For the Love of the Gods: The History and Modern Practice of Theurgy - Brandy Williams 2016

Crafting a Theurgic Practice
The Living Tradition

We have noted that the philosophical texts are not fully understood until we engage in ritual practice. For many Pagans today, ritual practice is the main reason we do theurgy. We study the philosophical texts to gain insight into the intended result of the ritual practice. The texts and rituals together form a whole.

In the texts, the teachers extensively discussed the religious and spiritual insights derived from their rituals. But what did they actually do? In some cases, they did not record the rituals, as it would be part of their oral teachings. In other cases, the parts of their works discussing methodology were specifically excised. How can we recover their rites?

Fortunately, texts do survive that describe religious ritual, many collected in the Greek Magical Papyri. These have been reconnected to the philosophical texts; Eleni Pachoumi directly links the rituals to discussions in the literature. Also, some rituals in contemporary Witchcraft and Ceremonial Magic are specifically theurgic and have been practiced for many decades, providing us with examples that may be useful in our own practice.

This chapter discusses both the ancient texts and the modern versions of the rituals.

HELLENISTIC OPERATIONS

The philosophers, the oracles, the papyri, and contemporary scholars list these core theurgic rituals:

· • Evoke deity into a statue

· • Invoke deity into someone else

· • Invoke deity into yourself

In addition, there are two advanced theurgic operations:

· • Meeting with one’s own daimon

· • Rising through the worlds

The theurgic operations can be approached as a stairway leading from the Material World through the Intelligible World to the direct experience of the Empyrean World. This retraces the journey the soul took to become embodied and brings the soul back—to the experience of the divine while still embodied—alive on earth.

In English, the words we use to describe the ritual action of bringing a deity into manifestation are “invocation” and “evocation.” These words are often used interchangeably. Here I am using the term “invocation” to mean calling the deity into a human being, ourselves, or others; and “evocation” to mean inviting the deity into a statue, lamp, bowl of water, or other physical object.

Evocation into a Statue

Called “telestike” or “the technical art” by the ancients, evocation into a statue is an intense form of devotional to a particular deity. In this operation the theurgist looks in the Material World for substances that belong to the deity and uses them to call a deity to inhabit a statue. This is sometimes referred to as “animating” a statue. With this technique, the statue becomes a living form of the deity. The operator can commune with the deity and ask questions. Animating a statue allows the theurgist to literally sit in the presence of the god.

Kemet, Greece, and Mesopotamia were filled with temples. The world has been touring their ruins for thousands of years, marveling at their architectural beauty, wondering at the rites performed there. Fortunately, surviving texts describe the ritual from Kemet used to evoke deity into the statue of the deity housed in the temple. This ritual is referred to in English as the “Opening of the Mouth.” When the statue was complete, the priests would take a specialized tool and touch it to the eyes and mouth of the statue so that it could see and eat. Once the statue was made to live, the deity would be offered food and other forms of worship several times a day by the temple staff. The same ritual was performed on the mummies of the pharaohs.

In “Animating Statues: A Case Study in Ritual,” Sarah Iles Johnston sees the act of animating statues as an example of the way in which theurgists attempted to keep alive the knowledge of the work of the gods. As the suppression of Pagan practices forced public rituals into private homes, the living statue moved into private use as well.

Late Hellenistic theurgists and magicians worked outside the temple system. They did not have access to the skilled crafts people who created the statues, and they were not enshrining the statue to be given food and drink by a large staff every day. Without access to the staff of the temples and the tools they used, how did they bring their own statues to life?

There are numerous examples of animating statues in the Greek magical papyri and one example in the Chaldean oracles. To conduct the operation, the theurgist or magician collected physical items called synthema or symbola and applied them to the statue. These synthema and symbola were objects known to possess the power of the deity. They were the physical manifestations of the chain of being—heroes, Teletarches, Iynges, Synoches, daimones, and gods—stretching from the Material World through the Intelligible World to the Empyrean World. The statue combined with symbola was then a worthy vessel the deity could inhabit.

