says the Godhead is indivisibly divided.
doth not leave Its own Unity, but, even in the act of going forth to all things, remains entirely within Itself through the excess of that all-transcendent Unity: concerning these things ‘t…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1e
“Hence the Good God is called the Fount, first, of the Very Primaries: then, of those creatures which share completely therein; then, of those which share partially therein.
484 484 Migne’s text here is corrupt, I have emended it.
(1) The…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1f
“472 Contemplation, Act of Contemplation, and Object Contemplated are all united together, and so imply a fundamental Unity which exists ultimately in God.
473 Cf.
p.
174, n.
3.
474 D.‘s paradox is the paradox of sanity.
We must hold a…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1e
“even as the lights of lamps (to use visible and homely similes) being in one house and wholly interpenetrating one another, severally possess a clear and absolute distinction each from each, and are by their distinctions united into one, an…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1j
“And since that Supra-Divine Being hath in loving kindness come down from thence unto the Natural Estate, and verily took substance and assumed the name of Man (we must speak with reverence of those things which we utter beyond human thought…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1g
“and because It is the Cause of the harmony and splendour in all things, flashing forth upon them all, like light, the beautifying communications of Its originating ray; and because It summons all things to fare unto Itself (from whence It h…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1h
“Hence comes the bare existence of all things, and hence their unions, 277 277 ἑνώσεις, διακρίσεις, ταὐτότητες, ἑτερότητες.
their differentiations, their identities, their differences, 278 278 Hence parts are united into wholes and wholes a…”
Show all 38 →finnic32
◆The Kalevala | Rune IIe
“Here a few days pass unnoted And as many nights fly over.
When the seventh day had journeyed, On the morning of the eighth day, Wainamoinen, wise and ancient, Went to view his crop of barley, How his plowing, how his sowing, How his labors…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune IIId
“Thou wert never seen or heard of When the earth was first created, When were made the ether-spaces, When the air was crystal-pillared, When the Moon was placed in orbit, When the silver Sun was planted, When the Bear was firmly stationed, W…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune Vc
“Finally the ancient minstrel, Mind depressed, and heart discouraged, Spake these words, immersed in sorrow: "Fool am I, and great my folly, Having neither wit nor judgment; Surely once I had some knowledge, Had some insight into wisdom, Had…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune Xf
“Modestly pleads Ilmarinen For the maiden's willing answer, These the words of the magician: "Wilt thou come with me, fair maiden, Be my wife and queen forever?
I have forged for thee the Sampo, Forged the lid in many colors." Northland's f…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune XIIIc
“As he nears the woodland corner, There he bears a frightful uproar, From the Northland's distant borders, From the dreary fields of Lapland, Hears the dogs as they are barking, Hears the children loudly screaming, Hears the laughter or the…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune XVa
“'S RESTORATION.
Lemminkainen's aged mother Anxious roams about the islands, Anxious wonders in her chambers, What the fate of Lemminkainen, Why her son so long has tarried; Thinks that something ill has happened To her hero in Pohyola.
Sa…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune XVd
“Lemminkainen's anxious mother Takes the magic rake and hastens To the river of Tuoni, Praying to the Sun as follows: "Thou, O Sun, by God created, Thou that shinest on thy Maker, Shine for me in heat of magic, Give me warmth, and strength,…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune XVIIf
“"I shall set my forge and bellows Deeper, deeper in thy vitals; I shall swing my heavy hammer, Swing it with a greater power On thy heart, and lungs, and liver; I shall never, never leave thee Till I learn thine incantations, Learn thy many…”
Show all 32 →greek_mystery32
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 3 (part 1)
“A Dissertation ON THE Life and Theology of ORPHEUS.
SECT.
I.
THE great obscurity and uncertainty in which the history of Orpheus is involved, affords very little matter for our information; and even renders that little, inaccurate and pr…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 3 (part 2)
“Hence, in the vision of Herus Pamphilius, in Plato, the soul of Orpheus, being destined to descend into another body, is reported to have chosen rather that of a swan than to be born again of a woman; having conceived such hatred against th…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 3 (part 3)
“Afterwards, when Neanthus, the son of Pittacus the tyrant, found that the lyre drew trees and wild beasts with its harmony, he earnestly desired its possession; and having corrupted the priest privately with money, he took the Orphean lyre,…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 1)
“SECT.
II.
LET us now proceed to his theology; exchanging the obscurity of conjecture for the light of clear evidence; and the intricate labyrinths of fable for the delightful though solitary paths of truth.
p.
13 And here I must acquain…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 2)
“For a self-motive being, is the cause of motion to those, which are moved by another, in the same manner as that which is immovable, inserts in all beings the power of moving.
