Iamblichus

Iamblichus Porphyry to the Prophet Anebo. [1] Greeting.

1. Porphyry, it is well known, was a distinguished scholar, and the foremost writer in the later Platonic School. He was a native of Tyre, and his name Molech, or King, was rendered by Longinus into Porphurios, denoting the royal purple, as a proper equivalent. He was a disciple of Plotinus, who had broadened the field of philosophic study till it included the "Wisdom of the East." In personal habits he followed the Pythagorean discipline. He was a severe critic of the Gnostic beliefs then current, and he evidently included with them also the new Christian faith. His mysticism was spiritual and contemplative, and he regarded the ceremonial rites of the Egyptian theurgy with distrust. He favored Mithraism, which prevailed in Asia, while Iamblichus belonged rather to the cult of Serapis, which was the State religion of Egypt. Of Anebo we know little. He is addressed as an Egyptian priest, and his name is that of Anabu or Anubis, the Egyptian psyxhopompos and patron of sacred literature. He was a "prophet" hen niter or servant of divinity, and expounder of the oracles: and Porphyry himself an "epoptes" or initiated person, asks him accordingly to explain the Egyptian theosophic doctrines respecting the divine beings, rites and religious faith

I will begin this friendly correspondence with thee with a view to learning what is believed in respect to the gods and good dæmons and likewise the various philosophic speculations in regard to them. Very many things have been set forth concerning these subjects by the (Grecian) philosophers, but the for the most part have derived the substance of their belief from conjecture.

Part 1. The Gods and their peculiarities

In the first place, therefore, it is to be taken for granted that there are gods. I ask then: what are the peculiarities of the superior races, by which they are differentiated from each other? Are we to suppose the cause of the distinction to be their energies or their passive motions, or things consequent: or is it a classification established by difference of bodies -- the gods being distinguished by aetherial bodies, the dæmons by aërial bodies, and souls by bodies pertaining to the earth?

As the gods dwell in heaven only, I ask therefore, why are invocations at the Theurgic Rites directed to them as being of the Earth and Underworld? How is it that although possessing power unlimited, undivided, and unrestricted, some of them are mentioned as being of the water and of the atmosphere, and that others are allotted by definite limitations to different places and to distinct parts of bodies? If they are actually separated by circumscribed limitations of parts, and according to diversities of places and subject-bodies, how will there be any union of them one to another?

How can the Theosophers [2] consider them as impressionable? For it is said that on this account phallic images are set up and that immodest language is used at the Rites? [3] Certainly if they are impassive and unimpressionable the invocations of the gods, announcing favorable inclinations, propitiations of their anger and expiatory sacrifices, and still further what are called "necessities of the gods," will be utterly useless. For that which is impassive is not to be charmed or forced [4] or constrained by necessity.

2.The Theosophers were regarded as learned in the arcane knowledge, and especially in Theurgy. Iamblichus appears to have adopted these Rites and usages from the Egyptian worship, including with them a philosophic groundwork from the Platonic doctrines.

3.The use of images and emblems of a sacred character to typify divine power and energy is universal. Somewhat of the divine was supposed to inhere in them. The "images" and asheras or "groves" mentioned in the Bible were of this character. So was the "idol in a grove," made by Queen Maachah, as well as the simulacrums which, as Herodotus states, the Egyptian women carried at the festivals.

4.Compare Gospel according to Matthew, XI, 12. "From the days of John the Baptist till now, the kingdom of heaven is forced, and they who are violent seize it."

Why, then, are many things performed to them in the Sacred Rites, as to impressionable beings? The invocations are made as to gods that are impressionable beings: so that it is implied that not the dæmons only are impressionable, but the gods likewise, as was declared in Homer:

"Even the gods themselves are yielding."

Suppose, then, we say, as certain individuals have affirmed, that the gods are pure mental essences and that the dæmons are psychic beings participating of mind. [5]

5. Xenokrates, who was a disciple of Plato, himself taught these doctrines. He considered the heavens as divine and that the substance of the divine nature was mind pure and absolute. He also described the stars as "visible divinities." The dæmons were depicted as of a psychic nature, subordinate to that of the gods, and therefore subject to emotion and perturbation like human beings, while at the same time sharing in a degree in the power and intelligence of the gods.
The fact remains, nevertheless, that the pure mental essences are not to be charmed or mingled with things of sense, and that the supplications which are offered are entirely foreign to this purity of mental substance. [6] But on the other hand the things that are offered are offered as to sensitive and psychic natures.
6.Greek, the mind or "rational soul," the essence or principle of intelligence which transcends the understanding or reasoning faculty, and is capable of knowing truth intuitively and instinctively from being itself of divine origin.

Are gods, then, separated from dæmons by the distinction of bodied and unbodied? If, however, only the gods are incorporeal, how shall the Sun, the Moon, and the visible luminaries in the sky be accounted as gods?

How is it that some of them are givers of good and others bring evil?

What is the bond of union that connects the divinities in the sky that have bodies with the gods that are unbodied?