Johnston became interested in exactly how this operation was conducted. Did the theurgist herself create the statue? It seems that someone else could make the statue and gather the substances, so what made this a personal devotional? The magician applied the knowledge of which symbola were attached to which deities. The example Johnston gives is gold, belonging to the chain of being of the sun, Helios, not Aphrodite/Venus. It is the theurgist’s knowledge and memory applied to this operation that makes it the technical art.

In the Chaldean oracle fragment 224, Hekate gives instructions for making her statue. She instructs the theurgist to use incense, myrrh, and frankincense; an herb, wild rue; and an animal, a small lizard. But how were the materials applied? They could have been inserted into a hollow statue. It was also possible to take the substances, mix them with clay or wax, and form the body of the statue.

Invocation into a Person

Invocation into a person brings the power of deity into a living human body. The term the Chaldean Oracles use for calling a deity into another is “binding and loosing.” This is different and separate from the act of bringing the deity into ourselves, called “conjunction.”

The operation of binding and loosing required someone to call the divine force, the caller, and another person to receive the divine force, the receiver. Julian the Chaldean and Julian the Theurgist used exactly this operation to generate the Chaldean Oracles. Not surprisingly, the oracles themselves record a lot of information about the process.

Sarah Iles Johnston cites other examples of calling and receiving from the Greek Magical Papyri. In “Charming Children: The Use of the Child in Ancient Divination,” she argues that the practice of using another person as a medium is an adaptation of the processes used by the oracles at Delphi and other locations around the Hellenistic world.

The mediums used in theurgic operations were very often children, as they were considered to be closer to the gods, less likely to contaminate the speech of the gods with their own imaginings and were considered more likely to be clear channels. That was the reason magicians gave consciously, but Johnston notes that they may have had unconscious reasons as well: as children are suggestible, unconsciously the callers may have recognized that children were more likely to give the results the caller wished to get. The spells themselves indicate that the children were given suggestions as to what they should be seeing.

We suspect that the interest the Chaldean magicians took in Sosipatra as a child was connected with her use as a medium, and her biography notes that she later demonstrated the ability to see the future and to see what was happening at a distance.

Johnston also notes that the spells in the papyri don’t necessarily call the deity directly into the child; the deity might be called to an oil lamp or bowl of water. The child might see visions in the fire or water, or they might directly perceive the deities. In either case the deity talked to the child who then transmitted what they said to the operator.

On the topic of child participation in theurgic ritual, it is up to parents whether their children may be involved in ritual; however, any magical act involving children should benefit the children—they are not tools but living beings shaped by their experiences. For modern practitioners, adult magicians should conduct the operation acting as seers for one another—this is effective, appropriate, and ethical.

Ruth Majercik notes that caller and receiver first purified themselves with fire and water and clothed themselves in special garments. Johnston has combed the Greek magical papyri to reconstruct the sequence of the operation. The theurgist specifically could call daimones, angels, and gods. The caller blindfolded the receiver, called the god or spirit into the receiver using incantations and synthema, removed the blindfold, and then instructed the receiver to “gaze” at a candle flame or a bowl of liquid—oil, water, or a combination. This sequence was repeated until the god or spirit appeared and communicated to the receiver, who relayed the communication of the god or spirit to the caller.

Once the channel had been established, the caller could ask questions of the receiver to relay to the god. As Proklos pointed out, this permitted divination to occur. The deity could impart an understanding of what might happen in the future. When the rite was completed, the caller could end the process. The receiver could also end the rite by turning the mind toward earthly things.

Ruth Majercik has surveyed the signs Iamblichus listed indicating success in this operation. The receiver’s body could become immobile, or their body and face could move, or their body could levitate. There were visions of light that could come from the receiver’s body. Visions might be seen only by the receiver or they might also be seen by the caller.

While these deities sometimes appeared in their traditional guise, in anthropomorphic (human) or theriomorphic (animal) form, they quite often appeared in their true form as fire or light. Majercik adds that the oracles list the types of fiery visions the receiver might see, including a child, a horse, a light, and a formless fire.

Invocation into Yourself

Invoking deity into yourself was a special form of “binding and loosing” called “conjunction.” In this form of invocation, the ancient theurgist was both caller and receiver. The Chaldean Oracles and the Greek Magical Papyri contain examples of the ritual action of calling the deity into oneself.

