Chapter XVII-b

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

The text describes the divine nature as not being comprehended by any thing nor enclosed by its participants.

The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.

The passage asserts that material signs in the world correspond to and reveal higher divine truths and future events, making each level a legible map of the others.

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.

It states that the mode of divination ascends into and rules over all things simultaneously.

The ritual practice of discerning hidden knowledge — future events, concealed causes, or the will of higher powers — through a structured technique applied to cards, lots, astrological configuration, entrails, oracle, or other sortilege, rather than through direct unmediated insight. Distinct from gnosis_direct_knowledge (unmediated inner apprehension of ultimate truth, not a technique applied to an external medium) and cosmic_sympathy (the underlying doctrine of hidden affinity that many divinatory techniques presuppose, rather than the practice of consulting it).

The passage is explicitly a defense of divination, describing its 'ruling and primordial nature, of an unrestrained power, and transcendent nature' and its capacity to 'collectively signify future events.'

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

The passage emphasizes that divine conceptions precede knowledge and are superior to nature.

The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.

The passage states that the divine power works 'through every thing which is in the world' and 'through things which are deprived of knowledge,' asserting the divine is actively present within all material things.

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

The passage describes a transcendent power that 'ascends into, and rules over, all things simultaneously' and actively orders the disclosure of truths through signs, which is a form of providential ordering.

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

The text explicitly states that wisdom is inserted into us through signs deprived of knowledge and that things without knowledge become gnostic.

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

The passage describes revealing conceptions which precede all knowledge through signs deprived of knowledge.

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

The divine presignification is described as active and ruling over all things simultaneously.

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

It presents the paradox that things deprived of knowledge become gnostic.

The state of a person being controlled or inhabited by an external spirit or entity — the entity as subject acting through the person's body, rather than merely troubling them from without. Distinct from haunting (a discarnate soul or place-bound presence that interferes without necessarily entering and controlling a living body) and from spirit_conjuration (an operator deliberately commanding a spirit's appearance, the reverse relation — here the spirit is uninvited and in control, not summoned and subordinated).

The passage describes how 'he sometimes makes some stupid man to speak wisely,' which is a form of divine possession or inspiration where an external divine power acts through a human medium.

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

The goal is to elevate oneself to the divine presignification from all things.

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

The passage calls for elevating oneself to the intellectual and divine presignification of the Gods.

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.

Iamblichus argues that divine power descends into material signs and objects to reveal hidden truths, which is the core theurgic premise that consecrated matter can be a vehicle for divine operation.