The gods that are visible (in the sky) being included in the same category with the invisible, what distinguishes the dæmons from the visible, and likewise the invisible, gods

2. The superior races and their manifestations

In what does a dæmon differ from a hero or half-god or from a soul? [7] It is it in essence, in power, or in energy? [8]

7. Here Porphyry has given an ancient classification of spiritual beings into four orders, the gods, dæmons or guardians, the heroes or half-gods, and souls. There were other distinctions in the Eastern countries, and we find Abammon, the Teacher, adding to these the archangels, angels, and archons of both the higher and lower nature. These were named in several of the Gnostic categories that were extant at that period. "We have no conflict with blood and flesh," says the Christian apostle, "but with archonates, authorities, the world-rulers of this dark region, and spiritual forces of evil in the upper heavens."

 8. By "essence" is signified the underlying principle of being; by "power" the intermediate agency; and by "energy" the operative faculty which enables actual results.

What is the token (at the Sacred Rites) of the presence of a god or an angel, or an archangel, or a dæmon, or of some archon, or a soul? For it is a common thing with the gods and dæmons alike, and with all the superior races,

to speak boastfully and to project an unreal image into view. [9] Hence the race of the gods is thus made to seem to be in no respect superior to that of the dæmons.

9. This inquiry in regard to the apparitions which the candidates beheld at the initiation is made plainer by Proclus: "In the most sacred stages of the Perfective Rites," says he,

"before the gods come into view, there appear intrusive figures of dæmons of the Underworld, to draw away the attention of the candidate from the spotless Good to the gross and material." It may be pertinent to add that in the several Grottoes or Halls of Initiation there was machinery ingeniously constructed for the purpose of representing divine and other personages. See The Epicurean, by Thomas Moore, and The Great Dionysiak Myth, by Robert Brown, Jr., VI, 2, 3.

Spurgeon, Psalm 42: What a degradation to supplant the intelligent song of the whole congregation by the theatrical prettiness of a quartet, bellows, and pipes. We might as well pray by machinery as praise by it. (Charles )

Organon , to, ( [ergon, erdô] ) I. an implement, instrument, engine of any kind (mostly post-Aug.), Col. 3, 13, 12.--Of military or architectonic engines (whereas machina denotes one of a larger size and more complicated construction)

A. instrument, implement, tool, for making or doing a thing
3.musical instrument, Simon.31, f.l. in A.Fr.57.1 ; homen di'  organôn ekêlei anthrôpous, of Marsyas, Pl.Smp.215c ; aneuorganôn psiloislogois ibid., cf. Plt.268b ; o. poluchordaId.R.399c , al.; met'ôidês kai tinôn organôn Phld.Mus.p.98K. ; of the pipe, Melanipp.2, Telest.1.2

Ergon  [Ergô] I.work, 1. in Il. mostly of deeds of war, polemêïa erga, 3.a hard piece of work, a hard task, Il.: also, a shocking deed or act,

Polemeios: warlike, aoida war-note, of the trumpet, B.17.4
aoid-ê  5. = eppsdê, spell, incantation
 
B.17.4 Bacchylides, Odes Daughters of Zeus ruling on high, famed for the lyre, ... Pierian Muses ... weave ... [5]  Isthmian land ... son-in-law of wise Nereus ... ... of the island ... [10]  god-built gates of Pelops' shining island ... ... [15]  yoked horses to chariots, [20]  and they flew ... ... [45]  thick ... maidens ... [50]  of sleep, like honey to the mind ... our ... ancient city ... [homes] on the shores of the sea ... [55]  [and under] the rays of the sun ... ... and Makelo, loving the distaff, ... [75]  by the fair-flowing stream ... speaks ... fawning with the voice ... ... I am bereaved ... with double-edged grief .

It is also acknowledged that ignorance and delusion in respect to the gods is irreligiousness and impurity, and that the superior knowledge in respect to them is holy and helpful: the former being the darkness of ignorance in regard to the things revered and beautiful, and the latter the light of knowledge. The former condition will cause human beings to be beset with every form of evil through ignorance and recklessness, [10] but the latter is the source of everything beneficial.

  10. "I do not see any sin in the world," says George Sand, "But I see a great deal of ignorance."

3. Oracles and Divination

What is it that takes place in divination? For example, when we are asleep, we often come, through dreams, to a perception of things that are about to occur We are not in an ecstasy full of commotion, for the body lies at rest, yet we do not ourselves apprehend these things as clearly as when we are awake.

In like manner many also come to a perception of the future through enthusiastic rapture and a divine impulse, when at the same time so thoroughly awake as to have the senses in full activity. Nevertheless, they by no means follow the matter closely, or at least they do not attend to it as closely as when in their ordinary condition.