Ruth Majercik describes the operation. The theurgist called on the god using “barbarous names” listed in detail in the Greek magical papyri. The theurgist also used sounds, including the Greek vowel sounds and repeated consonant sounds, also found in the papyri. The theurgist could hold or wear stones and other substances containing the power of the god, and chant the name of the god repeatedly.

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICE

Theurgic ritual is performed today. To a Witch, Ceremonial magician, or Pagan student of history, the rituals performed by Hellenistic era magicians two thousand years ago seem very familiar. The spells in the papyri are strikingly comprehensible. Our world is contiguous with the world in which these rituals were created, and there is a traceable connection through the literature of Neo-Platonic philosophy, so it should not be surprising that the rituals themselves expressing this philosophy are understandable to us.

One of the interesting things about Pagan theurgy is that it bridges contemporaneous traditions that have seemed to be at odds. Specifically, brings together the understanding of the gods from Pagan religion and the survivals of theurgy from Witchcraft and Ceremonial Magic. For those of us who work in all these traditions, theurgy is a way to explain to others why we find them to be compatible, calling attention to the shared historical substratum of English-speaking traditions, and providing a common vocabulary for trading insights and practices.

Pagans, Witches, and Ceremonial magicians may simply add theurgic ritual to our existing practice, or engage in the rituals we already perform with a deeper understanding of the meaning of theurgy. However, it is not necessary to become a Witch or take a Ceremonial initiation to practice theurgy. We can study the texts and perform the rituals to create our own practice.

Ritual Garb and Ritual Space

Theurgy is a modest discipline and starts in the home. Many Pagan and magical paths call for the dedicant to acquire special tools. These include clothing—many traditions use black robes, some call for white robes, and some call for wearing nothing at all. Many rites also involve special jewelry, for example a ring worn only during rituals, amber and jet necklaces, silver bracelets, or planetary talismans. Some rites require an altar or other equipment to be constructed or a room dedicated to the performance of the rites.

To conduct a theurgic rite, it isn’t necessary to invest in elaborate tools or clothing. You are free to dedicate a room, a robe, and special jewelry to this magic. To start with, however, all you need is a simple altar. A small table decorated with a white cloth will do. You may add a white candle, flowers, greenery, or incense, as you wish.

However, it is a prudent idea to wear some sort of protective jewelry while doing this work. Witches may wear a silver pentagram, Thelemites may wear a unicursal hexagram, Pagans may wear specific stones or symbols reflecting deity. This protective jewelry doesn’t have to be elaborate or expensive; I made my favorite protective lamen (pendant) from jewelry clay and inscribed the disk with an ouroboros, a snake biting its own tail, an image found frequently in the Greek Magical Papyri.

Whether we are evoking deity to a statue or invoking deity into another or ourselves, the work should be contained within a ritual space. Creating the ritual space centers our mind and energies on the work at hand. It also provides protection from influences that might seek to disrupt our work, including the “dogs” or negative daimones the Chaldean Oracles warn us about.

Witches and Ceremonial magicians have ways of creating ritual space. Witches can cast a circle. Golden Dawn magicians can do a Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram to cleanse a space. They can also do an Invoking Ritual of the Pentagram with a specific element or planet in mind.

Thelemites have Crowley’s wonderful ritual of the Star Ruby, drawing specifically on the entities from the Chaldean Oracles. The ritualist says in Greek:

“Before me the Iynges, Behind me the Teletarches, on my right hand the Synoches, on my left hand the Daemones.”

Chapter seventeen, “Theurgic Ritual Workbook,” contains a ritual to create sacred space, “Ritual of the Theurgist.”

Devotional to a Deity

Whether we evoke deity into a statue or invoke deity into another person or ourselves, theurgic practice centers on devotional to a deity. But which deity?

Plato talked about the soul choosing a guide for its life on earth, a personal deity. Some Pagans identify themselves as primarily guided by a specific deity. Some theurgists may immediately gravitate toward this idea but it is not necessary. We can offer devotion to any deity, and we may stop offering devotionals when it makes sense to us as well.

