Library / Neoplatonism / Iamblichus: On the Mysteries ← Chapter V Chapter VII → That, however, which is the greatest thing is this, that he who [appears to] draw down a certain divinity, sees a spirit descending and entering into some one, recognizes its magnitude and quality, and is also mystically persuaded and governed by it. But a species of fire is seen by the recipient, prior to the spirit being received, which sometimes becomes manifest to all the spectators, either when the divinity is descending, or when he is departing. And from this spectacle the greatest truth and power of the God, and especially the order he 125 possesses, as likewise about what particulars he is adapted to speak the truth, what the power is which he imparts, and what he is able to effect, become known to the scientific. Those, however, who, without these blessed spectacles, draw down spirits invisibly, are without vision, as if they were in the dark, and know nothing of what they do, except some small signs which become visible through the body of him who is divinely inspired, and certain other things which are manifestly seen, but they are ignorant of all the most important particulars of divine inspiration, which are concealed from them in the invisible. But to return from this digression: if the presence of the fire of the Gods, and a certain ineffable species of light, externally accede to him who is possessed, and if they wholly fill him, have dominion over and circularly comprehend him on all sides, so that he is not able to exert any one proper energy, what sense, or animadversion, or appropriate projection of intellect, can there be in him who receives a divine fire? What human motion, likewise, can then intervene, or what human reception of passion or ecstasy, or of aberration of the phantasy, or of any thing else of the like kind, such as is apprehended by the multitude, can take place? Let such, therefore, be the divine indications 126 of true inspiration from the Gods, which he who attends to will not wander from a right knowledge concerning it.
§ Ask Guru about this passage → Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The text describes divine attributes as 'ineffable' and concealed from ordinary perception.
All passages → Body As Obstacleanthropology The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
The passage contrasts the recipient's ignorance of important particulars with the divine knowledge that is concealed in the invisible.
All passages → Cosmic Consciousnessanthropology A state of awareness transcending ordinary human consciousness, often involving unity with the universe or higher dimensions.
The divine fire comprehends the recipient on all sides, indicating a state of expanded awareness.
All passages → Divine Hiddennesstheology The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The passage explicitly states that important particulars of divine inspiration are concealed from those without the blessed spectacles.
All passages → Divine Lighttheology The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The text repeatedly describes a 'species of fire' and an 'ineffable species of light' that accede to the recipient.
All passages → Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage emphasizes that true inspiration reveals the greatest truth and power of the God directly through vision and knowledge.
All passages → Hidden Sayingssoteriology Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The text notes that certain important particulars of divine inspiration are concealed from those without the blessed spectacles.
All passages → Inner Lightanthropology The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.
The divine fire is described as filling and comprehending the recipient internally.
All passages → Kingdom Withinanthropology The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.
The divine presence is said to wholly fill the recipient and have dominion over them internally.
All passages → Living Godtheology The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
The God is described as possessing power and order that he imparts and effects.
All passages → Mystical Unionsoteriology The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The text describes the recipient being wholly filled by the divine fire and comprehended on all sides by the God.
All passages → Ritual Firepraxis Fire as medium of divine presence.
Fire is a key medium for the divine presence to descend and be seen in the spectacle.
All passages → Theosis Deificationsoteriology The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The recipient is described as being filled by the fire of the Gods and governed by them.
All passages → Theurgypraxis Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The passage describes drawing down spirits and divine fire through specific receptivity that engages the gods directly.
All passages → Related passages · 15 of 126 parallels
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter III-b
“Now in the former treatises the course of the argument, as it came down from the highest to the lowest categories, embraced an ever-widening number of conceptions which increased at each stage of the descent, but in the present treatise it…”
Shared concept: Apophatic Theology — Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1l
“Need is there to understand that in proper truth we do but use the elements and syllables and phrases and written terms and words as an aid to our senses; inasmuch as when our soul is moved by spiritual energies unto spiritual things, our s…”
Shared concept: Apophatic Theology — Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1a
“131 CHAPTER V Concerning ” Existence “ and also concerning ” Exemplars .” I.