So, also, certain others of these ecstatics become entheast or inspired when they hear cymbals, drums, or some choral chant; as for example, those who are engaged in the Korybantic Rites, those who are possessed at the Sabazian festivals, and those who are celebrating the Rites of the Divine Mother (ZOE). Others, also, are inspired when drinking water, like the priest of the Klarian Apollo at Kolophon; others when sitting over cavities in the earth,

like the women who deliver oracles at Delphi; others when affected by vapor from the water, like the prophetesses at Branchidæ; and others when standing in indented marks like those who have been filled from an imperceptible inflowing of the divine plerome.

Others who understand themselves in other respects become inspired through the Fancy: some taking darkness as accessory, others employing certain potions, and others depending on singing and magic figures. Some are affected by means of water, others by gazing on a wall, others by the hypethral air, and others by the sun or in some other of the heavenly luminaries. Some have likewise established the technique of searching the future by means of entrails, birds, and stars.

What, I ask, is the nature of divination, and what is its peculiar character? The diviners all say that they arrive at the foreknowledge of the future through gods or dæmons, and that it is not possible for others to have any inkling of it only those who have command over the things to be. I dispute, therefore, whether the divine power is brought down to such subserviency to human beings as, for instance, not to hold aloof from any who are diviners with barley-meal.

In regard, however, to the origins of the oracular art, it is to be doubted whether a god, or angel, or dæmon, or some other such being, is present at the Manifestations, [11] or at the divinations, or at any other of the Sacred Performances, as having been drawn thither through you by the necessities created by the invocations.

11. Greek, epiphany -- an apparition or manifestation, such as was exhibited in mystic and theurgic rites.

Some are of opinion that the soul itself both utters and imagines these things, and that there are similar conditions of it which have been produced from little sparks; others, that there is a certain mingled form of substance produced from our own soul and from the divine in breathing; others, that the soul, through such activities, generates from itself a faculty of Imagination in regard to the future, or else that the emanations from the realm of matter bring dæmons into existence through their inherent forces, especially when the emanations are derived from animals.

These conjectures are put forth for the following statements:

1. That during sleep, when we are not engaged with anything, we sometimes chance to obtain perception of the future.

2. That likewise, an evidence that a condition of the Soul is a principal source of the art of divining is shown by the facts that the senses are held in check, fumes and invocations being employed for the purpose;

and that by no means everybody, but only the more artless and young persons, are suitable for the purpose.

3. That likewise, ecstasy or alienation of mind is a chief origin of the divining art; also the mania which occurs in diseases, mental aberration, abstinence from wine, suffusions of the body. fancies set in motion by morbid conditions or equivocal states of mind, such as may occur during abstinence and ecstasy, or apparitions got up by technical magic. [12]

12. Goeteia (goetia), or "black magic."

A Jubbler is also a:

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, Malachi 3:5a

and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:5b

Goês , êtos, ho, Used with:

Epôidos [epaidô] I.singing to or over: as Subst. an enchanter, Eur.: c. gen. acting as a charm for or against, Aesch., Plat. 2. pass. sung or said after, morphês epôidonc alled after this form, 
II. in metre, epôidos, ho, a verse or passage returning at intervals, a chorus, burden, refrain, as in Theocr.

E.Ba.234 Euripides, BacchaePentheus

[215]  I happened to be at a distance from this land, when I heard of strange evils throughout this city, that the women have left our homes in contrived Bacchic rites, and rush about in the shadowy mountains, honoring with dances [220]  this new deity Dionysus, whoever he is. I hear that mixing-bowls stand full in the midst of their assemblies, and that they each creep off different ways into secrecy to serve the beds of men, on the pretext that they are Maenads worshipping; [225]  but they consider Aphrodite before Bacchus.

As many of them as I have caught, servants keep in the public strongholds with their hands bound, and as many as are absent I will hunt from the mountains, [I mean Ino and Agave, who bore me to Echion, and [230]  Autonoe, the mother of Actaeon.] And having bound them in iron fetters, I will soon stop them from this ill-working revelry. And they say that some stranger has come, a sorcerer, a conjuror from the Lydian land, [235]  fragrant in hair with golden curls, having in his eyes the wine-dark graces of Aphrodite. He is with the young girls day and night, alluring them with joyful mysteries. If I catch him within this house, [240]  I will stop him from making a noise with the thyrsos and shaking his hair, by cutting his head off.

Pharmakos (on the accent v. Hdn.Gr.1.150), ho, hê,

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, Malachi 3:5a

and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the Lord of hosts. Malachi 3:5b

Rev 21: 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Rev 21: 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Rev 22:14

For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Rev 22:15

Rev 18:14 And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

Rev 18:21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

Rev 18:22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians [Apollyon's muses or locusts] and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, [theater builders and stage managers] of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone [called a pipe, made a wistling sound to attract] shall be heard no more at all in thee;

Rev 18:23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

21. Sorceries (farmakeiwn). Only here, ch. xviii. 23; and Gal. v. 20, where farmakeia sorceries, A.V., witchcraft is enumerated among the "works of the flesh." Used in the Septuagint of the Egyptian sorceries (Exod. vii. 22. Of Babylon, Isa. xlvii. 9, 12). From farmakon a drug, and thence a poison, an enchantment. Plato says: "There are two kinds of poisons used among men which cannot clearly be distinguished. There is one kind of poison which injures bodies by the use of other bodies according to a natural law...

but there is another kind which injures by sorceries and incantations and magic bonds, as they are termed,

and induces one class of men to injure another as far as they can,
and persuades others that they, above all persons,
are liable to be injured by the powers of the magicians.
Now it is not easy to know the nature of all these things; nor if a man do know can he readily persuade others of his belief. And when men are disturbed at the sight of waxen images, fixed either at the doors, or in a place where three ways meet, or in the sepulchers of parents, there is no use of trying to persuade them that they should despise all such things, because they have no certain knowledge about them.