Devotionals can be offered both to individual deities and groups of deities. Most deities have an identity as part of a pantheon; for the sake of balance, it is important to offer a devotional to the entire set of deities as well as the individual deity, however minimal the recognition might be.

Devotional to a particular deity or set of deities begins by learning everything we can about the deity. In the case of the Olympians, groups of theurgists in the Athenian and Alexandrian Academies sometimes began their study and practice by reciting the Homeric and Orphic hymns for the deity. The theurgist can make an altar for the deity, or a pantheon of deities. Offerings can be made daily or on specific feast days.

Aleister Crowley gives a complete description of theurgic devotion in “ASTARTE vel Liber BERYLLI sub figura CLXXV,” subtitled “the Book of Uniting Himself to a particular Deity by devotion.” This work is deceptively short; it is profound and well worth study. In the first few lines the work covers: choosing a deity, creating a shrine, placing an image of the deity in the shrine, writing a prayer, and making an offering.

Among other recommendations, Crowley lists the attitudes the devotee may take toward the deity, approaching the god as a slave, vassal, child, priest (we may add priestess), brother (we may add sister), friend, and lover.

Noting that some deities require blood sacrifice, Crowley advises “let these sacrifices be replaced by the true sacrifices in thine own heart. Yet if thou must symbolize them outwardly for the hardness of thine heart, let thine own blood, and not another’s, be spilt before that altar.” This is a lovely re-conceptualization of sacrifice and a worthy approach to take in the modern world.

Evocation into a Statue

The process of evoking deity into statues exists in other cultures today, notably in Hindu and Buddhist religion. However, until recently the rite of animating statues had fallen out of use in Western esotericism, and with good reason: the Christian suppression of Pagan religion specifically targeted statues of deity, and Islam also objects to anthropomorphized images of deity. The use of a statue to represent deity and to act as a vessel for deity is one of the definitive forms of Western Pagan devotional and is newly returned to the practice of theurgy.

This operation involves these steps:

· • Collect synthema

· • Obtain image

· • Evoke deity

· • Make offerings

First, how do we choose a deity to animate? This should be a god/goddess who you work with every day, one to whom you have offered devotion over a period of time. You can begin with one operation, live with the animated statue for some time, and decide whether you wish to engage in the operation again with another deity. How many statues you choose to animate will depend on the frequency and depth of your interaction with the living god.

Which pantheons are appropriate to animate? Certainly any of the Greek, Kemetic, and Mesopotamian deities were all accustomed to inhabiting statues. Hindu and Buddhist deities still inhabit statues. Deities outside these pantheons have also been evoked by contemporary theurgists.

It is most important to follow the instructions of the deities themselves, as recorded in the Chaldean Oracles or magical texts, or in invocations to the deity. In devotional to the deity, ask the goddess or god what is appropriate as an offering and whether this operation will be appropriate. Listen carefully to the answer. You could also conduct a divination—do a tarot reading or ask the deity to send you a dream.

COLLECT SYNTHEMA

What substances are associated with the deity? From the point of view of Neo-Platonism, the gods are woven through the world like threads in a tapestry. Each deity has correspondences in the animal, vegetable, and mineral worlds. Qabbalah assembled these correspondences and attached them to the planets, making a handy reference system for looking up substances associated with deities of the planets. For example, appropriate substances for a statue of Hermes include carnelian and citrine, lavender and lemon, the color orange, and the caduceus wand.

We will need to research every deity individually to find specific substances historically associated with them. As we have seen, in the Chaldean oracle fragment 224, Hekate gives myrrh, frankincense, wild rue, and a lizard as her specific materials. In Practical Magic for Beginners, I give a list of correspondences with the planets.