Now must we proceed to the Name of “Being” which is truly applied by the Divine Science to Him that truly Is.
But this much we must say, that it is not the purpo…”
Shared concept: Mystical Union — The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity. (derived)
western_esoteric | The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Man-a
“HENRIE STEPHEN, in A World of Wonders , published in 1607, mentions a monk of St.
Anthony who declared that while in Jerusalem the patriarch of that city had shown him not only one of the ribs of the Word made flesh and some rays from the…”
Shared concept: Hidden Sayings — Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth. (derived)
theosophy | The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page xvii]] INTRODUCTORY.
------- "Gently to hear, kindly to judge." -- S HAKESPEARE.
S INCE the appearance of Theosophical literature in England, it has become customary to c…”
Shared concept: Hidden Sayings — Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth. (derived)
western_esoteric | Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 3. The Triangle Of Solomon-c
“These shells, envelopes petrified or carnified, were such an expression possible, are the source of errors or of evil, which connects with the heaviness and hardness of animal envelopes.
In the book Zohar , and in that of the Revolution of…”
Shared concept: Body As Obstacle — The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return. (derived)
christian_mysticism | The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 11 (part 7)
“48.) "The soul and the Word are not one or one being.
The soul is born from the centre of nature, from the essences, and belongs to the body, for she issues from the essences of the body, and attracts to herself the body; but the Word is f…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
christian_mysticism | The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 2 (part 3)
“This other will is the sensitivity and conceivability of the primordial will, by means of which that which is nothing finds itself to be something.
By so doing the inconceivable causeless will issues by means of that which it has eternally…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
christian_mysticism | The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 10 (part 11)
“At the same time it made one fire out of the combination of the human life-fire and the divine love-fire, and therewith was constituted a true sacrifice of sin and restitution, because the sin was sacrificed to the fire of divine wrath, to…”
Shared concept: Ritual Fire — Fire as medium of divine presence. (derived)
egyptian | The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 6 (part 20)
“The mighty ones in heaven shoot out fire under the caldrons which are heaped up with the haunches of the firstborn; and he that maketh those who live (514) in heaven to revolve round Unas hath shot into the caldrons the haunches of their wo…”
Shared concept: Ritual Fire — Fire as medium of divine presence. (derived)
egyptian | The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 13 (part 8)
“27.) Chapter LXXXIX.
"The Chapter of causing the soul to be united to its body in Neter-khert." (See pp.
112, 318, and pl.
17.) The two incense burners which stand, one at the head and one at the foot of the bier, are peculiar to the pap…”
Shared concept: Ritual Fire — Fire as medium of divine presence. (derived)
egyptian | The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 19 (part 3)
“The god Tmu, seated within the Sun-disk in the boat of the setting sun, facing a table of offerings.
6.
The god Rehu, in the form of a lion (to illustrate line 133).
7.
The serpent Uatchit, the lady of flame, a symbol of the eye of Ra,…”
Shared concept: Ritual Fire — Fire as medium of divine presence. (derived)
egyptian | The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 20 (part 5)
“The name of the doorkeeper is Nekau." Vignette V.: The fifth Pylon, which is guarded by the hippopotamus deity, with her fore-feet resting upon the buckle, the emblem of protection, seated in a shrine, the cornice of which is ornamented wit…”
Shared concept: Ritual Fire — Fire as medium of divine presence. (derived)
egyptian | The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 23 (part 2)
“9.
Var., ###.
10.
Var., "Them may the gods resist, and all the company of my gods, and all the company of their gods." 11.
Many papyri omit Tmu.
12.
Birch, "on the lap of his mother"; Pierret, "en haut de la cuisse de sa mère." 13.
I…”
Shared concept: Ritual Fire — Fire as medium of divine presence. (derived)
egyptian | The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 31 (part 1)
“PLATE XXIII.
AND PLATE XXIV.
The whole of Plate XXIII.
and part of Plate XXIV contain a repetition of the XVIIIth Chapter of the "Book of the Dead," which has also been given on Plates XIII.
and XIV.
The arrangement of the gods in the…”
Shared concept: Ritual Fire — Fire as medium of divine presence. (derived)
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