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cosmology

Demiurge

A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God.

114 passages · 8 traditions
neoplatonism: 49 passagesneoplatonism49greek_mystery: 33 passagesgreek_mystery33hermeticism: 10 passageshermeticism10gnosticism: 7 passagesgnosticism7christian_mysticism: 5 passageschristian_mysticism5finnic: 4 passagesfinnic4platonism: 4 passagesplatonism4western_esoteric: 2 passageswestern_esoteric2
neoplatonism49
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXI
The division, however, of the passive from the impassive , which you adopt, may perhaps be rejected by some one, as not adapted to either of the more excellent genera, through the causes which we have before enumerated; and it also deserves…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter I
It is also necessary to demonstrate to you, in what dæmons, heroes, and souls differ from each other, and whether this difference is according to essence, or according to power, or according to energy. I say, therefore, that dæmons are prod…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXVIIIa
You adduce, however, as a thing by no means to be despised, “ the artificers of efficacious images .” But I should wonder if these were admitted by any one of the theurgists who survey the true forms of the Gods. For why should any one exc…”
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 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 I
Leaving, therefore, these particulars, you wish in the next place that I would unfold to you “ What the Egyptians conceive the first cause to be; whether intellect, or above intellect; whether alone, or subsisting with some other or others;…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter III
According to another order, however, he arranges the God Emeph [134] prior to, and as the leader of, the celestial Gods. And he says that this God is an intellect, itself intellectually perceiving itself, and converting intellections to its…”
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greek_mystery33
Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 3)
Because it is also necessary that the soul, essentially rational, should receive intellect by participation, and that intellectual energy should be of p. 22 two kinds; one primarily subsisting in the divine intellect; but the other subsist…”
Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 4)
Hence according to his theology there are two worlds, the intelligible and the sensible. Hence too his three demiurgic principles: Jovial, Dionysiacal, and Adonical, Δΐι#, ( ) Διονυσιακὴ, Αδωναϊκὴ, from whence many orders and differences o…”
Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 5 (part 4)
Now Nature is called in these hymns, or rather initiations πολυμήχανε μῆτερ, or much-mechanic Mother, and παντοτεχνεσ or universal Artist; and Minerva is denominated μητερ τεχνῶν, or Mother of Arts. Likewise Nature is expressly called ἀθαν…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn V. PROTOGONUS, Or the FIRST-BORN (part 1)
V. TO PROTOGONUS, Or the FIRST-BORN. The FUMIGATION from MYRRH. O Mighty first-begotten, hear my pray'r, 1 Two-fold, egg-born, and wand'ring thro' the air, p. 119 Bull-roarer, glorying in thy golden wings, 3 From whom the race of Gods a…”
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 IX. NATURE (part 2)
And Proclus in forms us, that she connects all the parts of the universe together: containing in herself intellectual life, by which she illuminates the whole, and unifying powers by which she superintends all the opposing natures of the wo…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn XIII. RHEA (part 1)
XIII. TO RHEA * . The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS. DAUGHTER of great Protogonus, divine, 1 Illustrious Rhea, to my pray'r incline, p. 138 Who driv'st thy holy car with speed along, Drawn by fierce lions, terrible and strong. 4 Mother of…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn XXXVI. THE TITANS * The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE
XXXVI. TO THE TITANS * The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. O Mighty Titans, who from heav'n and earth Derive your noble and illustrious birth, Our fathers fires, in Tartarus profound Who dwell, deep merg'd beneath the solid ground: Fountains…”
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hermeticism10
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 1: Poimandres | Section 1d
Thou seem'st, He said, O thou, not to have given heed to what thou heardest. Did I not bid thee think? Yea do I think, and I remember, and therefore give Thee thanks. If thou didst think [thereon], [said He], tell me: Why do they merit d…”
Corpus Hermeticum 5: The Discourse of Hermes to Asclepius | Section 1b
Would that it were possible for thee to get thee wings, and soar into the air, and, poised midway 'tween earth and heaven, behold the earth's solidity, the sea's fluidity (the flowings of its streams), the spaciousness of air, fire's swiftn…”
Corpus Hermeticum 8: The Eight Sphere | Section 1a
That No One of Existing Things doth Perish, but Men in Error Speak of Their Changes as Destructions and as Deaths <The idea of cyclic change central to CH III, "The Sacred Sermon", also takes center stage here. A current of ancient specula…”
Corpus Hermeticum 8: The Eight Sphere | Section 1b
Now the third life - Man, after the image of the Cosmos made, [and] having mind, after the Father's will, beyond all earthly lives - not only doth have feeling with the second God <i.e., the Cosmos>, but also hath conception of the first; f…”
Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1a
The Key <This longer tractate presents itself explicitly as a summary or abridgement of the General Sermons (CH II-IX), and discusses the Hermetic view of knowledge and its role in the lives and afterlives of human beings. The attentive re…”
Corpus Hermeticum 15: The Hymn of Hermes | Section 1e
bringing or drawing down; κατάγειν = deducere, elicere —used frequently of magic arts. 269:8 νοητὴ οὐσία = intelligibilis essentia. 269:9 ὄγκος = moles, mass, bulk, volume; in later philosophy it means “atom,” and may mean so here, of cou…”
Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1b