This association of physical object to specific deities is not incidental, something we do on the way to evoking the gods. The search for synthema is the treasure hunt to find the gods in the world. We see the sun in everything colored gold: in the metal gold, in sunflowers, in all flowers that turn their face to the sun, in the smoke of frankincense, in a topaz, in the sweetness of honey and the movements of bees. We find the moon in the scent of night-blooming jasmine, in silver, in stones colored with the moon’s milky brilliance, in the sound of the owl. We find the earth as we walk through the woods, the deep green of pine needles, the red of autumn leaves and spring buds, the flash of light-colored bark, the darkness of the deep earth beneath our feet. A moss agate held in the hand, a white stone streaked with green veins, seems to trace the characters of the earth in the stone itself.

We look for the signs of the gods and the world seems to be filled with them. This finding is not simply a matter of learning lists of correspondences and memorizing them, of the rational mind learning what the gods mean. It is in the walk in the woods itself, keeping ourselves open to the mysteries, the flash of insight that teaches us where the gods live. Theurgists collect these things and bring them back to our altars in order to coalesce the essence of the gods that we seek.

OBTAIN IMAGE

Where can we obtain statues? Representations of Hermes and other statues of the gods commercially available today are generally sold as museum replicas that rarely include a hollow space for inserting objects.

One option is to create a statue of the chosen deity. The Greek Magical Papyri give instructions for using wax to form images. If making your own image, wax or clay will allow you to add substances to the material.

Purchasing a commercially made deity figurine or image is another possibility. In this case, personal touches can be added: consider painting the statue or attaching a clay symbol such as a caduceus for Hermes or a shield for Athena. In particular, we can paint the eyes and mouth of the deity to make them distinct.

Where will we put the synthema? If we are using a commercially made statue, we can construct a custom base with a hollow that can accommodate the physical items, and then place the statue on that base. We can also construct a small shrine and place the items and statue together in the shrine. We can sew, knit or glue clothing that incorporates the colors, stones, and herbs to be placed on the statue. It is also possible to place all of these objects in water and then paint or bathe the statue with that water so the essence of those materials is placed on the statue.

We will also need to decide where we will keep the deity. Some theurgists simply keep animated statues on a shelf where they can watch over the theurgist every day. Others construct shrines that can be opened to work with the deity and then closed again to protect the living god. Prepare this place before conducting the ritual to animate the statue.

EVOKE DEITY

Our situation today is analogous to the Hellenistic magician. There are no large Pagan temples enshrining deities where we can go to contact the deity, or to obtain advice or tools from the staff. However, we do have the text of the “Opening of the Mouth,” which can be adapted for personal use. Richard Reidy in his excellent book Eternal Egypt gives an example of that adaptation. His work is well worth reading for all contemporary theurgists and in particular those working with the deities of Kemet. We can also study the magical papyri for examples of animating small statues.

We will need to create our own tools to open the eyes and mouth of the statue. The Metropolitan Museum has an image of a model of these tools called “Model of the ’Opening of the Mouth’” ritual equipment: www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/543920. The main tool is a v-shaped tool that could touch to the eyes and mouth of the statue. This tool can be constructed from clay, carved from wood, or even cut from cardboard and painted.

MAKE OFFERINGS

Offerings to the deity may take a number of forms. They may be offered daily or on special feast days.

· • Prayers and hymns: you can make a collection of hymns and prayers to the deity. You can also write your own prayers. Some deities prefer to be offered prayers rather than any more physical substance.

· • Chants: You may find a chant for your deity or create one.

· • Incense: this is almost always appropriate to any deity. Some deities prefer to be offered incense rather than any other substance. The type of incense should reflect the deity’s preferences as well.

· • Drink: Liquid offerings can include water, milk, wine, olive oil, or honey. Some deities such as Bona Dea require milk and reject wine; for Dionysos, wine is the required offering. Know your deity!

· • Food: Cheese, meat, bread, and sweets can all be part of the offerings. Some deities require meat, others will reject it.

Richard Reidy cautions against offering modern food prepared with preservatives such as candy, cereal, canned foods. I agree that these are not suitable. These items often contain non-food substances and are not particularly healthy for humans. In general, if your great-grandmother wouldn’t have recognized it as food, it’s not food and not a good offering. Stick with fresh food for the gods. (Fresh food for ourselves is a good idea, too!)