And again, that which is moved only, must depend on those natur…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 6 (part 3)
“Thus a bond among men, is the impediment and retention of action: but in divine concerns it insinuates a conjunction and ineffable union with causes; and hence the Saturnian bonds signify the union of the deiurgus of the universe, with the…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn VII. THE SUN
“VII. TO THE SUN. The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE and MANNA. HEAR golden Titan, whose eternal eye With broad survey, illumines all the sky. Self-born, unwearied in diffusing light, And to all eyes the mirrour of delight: Lord of the seasons…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn VIII. THE MOON (part 1)
“VIII.
TO THE MOON * .
The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS.
HEAR, Goddess queen, diffusing silver light, Bull-horn'd and wand'ring thro' the gloom of Night.
2 p.
125 With stars surrounded, and with circuit wide Night's torch extending, thro'…”
Show all 32 →gnosticism18
◆Gospel of Philip | Section 1j
“In the world these are the true people.
They are the attendants of the bridal chamber.
POWER AND WEAKNESS In this world, power and weakness mingle when man and woman have sex.
Joining is different in the eternal realm, though we use the…”
◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 19
“Jesus said, "Blessed is he who came into being before he came into being. If you become my disciples and listen to my words, these stones will minister to you. For there are five trees for you in Paradise which remain undisturbed summer and…”
◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 48
“Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move Away,' and it will move away."…”
◆Pistis Sophia | Document FIRSTe
“And having come, coming unto the World I came unto the midst of the Rulers of the Sphere, I was the likeness of Gabriel the angel of the Aeons, and knew me not the Rulers of the Aeons.
But they were thinking that I am Gabriel the angel.
I…”
◆Pistis Sophia | Document FIRSTf
“And when your time was finished they produced you in [14 ] the World, there not being soul of the Rulers in you; and ye took your part out of the power, this which breathed in unto the Confusion the last Helper, this (power) which is mixed…”
◆Pistis Sophia | Document FIRST
“But answered Maria the mother of Jesus, said she, My Lord, thy power of light prophesied about these [106 ] words once by Solomon in his nine(teenth) ode and said it, The Lord upon my head as a crown, and I shall not become 58 outside of hi…”
◆Pistis Sophia | Document SECOND}
“[182 ] And they are coming unto the Place of those of the Middle, and those of the Middle will baptise them (with) the spiritual unction, and seal them with the seal of their mystery and they will pass through in unto those of all Places of…”
◆Pistis Sophia | Document SECOND
“Answered Jesus, said he to Iohannes, Fairly (done) however at least because ye seek after everything in an exactness with a certainty.
[189 ] But now therefore, Johannes hear, that I may speak with thee, Every one who receiveth mystery of…”
Show all 18 →platonism15
◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1m
“For prophecy is a madness, and the prophetess at Delphi and the priestesses at Dodona when out of their senses have conferred great benefits on Hellas, both in public and private life, but when in their senses few or none.
And I might also…”
◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1q
“Thus far I have been speaking of the fourth and last kind of madness, which is imputed to him who, when he sees the beauty of earth, is transported with the recollection of the true beauty; he would like to fly away, but he cannot; he is li…”
◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1r
“But he whose initiation is recent, and who has been the spectator of many glories in the other world, is amazed when he sees any one having a godlike face or form, which is the expression of divine beauty; and at first a shudder runs throug…”
◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1u
“And the beloved when he has received him into communion and intimacy, is quite amazed at the good-will of the lover; he recognises that the inspired friend is worth all other friends or kinsmen; they have nothing of friendship in them worth…”
◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1{
“To the debatable, clearly; for if not, do you think that love would have allowed you to say as you did, that he is an evil both to the lover and the beloved, and also the greatest possible good?
Soc.
Capital.
But will you tell me whether…”
◆Plato: Republic | Section 1c
“And have we not a right to say in his defence, that the true lover of knowledge is always striving after being--that is his nature; he will not rest in the multiplicity of individuals which is an appearance only, but will go on--the keen ed…”
◆Plato: Republic | Section 1k
“True, he replied.
The spangled heavens should be used as a pattern and with a view to that higher knowledge; their beauty is like the beauty of figures or pictures excellently wrought by the hand of Daedalus, or some other great artist, wh…”
◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1p
“Indeed, I am not going to attack you, said Eryximachus, for I thought your speech charming, and did I not know that Agathon and Socrates are masters in the art of love, I should be really afraid that they would have nothing to say, after th…”
Show all 15 →celtic12
◆The Mabinogion | Tale THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAINd
“Under this tree is a fountain, and by the side of the fountain a marble slab, and on the marble slab a silver bowl, attached by a chain of silver, so that it may not be carried away.
Take the bowl and throw a bowlful of water upon the slab…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAINf
“And Owain made it known to him, and said, “I am in quest of the Knight who guards the fountain.” Upon this the yellow man smiled, and said that he was as loth to point out that adventure to Owain as he had been to Kynon.