But we must have a law in two parts concerning poisoning, in whichever of the two ways the attempt is made;
and we must entreat and exhort and advise men not to have recourse to such practices,
by which they scare the multitude out of their wits, as if they were children,
compelling the legislator and the judge to heal the fears which the sorcerer arouses,
and to tell them, in the first place,
that he who attempts to poison or enchant others knows not what he is doing, either as regards the body (unless he have a knowledge of medicine) or as regards his enchantments, unless he happens to be a prophet or diviner" ("Laws," xi., 933).

Vincent Word Studies

21. Sorceries (farmakeiwn). Only here, ch. xviii. 23; and Gal. v. 20, where farmakeia sorceries, A.V., witchcraft is enumerated among the "works of the flesh." Used in the Septuagint of the Egyptian sorceries (Exod. vii. 22. Of Babylon, Isa. xlvii. 9, 12). From farmakon a drug, and thence a poison, an enchantment. Plato says: "There are two kinds of poisons used among men which cannot clearly be distinguished. There is one kind of poison which injures bodies by the use of other bodies according to a natural law... but there is another kind which injures by sorceries and incantations and magic bonds, as they are termed, and induces one class of men to injure another as far as they can, and persuades others that they, above all persons, are liable to be injured by the powers of the magicians. Now it is not easy to know the nature of all these things; nor if a man do know can he readily persuade others of his belief. And when men are disturbed at the sight of waxen images, fixed either at the doors, or in a place where three ways meet, or in the sepulchers of parents, there is no use of trying to persuade them that they should despise all such things, because they have no certain knowledge about them. But we must have a law in two parts concerning poisoning, in whichever of the two ways the attempt is made; and we must entreat and exhort and advise men not to have recourse to such practices, by which they scare the multitude out of their wits, as if they were children, compelling the legislator and the judge to heal the fears which the sorcerer arouses, and to tell them, in the first place, that he who attempts to poison or enchant others knows not what he is doing, either as regards the body (unless he have a knowledge of medicine) or as regards his enchantments, unless he happens to be a prophet or diviner" ("Laws," xi., 933).

[933a] that we have now expressly mentioned is that in which injury is done to bodies by bodies according to nature's laws. Distinct from this is the type which, by means of sorceries and incantations and spells (as they are called), not only convinces those who attempt to cause injury that they really can do so, but convinces also their victims that they certainly are being injured by those who possess the power of bewitchment. In respect of all such matters it is neither easy to perceive what is the real truth, nor, if one does perceive it, is it easy to convince others. And it is futile to approach the souls of men.

[933b] who view one another with dark suspicion if they happen to see images of molded wax at doorways, or at points where three ways meet, or it may be at the tomb of some ancestor, to bid them make light of all such portents, when we ourselves hold no clear opinion concerning them. Consequently, we shall divide the law about poisoning under two heads, according to the modes in which the attempt is made,1 [1  i.e. attacking the mind or body.] and, as a preliminary, we shall entreat, exhort, and advise that no one must attempt
Pausanias, Description of Greece

[8] On the southern slope of the mountain once stood Sumetia. On this mountain is what is called the Meeting of the Three Ways, whence the Mantineans fetched the bones of Arcas, the son of Callisto, at the bidding of the Delphic oracle. There are still left ruins of Maenalus itself: traces of a temple of Athena, one race-course for athletes and one for horses. Mount Maenalus is held to be especially sacred to Pan, so that those who dwell around it say that they can actually hear him playing on his pipes.
[933c] to commit such an act, or to frighten the mass of men, like children, with bogeys, and so compel the legislator and the judge to cure men of such fears, inasmuch as, first, the man who attempts poisoning knows not what he is doing either in regard to bodies (unless he be a medical expert) or in respect of sorceries (unless he be a prophet or diviner). So this statement shall stand

[933d] as the law about poisoning:--Whosoever shall poison any person so as to cause an injury not fatal either to the person himself or to his employes, or so as to cause an injury fatal or not fatal to his flocks or to his hives,--if the agent be a doctor, and if he be convicted of poisoning, he shall be punished by death; but if he be a lay person, the court shall assess in his case what he shall suffer or pay. And if it be held that a man is acting like an injurer by the use of spells, incantations,