Once the offering has been made to the deity, what next? Temple priestesses and priests ate the offerings once the deity had had an opportunity to consume it; food offered to deity was made sacred and the benefit returned to the person eating it. In practice, you may either eat the food, or place it outdoors for animals such as birds to eat. It is quite practical to prepare your own breakfast, offer it to deities, and after a period of time, consume it yourself.

The exception is salt—it poisons earth and makes it impossible for plants to grow where it is placed. Salt should be eaten, used in ritual, or disposed of in running water.

Customs regarding how to manage the statue once it has been animated vary widely from practitioner to practitioner. The operator should already know what items the deity normally requires — incense, water, wine, milk, cheese, or any other substance. How often should they be offered? Richard Reidy requires his students to commit to reanimating the statue and feeding and worshiping it daily, even while traveling. I am aware of practitioners who animate statues and leave them in the open, or close them in shrines to protect them but do not interact with them every day. Each operator will experiment, and results will vary depending on both the nature of the deity and the ability and predilection of the operator.

In any event, this operation should be done after considerable time has been spent in devotional to that deity. It is meant to be a deepening of relationship with that deity, a more intimate connection of human and divine.

Over the course of time, the deity will communicate preferences to the practitioner. Reconstructionists tend to value this information quite a bit less than academic information, calling it unverifiable personal gnosis (UPG). However, groups of priestesses and priests working with the same deity can trade notes and bring new information about the deity. What is important in your relationship to deity is how well you feel that you yourself are connecting with that deity.

A note on animal sacrifice: spells in the Greek papyri call for sacrificing animals for a statue to be brought to life. First, if the idea is to capture the life force of the animal in the statue, this is contraindicated for theurgists, who are attempting to call a deity into the statue. Next, few of us today have the experience or skill to do so humanely. Do you keep chickens? Have you ever tried to butcher one for dinner? It is an apprenticeship skill best learned from someone who already knows how to do it. We owe the animals we keep a quick and painless death.

Some contemporary theurgists are vegetarian and cite Pythagoras and other ancients who ate little or no meat. Each of us individually must decide what we eat and what we offer our deities, but sacrifice of live animals is not necessary to the operation. As we have seen, if you feel such a sacrifice is necessary, theurgist Aleister Crowley suggested substituting your own blood for that of another living creature.

Invocation into a Person

In Witchcraft, deity invocation is performed by a paired priestess and priest. Janet and Stewart Farrar describe the priest evoking a goddess into the priestess as “Drawing Down the Moon” and the priestess evoking a god into the priest as “Drawing Down the Sun.” They describe this operation in The Witches’ Goddess. During a coven ritual, the priest invokes the goddess into the priestess, for example the goddess Aphrodite; then the priestess calls the god Pan or Eros into the priest. The rest of the coven leaves, and the priest and goddess proceed “as Aphrodite inspires them.”

When we combine our knowledge of the Hellenistic tradition and contemporary practice such as drawing down the moon and sun, we can detect these common patterns:

· • The ritual should proceed in a purified space.

· • The receiver must be purified.

· • The caller must also be purified.

· • The receiver must signify in some way their receptivity.

· • Invoking is accompanied by sounds, including chanting, singing, and drumming.

· • The caller should understand how to release the deity at the end of the ritual.

· • The operation can be conducted by one person who both calls and receives deity; by two people, one of whom calls and one of whom receives; or in a group context, with multiple people witnessing and/or receiving the spirit.

A note on gender: although “Drawing Down the Moon” and “Drawing Down the Sun” as described in The Witches’ Goddess is a heterosexual rite, this operation need not be limited to the male-female heterosexual polarity. Today people of all genders invoke deity of all genders into people of all genders. The original Chaldean operation involved two men, probably a father and son. We know that Hellenistic women also engaged in binding and loosing and conjunction—Proklos argued that women’s souls were divine because the gods entered them. The ancients were experimental and practical; why shouldn’t our contemporary practice be experimental and practical too?

The advantage of binding and loosing, working with a partner, is that there is a separation between the person who is asking questions and the person who is communicating with the deity. A lone operator can be lost in the ineffable experience of touching the divine and forget to finish the operation. When two people conduct the operation, the receiver is free to sink into the experience while the caller provides the focus—asking the questions or charging the talisman—making sure the work gets done.