However, he descri…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAINk
““My lord,” said he, “I know the meaning of all this, and my request is, that thou wilt permit me to throw the water on the slab, and to receive the first adventure that may befall.” And Arthur gave him leave.
Then Kai threw a bowlful of wa…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale KILHWCH AND OLWENc
“Thou wilt fare no worse there than thou wouldest with Arthur in the Court.
A lady shall smooth thy couch, and shall lull thee with songs; and early to-morrow morning, when the gate is open for the multitude that come hither to-day, for the…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale KILHWCH AND OLWENp
“It is needful for me to wash my head, and shave my beard, and I require the tusk of Yskithyrwyn Penbaedd to shave myself withal, neither shall I profit by its use if it be not plucked alive out of his head.” “It will be easy for me to compa…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale KILHWCH AND OLWENq
“Throughout the world there is not a leash that can hold him, except the leash of Cwrs Cant Ewin.” “It will be easy for me to compass this, although thou mayest think that it will not be easy.” “Though thou get this, there is yet that which…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale THE DREAM OF RHONABWYg
“And upon his feet were hose of fine Totness, and shoes of parti-coloured leather, clasped with gold, and the youth was of noble bearing, fair of face, with ruddy cheeks and large hawk’s eyes.
In the hand of the youth was a mighty lance, sp…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale MATH THE SON OF MATHONWYa
“THIS IS THE FOURTH PORTION OF THE MABINOGI Math the son of Mathonwy was lord over Gwynedd, and Pryderi the son of Pwyll was lord over the one-and-twenty Cantrevs of the South; and these were the seven Cantrevs of Dyved, and the seven Cantre…”
Show all 12 →hermeticism9
◆Corpus Hermeticum 1: Poimandres | Section 1b
“But when He raised His head, I see in Mind the Light, [but] now in Powers no man could number, and Cosmos grown beyond all bounds, and that the Fire was compassed round about by a most mighty Power, and [now] subdued had come unto a stand.…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 3: The Sacred Sermon | Section 1
“The Sacred Sermon 1. The Glory of all things is God, Godhead and Godly Nature. Source of the things that are is God, who is both Mind and Nature - yea Matter, the Wisdom that reveals all things. Source [too] is Godhead - yea Nature, Energy,…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1f
“But God is o'er them all, and God contains them all.
God's rays, to use a figure, are His energies; the Cosmos's are natures, the arts and sciences are man's.
The energies act through the Cosmos, thence through the nature-rays of Cosmos u…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 12: The Prayer | Section 1d
“Now it is units that give birth to number and increase it, and, being decomposed, are taken back again into themselves.
Matter is one; and this whole Cosmos - the mighty God and image of the mightier One, both with Him unified, and the con…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 12: The Prayer | Section 1e
“Observe this too, my son; that each one of the other lives inhabiteth one portion of the Cosmos - aquatic creatures water, terrene earth, and aery creatures air; while man doth use all these - earth, water air [and] fire; he seeth Heaven, t…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 14: The Discourse of Hermes to Ammon | Section 1c
“Footnotes 257:1 εὖ φρονεῖν.
I do not know the exact meaning of this expression.
Everard translates “to be truly wise”; Parthey, “ recte sapere ” following Patrizzi; Ménard, “ sagesse ”; Chambers, “to be rightly wise.” I would suggest that…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 15: The Hymn of Hermes | Section 1b
“It sendeth forth of its 4 abundance, and in the place [of what it sendeth forth] receiveth the subsistence from above.
5 For thus the Demiurge 6 —I mean the Sun—eternally doth order Heaven and Earth, pouring down Essence, 7 and taking Matt…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 15: The Hymn of Hermes | Section 1c
“For there are many choirs of daimons round Him, like unto hosts of very various kinds; who though they dwell with mortals, yet are not far from the immortals; but having as their lot from here unto the spaces of the Gods, 2 they watch o’er…”
Show all 9 →jewish_mysticism9
◆The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1a
“CHAPTER V.
1.
(It is written) Isa.
i.
4: "Woe unto the sinful nation, unto the people heavy with iniquity, unto the seed of evildoers, &c." (Here the author of the "Siphra Dtzenioutha" reasoneth concerning the small word HVI, "woe," whi…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XLIII
“XLIII. XLIV. Astronomical Secrets . CHAPTER XLIII. 1. And I saw other lightnings and the stars of heaven, and I saw how He called them all by their names and they hearkened unto Him. 2. And I saw how they are weighed in a righteous balance…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter LI
“p. 69 LI. The Resurrection of the Dead, and the Separation by the Judge of the Righteous and the Wicked . CHAPTER LI. 1. And in those days shall the earth also give back that which has been entrusted to it, And Sheol also shall give back th…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter LVII
“LVII. The Return from the Dispersion . CHAPTER LVII. 1. And it came to pass after this that I saw another host of wagons, and men riding thereon, and coming on the winds from the east, and from the west to the south. 2. And the noise of the…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter LXXXII (part 2)
“In the beginning of the year Melkejâl rises first and rules, who is named †Tam’âinî† and sun, and all the days of his dominion whilst he bears rule are ninety-one days.