[933e] or any such mode of poisoning, if he be a prophet or diviner, he shall be put to death; but if he be ignorant of the prophetic art, he shall be dealt with in the same way as a layman convicted of poisoning,--that is to say, the court shall assess in his case also what shall seem to them right for him to suffer or pay. In all cases where one man causes damage to another by acts of robbery1[1  Cp. Plat. Laws 857a ff.] or violence, if the damage be great, he shall pay a large sum as compensation to the damaged party, and a small sum if the damage be small; and as a general rule, every man shall in every case pay a sum equal to the damage done, until the loss is made good; and, in addition to this, every man shall pay the penalty which is attached to his crime

Clement of Alexandria notes that:

If a man drags the Deity
Whither he will by the sound of cymbals,
He that does this is greater than the Deity;
But these are the instruments of audacity and
means of living Invented by men."

Cymbals in Hebrew is derived from

Calal (h6750) tsaw-lal'; a prim. root [rather ident. with 6749 through the idea of vibration]; to tinkle, i. e. rattle together (as the ears in reddening with shame, or the teeth in chattering with fear): - quiver, tingle.

When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops. Hab.3:16

Cymbal from the Greek and the Soothsaying Connection

Cymbal is:

Kuma (g2949) koo'-mah; from 2965, (to swell with young, i.e. bend, curve); a billow (as bursting or toppling): - wave.

Kuon (g2965) koo'-ohn; a prim. word; a dog ["hound"] (lit. or fig.): - dog.

For without are dogs, and sorcerers (pharmakos: poison with a magical drug incantation), and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. Revelation 22:15

In paganism the male prostitutes were the "dogs of Cyble" and in the Old Testament a "dog" is a symbol:

Keleb (h3611) keh'leb; from an unused root mean. to yelp, or else to attack; a dog; hence (by euphemism) a male prostitute: - dog.

And the sorcerer is:

"Applied to Persian priests or astrologers of Babylon. Pharmakos (g5333) an adjective signifying "devoted to magical arts," is used as a noun, "a sorcerer," especially one who uses drugs, potions, spells, enchantments, Rev 21:8, in the best texts (some have pharmakeus) and 22:15" Vine

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. Rev 22:16

Used with: Sophist

M. Tullius Cicero, Orations: for his house, Plancius, Sextius, Coelius, Milo, Ligarius, etc. (ed. C. D. Yonge)

XI.[22] What games, then, are they which the soothsayers say have not been performed with due diligence, and have been polluted? Those of which the immortal gods themselves and the blessed mother Cybele chose you--you, O Cnaeus Lentulus, by the hands of whose ancestor she was originally received--to be a spectator. And unless you had chosen to be a spectator of the Megalesia on that day, I do not know whether we should have been allowed to be give and to complain of these things. For an enormous multitude of slaves in a state of great excitement, collected out of all the streets by this religious aedile, burst in on a sudden upon the stage from all the arch-ways and doors at a given signal. Your virtue,--yours, I say, O Cnaeus Lentulus,--was at that crisis shown to be equal to that formerly displayed by your ancestor as a private individual. The senate standing up, and the Roman knights and all virtuous men, followed you, and your name and your command, and your voice, aspect, and authority, when he had handed over the senate and people of Rome, hampered by the dense body in which they were sitting, chained as it were to the spectacle, and hindered by the crowd and narrow space, to a multitude of slaves and buffoons.

Soothsayer: Greek

Gnôst-ês , ou, ho,

A. one that knows, tôn ethôn Act.Ap.26.3 ; tou euangeliou Sammelb.421.1 (iii A. D.): esp.one who knows the future, diviner, LXX 1 Ki.28.3.

II. = gnôstêr, surety, g. tês pisteôs Plu.Flam.4 ; expert witness or valuer, PLips.106.10 (i A. D.).

[23] Shall we say that, if a sacred dancer stops, or a flute-player has on a sudden ceased to play, or if a boy 1 with both father and mother alive has ceased to touch the ground, or has lost his hold of the sacred car, or of the reins, or if an aedile has used a wrong word or made the slightest mistake, then the games have not been duly celebrated, and those mistakes are forced to be expiated and the minds of the immortal gods are appeased by their repetition; and yet if the games are suddenly changed from a scene of joy to one of terror,--if they have been, not interrupted, but broken up and put an [p. 81] end to,--if those days of festival turned out nearly fatal to the through the wickedness of that man who wished to turn the games into a time of grief,--shall we doubt what games that noise warns us have been polluted? [24] And if we wish to recollect those things which have been handed down to us traditionally about each of the gods, we have heard that this mighty Mother; whose games were thus violated and polluted, and turned almost to a massacre and to the destruction of the city, does roam over the fields and through the groves with a certain degree of noise and roaring.