Invocation into Yourself

Assumption of God Form is an example of invocation into yourself in the Golden Dawn tradition. Golden Dawn writers frequently note that the operation called Assumption of God Form was considered to be an advanced operation and was not taught until a student had done significant work.

Interestingly, the founders of the Golden Dawn were at pains to distinguish this operation from Spiritualist mediumship. In a blog post about spiritualist channeling, “Astral Masters and the Golden Dawn,” contemporary Imperator of the Golden Dawn David Griffin says: “Unlike today’s New Age community, the Golden Dawn, from its very inception in 1888, always has been very clear in its condemnation of these kind of practices as potentially dangerous for the human spirit. The Golden Dawn tradition has always scorned passive mediumship and idealized active seership as the only true alternative for a Magician.” Griffin quotes the 1888 form of the oath taken by the Neophyte: “I will not suffer myself to be hypnotized, or mesmerized, nor will I place myself in such a passive state that any uninitiated person, power, or being may cause me to lose control of my thoughts, words or actions.”

We should note that Spiritualists themselves may not characterize what they do as passive or as losing control of their own thoughts or actions. Whatever the reasons for the Golden Dawn rejection of Spiritualist mediumship, the contemporary theurgist may profit from a study of all forms of spirit possession.

There are several occasions calling for Assumption of God Form. In Ceremonial Magic: A Guide to the Mechanisms of Ritual, Israel Regardie describes the Neophyte Initiation of the Golden Dawn as a re-enactment of the judgment of the deceased of the Egyptian Book of the Dead. In this ritual the initiate takes the part of the deceased, while the officers take on the identities of the deities who undertake the judgment, striking the characteristic physical pose of the deity. In Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition, Chic and Sandra Tabitha Cicero note that this representation of the force of the deity they call an “officer-form” is a less advanced operation than a full assumption of god-form.

The Ciceros further describe the operation of god-form assumption. The operator builds up a mental image of the form of the deity, traces a sigil of the deity, and vibrates the name of the deity. (Vibration is a Ceremonial Magic vocal technique in which the magician chants a name or word in a way that causes the body to “vibrate” energetically.) The operator then steps into the form of the deity that has been astrally energized, literally assuming the form of the deity. The Ciceros note that the operator is meant to temporarily inhabit the deity form, not become possessed by the deity.

Once the god-form has been assumed, the magician can consecrate a talisman, banish spirits, or act as an officer in initiation while acting within the form of the deity. Or, the operation may be conducted simply to learn more about the deity.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

The advantage of conjunction, invoking deity into yourself, is that the operator need not find another person to work with, but can proceed with the operation at any time.

In an age when we use gods as psychological constructs, it is important to note that theurgy presumes that the gods are not metaphors or psychological archetypes but are real entities. When we invoke them into our bodies, they are energic presences sharing our bodies with us. While this form of body-sharing has many benefits, it also comes with risks.

The benefits of this operation are manifold. For the person who is inhabited by deity, this is an extraordinary experience resulting in an influx of knowledge, and a sense of having been truly in contact with the divine. People who share this experience can become very close as a consequence.

There are also risks. For example, the operation might get the wrong spirit. The oracles themselves note that the spirit who comes to the call might or might not be the deity actually called. The spirit might in fact be the soul of a deceased person or a mischievous or malicious daemon masquerading as the deity. The oracles enjoined the practitioners to ignore any phantom such as these. In “Homo Fictor Deorum Est” Johnston notes that Hellenistic practitioners spent a great deal of time learning the signs to recognize genuine deities and detect intruding spirit. The same is true today for Ceremonial magicians, who are taught to challenge spirits whose form does not fit what was expected from the invocation; for example, an invocation to Mars should not result in a form dressed in white wearing a crescent moon crown, attributes suitable to the moon.