16.
And these are the signs of the days which are to be seen on earth…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter C
“C. The Sinners destroy each other: Judgement of the fallen Angels: the Safety of the Righteous: further Woes for the Sinners . CHAPTER C. 1. And in those days in one place the fathers together with their sons shall be smitten And brothers o…”
◆The Lesser Holy Assembly (Idra Zuta Qadisha) | Idra Zuta, Chapter 1 (part 1)
“CHAPTER VIII.
CONCERNING THE FOREHEAD OF MACROPROSOPUS.
87.
THE forehead of His skull is the acceptation of acceptations, whereunto is opposed the acceptation of Microprosopus, like as it is written, Exod.
xxviii.
38: "And it shall be…”
◆Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation) | Section 1e
“He produced Oin, predominant in Anger, crowned, combined, and formed Capricornus in the world, Tebet in the year, and the liver in man.
11.
He produced Tzaddi, predominant in Taste, crowned, combined, and formed Aquarius in the world, Seb…”
Show all 9 →egyptian7
◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 4 (part 21)
“If the name of Nut flourisheth in the temple of Shenth in Annu, the name of Pepi shall flourish, and this pyramid shall flourish, and this his work shall endure to all eternity.
If the name of Osiris flourisheth in This, the name of Pepi s…”
◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 6 (part 12)
“Every khu and every god stretcheth out his hand unto this Pepi when he cometh forth into heaven by the Ladder of God .
.
.
.
that which he seeth and that which he heareth make him wise, and serve as food for him when he cometh forth int…”
◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 10 (part 18)
“The charms against serpents in the pyramid texts of the Vth and VIth dynasties have their equivalents in the XXXIst and XXXIIIrd Chapters of the Book of the Dead, which are found on coffins of the XIth and XIIth dynasties;[2] and in the XVI…”
◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 100)
“The pyramid texts afford scanty information about the fiends and devils with which the later Egyptians peopled certain parts of the Tuat, wherein the night sun pursued his course, and where the souls of the dead dwelt; for this we must turn…”
◆The Egyptian Heaven and Hell | Chapter 4 (part 5)
“was employed in building his pyramid and funeral temple, the hereditary governors and nobles of important provinces in Upper Egypt were not slow to avail themselves of the opportunity which peace and the renewed prosperity of p.
11 the cou…”
◆The Egyptian Heaven and Hell | Chapter 4 (part 11)
“The net result of the facts stated in the last two paragraphs proves that Seti I.
relied for salvation upon the protection, part magical and part religious, afforded by the sacred writings of two great schools of religious thought, the lea…”
◆The Egyptian Heaven and Hell | Chapter 6 (part 4)
“A perusal of the above Chapter shows that it is the expression of beliefs and ideas concerning the future life which belong to a very early period of civilization, and to a time when the Egyptians held most primitive views about their gods.…”
mandaean2
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 1
“p. 35
PORTENTS AT JOHN'S BIRTH (§ 18). 1
In the Name of Great Life may hallowed Light be glorifed.
A CHILD was planted out of the height, a mystery revealed in Jerusalem. 2 The priests saw dreams; chill seized on their children, chill se…”
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 15
“When the youth saw her alone, he set himself free and fell down from
the cloud. He set himself free and fell down from the cloud and kissed the
mouth of Enishbai. When Anōsh, the treasure, saw him [do this], he spake unto
Yahyā in Jerusalem…”
mesopotamian1
◆The Descent of the Goddess Ishtar into the Lower World | Section 1b
“"Why, O gatekeeper, dost thou remove the girdle of my body, studded with birth-stones?" "Enter, O lady, for such are the decrees of Ereshkigal." The sixth gate, he bade her enter, opened it wide, and removed the spangles off her hands and f…”
norse1
◆The Poetic Edda: Hovamol | Section 1l
“| and hear thou my rede,- Profit thou hast if thou hearest, Great thy gain if thou learnest: I bid thee be wary, | but be not fearful; (Beware most with ale or another's wife, And third beware | lest a thief outwit thee.) [129.
Line 5 is a…”
taoism1
◆Tao Te Ching | Chapter 60
“Governing a great state is like cooking small fish. Let the kingdom be governed according to the Tao, and the manes of the departed will not manifest their spiritual energy. It is not that those manes have not that spiritual energy, but it…”