1 It is inferred from this passage that the boys assisting at these games might not be orphans.

4. That both the realm of Nature, Art, and the feeling in things of common throughout the universe, as of the parts in one animal, contain foreshadowings of certain things with reference to others. Moreover, there are bodies so constituted as to be a forewarning from some to others. Examples of this kind are manifest by the things done, namely: that they who make the invocations (at the Rites) carry stones and herbs, tie sacred knots and unloose them, open places that are locked, and change the purposes of individuals by whom they are entertained, so that from being paltry they are made worthy. They also who are able to reproduce the mystic figures are not to be held in low esteem. For they watch the course of the heavenly bodies, and tell from the position and relation of one with another whether the oracular announcements of the ruling planet will be false or true, or whether the rites which have been performed will be to no purpose, or will be expressive or archaic, although no god or dæmon is drawn down to them.

There are some, however, who suppose there is likewise, the subject-race of a tricky nature, artful, and assuming all shapes, turning many ways, that personates gods and dæmons and souls of the dead like actors on the stage; and that through these everything that seems to be good or bad is possible. They are led to form this judgment because these subject-spirits are not able to contribute anything really beneficial as relates to the soul, nor even to perceive such things; but on the other hand, they ill treat, deride, and often impede those who are returning to virtue.

They are likewise full of conceit, and take delight in vapors and sacrifices.

5. Because the begging priest with open mouth attempts in many ways to raise our expectations. [13]

13. The agurtes o begging priest generally belonged to the worship of Rhea or Cybele, the Mother. He is frequently depicted in a most unfavorable light. Apuleius speaks of a company of these emasculate priests in the eighth book of the Metamorphoses. They are also described in the Republic of Plato:

"Agurtæ and Mantics frequent the houses of the rich and persuade them that they possess a power granted by the gods to expiate, by sacrifices and chants any unjust act that has been committed and that they induce the gods by blandishments and magic rites to help them. They collected money in this way, and they also followed the selling of nostrums and telling of fortunes."

A Juggler also:

agur-tikos , ê, on, A.vagabond, mantis Plu.Lyc.9 ; juggling, pinakes Id.Comp.Aristid.Cat.3 ; to a. genos Id.2.407c ; to a. jugglery, Str. 10.3.23. Adv. -kôs Hierocl.in CA26p.479M.

When the pagan prophetesses performed their RITES often using singing and instruments the claimed to be able to LEAD YOU into the presence of the Gods. These RITES created PANIC or the burden of "spiritual anxiety created by religious rituals" which Jesus died to SILENCE. Remember that the Greeks defined the BEAST in Revelation as PAN. His horns were musical pan pipes which tyrants used to gain their own mountain kingdom.

Orge I. natural impulse or propension: one's temper, temperament, disposition, orgê , hê, II. passion, anger, wrath, 3. Panos orgai panic fears (i. e. terrors sent by Pan), Eur.:--but, orgê tinos anger against a person or at a thing, Soph.; hierôn orgas wrath at or because of the rites, Aesch.

G3709 orge or-gay' From G3713 ; properly desire (as a reaching forth or excitement of the mind), that is, (by analogy) violent passion... wrath.

G3713 oregomai; to stretch oneself, that is, reach out after (long for):covet after, desire.

G3735 oros or'-os perhaps akin to G142 ; compare G3733 ); a mountain (as lifting itself above the plain):

Orgi-a , iôn, ta, secret rites, secret worship, practised by the initiated, of the rites of the Cabeiri [homosexuals] and Demeter, of Orpheus, of Cybele, most freq. of the rites of Dionysus .2.81, E.Ba.34, al., Theoc.26.13.

II. generally, RITES, orgia Mousôn [Rev 18:22] Ar.Ra.356 . Aphroditês [similar to Lucifer or Zoe].

This is the same MENTAL EXCITEMENT which Paul outlawss as NOT Christian and NOT possible in the assembly. The mental excitement was almost always caused by music to induce MADNESS or "prophesying."

G700 areskÿ ar-es'-ko Probably from G142 (through the idea of exciting emotion); to be agreeable (or by implication to seek to be so please.

G142 airo ah'ee-ro A primary verb; to lift; by implication to take up or away; figuratively to raise (the voice), keep in suspense (the mind); specifically to sail away (that is, weigh anchor); by Hebraism (compare [ H5375 ]) to expiate sin: away with, bear (up), carry, lift up, loose, make to doubt, put away, remove, take (away, up).

DISPUTING has the samemeaningas the DOUBTFUL DISPUTATIONS or DIALOG In Romans 14. The idea is that you don't JUDGE or DISPUTE personal diversities because you can be DIVERSE and still conduct SCHOOL OF THE BILBE if you speak that whichhas been written.

G1261 dialogismos dee-al-og-is-mos' From G1260 ; discussion, that is, (internal) consideration (by implication purpose), or (external) debate:&emdash;dispute, doubtful (-ing), imagination, reasoning, thought.

4. The invocation of the Theurgic powers

It perplexes me greatly to form a conception how they who are invoked as superior beings are likewise commanded like inferiors; also that they require the worshipper to be just, although when entreated, they themselves consent to perform unjust acts.