For It doth will to be, and It is both Itself and most of all by reason of Itself. Indeed, all other things beside are just bacause of It; for the distinctive feature of the Good is "that it should be known". Such is the Good, O Tat. Tat…”
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gnosticism7
Gospel of Philip | Section 1b
TRUTH MADE NAMES Truth made names in the world, and without them we can’t think. Truth is one and is many, teaching one thing through the many. RULERS The rulers wanted to fool us, since they saw we were connected with the good. They too…”
Gospel of Philip | Section 1e
If you say, “I am a Roman,” no one will be upset. If you say, “I am Greek, a barbarian, a slave, a freeman,” no one will be troubled. But if you say, “I am a Christian,” they will tremble. I wish I had that title. The world will not end…”
Gospel of Philip | Section 1h
Now the woman and man are one in the chamber with the bed, and those so joined will not come apart again. Eve and Adam separated because when they joined it was not in the chamber with the bed. ADAM’S SOUL The soul of Adam came into being…”
Gospel of Philip | Section 1i
His seed was Jesus, and the plant was the cross.” The tree of life in the middle of that garden of paradise is an olive tree, and from the olive tree comes chrism, and from that oil comes the resurrection. THE WORLD EATS BODIES The world e…”
Gospel of Philip | Section 1m
If we know the truth, we shall find the fruits of the truth within us. If we join it, it will fulfill us. THE STRONG AND WEAK, THE MANIFEST AND HIDDEN Now we have the manifest things of creation. We say, “The strong are they who are held…”
Gospel of Thomas | Logion 56
Jesus said, "Whoever has come to understand the world has found (only) a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is superior to the world."…”
Gospel of Philip | Section 1l
Now they say, “He who creates engenders,” but his so-called offspring is merely a creature; therefore his children are not offspring but creatures. He who creates works openly and is visible. He who engenders does so in private. . . .…”
christian_mysticism5
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 4 (part 6)
"The created world was before the mysterium magnum, for all things were then in a spiritual condition in wisdom, as in a continual play or wrestle of love. The one only Will conceived this spiritual form into the Word, and permitted the in…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 5 (part 8)
36.) "The foundation of hell was from eternity; however, it was not manifest, but hidden until it became awakened." ( Theosophical Questions , xv. i.) p. 115 "The four lower principles without the eternal light are the abyss, the wrath of…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 6 (part 1)
p. 122 CHAPTER VI. THE RESTORATION OF NATURE AND THE GENERATION OF MAN. " If we speak about heaven and the birth of the elements, we are then not telling of things that are far away or foreign to us, but of that which is taking place wit…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 6 (part 5)
But when this took place the love in the light of God broke through that heaven of division and ignited the heat." ( Aurora , xxv. 68.) "God, the eternal light and the eternal will, shines within the darkness, and the darkness has captured…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 7 (part 7)
The heart of God wanted to have him in Paradise and to reside in him, for it said, 'He is my image and likeness.' The kingdom of wrath wanted him, for it said, 'He is mine; for he has issued out of my fountain, out of the eternal mind of th…”
finnic4
The Kalevala | Rune XVc
Paths arise and come to meet her, And she questions thus the pathways: "Paths of hope that God has fashioned, Have ye seen my Lemminkainen, Has my son and golden hero Travelled through thy many kingdoms?" Sad, the many pathways answer: "We…”
The Kalevala | Rune XXVIi
Leave thy station for the borders, I will hunt thine ancient mother, Sing thine origin of evil, How arose thy head of horror; Suoyatar, thine ancient mother, Thing of evil, thy creator!" "Suoyatar once let her spittle Fall upon the waves of…”
The Kalevala | Rune XXXVIIb
All rejoice but Ilmarinen At the wonderful creation; This the language of the blacksmith; "Let the bears admire thy graces; I desire a bride of beauty Born of many magic metals." Thereupon the wonder-forger Drives the colt back to the furna…”
The Kalevala | Rune XLIXa
OF THE SUN AND MOON. Thus has Fire returned to Northland But the gold Moon is not shining, Neither gleams the silver sunlight In the chambers of Wainola, On the plains of Kalevala. On the crops the white-frost settled, And the cattle died…”
platonism4
Plato: Timaeus | Section 1h
First then, in my judgment, we must make a distinction and ask, What is that which always is and has no becoming; and what is that which is always becoming and never is? That which is apprehended by intelligence and reason is always in the…”
Plato: Timaeus | Section 1†
He who modelled us, considering these things, mixed earth with fire and water and blended them; and making a ferment of acid and salt, he mingled it with them and formed soft and succulent flesh. As for the sinews, he made them of a mixtur…”
Plato: Timaeus | Section 1‡
The fleshy nature was not therefore wholly dried up, but a large sort of peel was parted off and remained over, which is now called the skin. This met and grew by the help of the cerebral moisture, and became the circular envelopment of th…”
Plato: Timaeus | Section 1’
And the most foolish of them, who trail their bodies entirely upon the ground and have no longer any need of feet, he made without feet to crawl upon the earth. The fourth class were the inhabitants of the water: these were made out of the…”
western_esoteric2
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolismm
Of these shoots one is manifested from above, which is the Great Power, the Universal Mind ordering all things, male, and the other, [is manifested] from below, the Great Thought, female, producing all things. Hence pairing with each other…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 15. The Sabbath Of The Sorcerersf
Can we be astonished after this at the spread of mediaeval superstition in our own day? One thing only surprises me, that, believing in the devil and his agents, men do not rekindle the faggots. M. Veuillot is logical and demands it: one…”