They will not hearken to the person who is invoking them if he is not pure from sexual contamination,
yet they themselves do not hesitate to lead chance individuals into unlawful sexual relations.

5. Sacrifices and Prayers.

(I am likewise in doubt in regard to the sacrifices, what utility or power they possess in the world and with the gods, and for what reason they are performed, appropriate for the beings thus honored and advantageously for the persons who present the gifts. [14])

14.
This paragraph is taken from Part V, Chapter I, and is not found in the text of the Letter as we have it. It is quoted there as belonging in this place. In the original Greek text the preceding paragraph appears in unbroken connection with the one which follows, and in dividing them we find it necessary to add a clause, to introduce the subject.

The gods also require that the interpreters of the oracles observe strict abstinence from animal substances, in order that they may not be made impure by the fumes from the bodies; yet they themselves are allured most of all by the fumes of the sacrifices of animals.

6. Conditions for successful results

It is also required that the Beholder [15] must be pure from the contact of anything dead, and yet the rites employed to bring the gods hither, many of them, are made effective through dead animals.

15. Greek, an epopt, seer, or beholder; a person admitted to the higher degree of initiation. "The Perfective Rite leads the way as the muesis or mystic initiation," says Proclus, "and after that is the epopteia or beholding." Theôn describes it as three degrees -- "the Purification, Initiation, and Beholding of the Divine Vision." Mr. Robert Brown, Jr., explains the last of these very fully. "This is the Autopsia or Personal Inspection, the Crown of Mysteries, the Epopteia or Divine Beholding, and he becomes an Epoptes or Contemplator." (Great Dionysiak Myth, VI, 2, 3.) As the Autoptic Visions are the principal topic in this work, the term "Beholder" is adopted uniformly for several words of the same import.

What, then, is more preposterous than these things -- that a human being, inferior in dignity, should make use of threats, not to a dæmon or soul of some dead person, but to the Sun-King himself, or to the Moon, or some one of the divine ones in the sky, himself uttering falsehood in order that they may be caused to speak the truth? For the declaration that he will assail the sky, that he will reveal to view the Arcana of Isis, that he will expose to public gaze the ineffable symbol in the innermost sanctuary, that he will stop the Baris; that, like Typhon, he will scatter the limbs of Osiris, or do something of a similar character, what is it but an extravagant absurdity, threatening what he neither knows how nor is able to perform? What dejection of spirit does it not produce in those who, like children, destitute of intelligence, are dismayed by groundless fear and terrified by these false alarms?

And yet Chairemon, the Scribe of the Temple, records these things as current discourse among the Egyptian priests. [16] It is also said that these threats, and others of like tenor, are very violent.

16. As the term "Egyptian" is applied only in this work to individuals of sacerdotal rank, the designation of "priest" is added. The Hierogrammateus, or Scribe of the Temple, was a priest of the lower class, and his duty was to keep the records, teach students the religious observances, and take care that they were duly obedient. The prophets were superior to the Scribes. The Temples of Egypt, like those of Babylonia, were seminaries for instruction, and all departments of Science and philosophy were included in their teachings as being Sacred Learning.

7. Sacred names and symbolic expressions

The Prayers also: What do they mean when they speak of the one coming forth to light from the slime, sitting on the Lotus-blossom, sailing in a boat, changing forms according to the season, and assuming a shape according to the Signs of the Zodiac? For so this is said to be seen at the Autopsias; and they unwittingly attribute to the divinity a peculiar incident of their own imagination. If, however, these expressions are uttered figuratively, and are symbolic representations of his forces, let them tell the interpretation of the symbols. For it is plain that if they denote the condition of the Sun, as in eclipses, they would be seen by every one who looked toward it intently.

Why, also, are terms preferred that are unintelligible, and of those that are unintelligible why are foreign ones preferred instead of those of our own language? For if the one who hears gives attention to the signification it is enough that the concept remains the same, whatever the term may be. For the divinity that is invoked is possibly not Egyptian in race; and if he is Egyptian, he is far from making use of Egyptian speech, or indeed of any human language at all. Either these are all artful contrivances of jugglers, and disguises having their origin in the passive conditions induced about us through being attributed to the divine agency, or we have left unnoticed conceptions of the divine nature that are contrary to what it is.

8. The First Cause

I desire you further to declare plainly to me what the Egyptian Theosophers believe the First Cause to be; whether Mind, or above mind; and whether one alone, or subsisting with another or with several others; whether unbodied or embodied, whether the very same as the Creator of the Universe (Demiurgos) or prior to the Creator; also whether they likewise have knowledge respecting Primal Matter; [17] or of what nature the first bodies were; and whether the Primal Matter was unoriginated, or was generated. For Chairemon and the others hold that there is not anything else prior to the worlds which we behold. At the beginning of their discourses they adopt the divinities of the Egyptians, but no other gods, except those called Planets, those that make up the Zodiac and such as rise with these, and likewise those divided into decans, those which indicate nativities, and those which are called the Mighty Leaders. The names of these are preserved in the Almanacs, together with their routine of changes, their risings and settings, and their signifying of future events. For these men perceived that the things which were said respecting the Sun-God as the Demiurgos, or Creator of the Universe, and concerning Osiris and Isis, and all the Sacred Legends, may be interpreted as relating to the stars, their phases, occultations, and revolutions in their orbits, or else to the increase and decrease of the Moon, the course of the Sun, the vault of the sky as seen by night or by day, or the river Nile, and, in short, they explain everything as relating to natural objects, and nothing as having reference to incorporeal and living essences. [18]

17. Greek, hulé; a term first adopted by Aristotle to signify the objective, negative or passive element upon which the Creative energy operates. Plato named it the "receptacle," as containing the creative energy and making it effective.

18. Plutarch comments somewhat severely upon this mode of interpretation. In his treatise On Isis and Osiris he remarks that some individuals do not scruple to say that Osiris is the Sun, Isis no other than the Moon, and that Typhon is fire, or drouth, or the Ocean. But he adds in rebuttal: "No one can rationally imagine that these objects can be gods in themselves; for nothing can be a god that is either without soul, or under the power of natural objects." He also remarks that "there is an excellent saying among philosophers, that they who have not learned the true sense of words will also mistake in the things that are meant."

More of them likewise attribute to motion of the stars whatever may relate to us. They bind everything, I know not how, in the indissoluble bonds of necessity, which they term Fate, or allotment; and they also connect everything with those gods whom they worship in temples and with carved images and other objects, as being the only unbinders of Fate.

9. Nativities and Guardian Dæmons

The next thing to be learned relates to the peculiar dæmon or guardian spirit -- how the Lord of the House [19] assigns it, according to what purpose or what quality of emanation or life or power conies from it to us, whether it really exists or does not exist, and whether it is impossible or possible actually to find the Lord of the House. Certainly, if it is possible, then the person has learned the scheme of his nativity; knowing his own guardian dæmon, is liberated from fate, is truly favored by divinity. Nevertheless, the rules for casting nativities are countless, and beyond comprehension. Moreover, it is impossible for expertness in astral observations to amount to an actual knowing, for there is great disagreement in relation to it, and Chairemon, as well as many others, have spoken against it. Hence the assumption of a Lord of the House (or Lords of the House, if there are more than one) pertaining to a nativity is almost confessed by astrologers themselves to be beyond absolute proving; and yet it is from this assumption, they say, that the ascertaining of the person's own personal dæmon is possible.

19. Greek, oikoresmotys: Hebrew, Baal Zebul. In astrology a "house" is a twelfth part of the sky as marked out for the purpose of horoscopes. Every sign of the Zodiac thus had a "house," which a planet or planetary genius was considered as occupying, and thence ruling the days and events of the month to which it belonged.

But further, I wish to be informed whether our personal dæmon presides over some specific one of the regions within us. For it seems to be believed by some persons that there are dæmons allotted to specific departments of the body -- one over the health, one over the figure, and another over the bodily habits, forming a bond of union among them; and that one is placed as superior over all of them in common. And further, they suppose that there is one dæmon guardian of the body, another of the soul, and another of the superior mind; [20] also that some dæmons are good and others bad.

20. Compare First Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians, V, 23: "Spirit and soul and body."

I am in doubt, however, whether our particular dæmon may not be a special part of the soul; and hence he who has a mind imbued with good sense would be the truly favored one.

I observe, moreover, that there is a twofold worship of the personal dæmon; also, that some perform it as to two and others as to three, but nevertheless he is invoked by all with a common form of invocation.

10. Eudæmonia, or the True Success

I question, however, whether there may not be some other secret path to true success which is afar from (the Rites of) the gods. I doubt whether it is really necessary to pay any regard to the opinions of individuals in regard to the divine endowment of divination and Theurgy, and whether the Soul does not now and then form grand conceptions. On the contrary, also, there are other methods for obtaining premonitions of what will take place. Perhaps, also, they who exercise the divine art of divining may indeed foresee, and yet they are not really successful: for they may foresee future events and not know how to make use of the foresight properly for themselves. I desire from you, therefore, to show me the path to success and in what the essence of it consists. For among us (philosophers) there is much wrangling, as though good might be derived from human reasonings by comparison of views.

If, however, this part of the inquiry, the intimate association with the superior race is passed over by those who devised it, wisdom will be taught by them to trivial purpose, such as calling the Divine Mind to take part about the finding of a fugitive slave, or a purchase of land, or, if it should so happen, a marriage or a matter of trade. Suppose, however, that this subject of intimate communion with the Superior race is not passed over, and those who are thus in communication tell things that are remarkably true about different matters, but nothing important or trustworthy in relation to the true success -- employing themselves diligently with matters that are difficult, but of no use to human beings -- then there were neither gods nor good dæmons present, but on the contrary, a dæmon of that kind called "Vagabond," or it was all an invention of men or an air-castle of a mortal nature.

Kenneth Sublett E-Mail

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