Another risk is thinking too much of ourselves. The Greeks called the act of identifying ourselves with the powers the gods loan to us as “hubris” and warned that a mighty rise can bring on a mighty fall. The operator who frequently engages in carrying a particular deity is in danger of identifying with the powers of that deity. Ceremonial magicians warn about this possibility in nearly every discussion of assumption of god-form. One term for this is “god inflation.” A god-inflated person may become irascible, arrogant, make decrees from consciousness as if they were coming from deity, and expect in general to be adored and worshiped. Another form god inflation can take is to believe that one’s personal deity is the supreme deity exalted above all others and publicly proclaim this. While this is common in monotheistic religion, in polytheistic religion this is generally unwelcome.

It is important in these cases to deflate the individual. It is helpful if someone who the medium trusts can be persuaded to talk to that person and let them know it has been detected. Sometimes the operator will themselves identify this issue and ask for assistance. Once the operator is aware of the issue and is actively working to resolve it, the first step is to cease contacting the deity or working as a receiver for some period of time.

To prevent god inflation from occurring, it is advisable to ground the energy of the deity at the conclusion of each operation. Grounding is a word that means connecting the earth. We use this in electrical terms to mean taking electricity and putting it in the ground so that it becomes harmless. Exactly the same thing is meant when we use this to discuss grounding deity and magical energy — the power is placed into the earth itself, removed from the body of the operator, and made harmless.

The magical communities have evolved a number of mechanisms for grounding. One way is to dedicate a piece of jewelry, such as a necklace or a lamen with the sigil of the deity, for exclusive usage while engaged in work with that deity. The receiver puts on the object, engages in the activity, and removes the item as soon as the activity is completed.

Witchcraft groups often touch the ground at the conclusion of the ceremony, sending any excess energy into the earth. This literal grounding can also be done as a form of loosing. Many groups eat immediately after such operations as this has an immediate grounding effect. Some people find sexual activity to be grounding as well. By the way, it is a hoary chestnut for the unscrupulous to insist this is necessary (“you have to ground with sex!”) to a person who sexually interests them. It is not.

The oracles themselves recommend turning the mind toward earthly things. This might include visualizing beautiful scenes of the earth and getting in touch with the feelings of the physical body.

Practicing good magical technique is the best form of prevention. We can use magical protection such as talismans; pay attention to eating, sleeping, and maintaining our personal lives; keep a magical diary to pinpoint whatever happens; and work with others who will let us know when we are overreaching.

ADVANCED THEURGIC OPERATIONS

There are two more operations that are important to theurgic practice, performed by theurgists in the past and today.

These are:

· • Meeting with one’s own daimon

· • Rising through the worlds

The operation calling one’s personal guiding spirit is performed by Ceremonial magicians today, although the spirit is now called “angel” rather than “daimon.”

Meeting with One’s Own Daimon

What is a personal daimon? Scholars differ about when exactly this idea arose in Greek religion. Daimones were understood to be beings between humans and gods who could be both beneficial and malicious. How did they come to be associated with the individual?

The “daimonion” of Socrates was famous. In numerous dialogues, Plato mentions the action of this guardian spirit who said no whenever Socrates was about to take an action that would harm him. Most famously, since the daimonion did not warn him against the trial that resulted in his death, Socrates accepted the verdict.

In Greek Popular Religion in Greek Philosophy, Jon Mikalson argues that this understanding of the daimonion differed from the popular understanding of daimones and that this was one of the things that made Socrates a target for his enemies. Socrates was specifically accused of creating new gods, the daimonion being an example. Mikalson makes the case that this daimonion of Socrates led Plato to create the idea that daimones acted as intermediaries between gods and humans.

One defense offered for Socrates’s daimonion is that it was not a new god but a form of divination. The Greek Magical Papyri seem to treat speaking with daimones as a type of divination, as in spell PGM VII. 505-28, “Meeting with your own daimon.” This spell begins with an invocation to Tyche, the deity of fate.

The personal daimon is a separate being who is in charge of the fate of the individual human and can be conjured to answer questions. Porphyry told the story of the magician who offered to evoke the personal daimon of Plotinus. They did so in the temple of Isis, the only pure place in Rome the magician could find. When the personal guide of Plotinus turned out to be not a daimon but a god, the operation fell apart before Plotinus had a chance to ask questions.

Later Platonic tradition understood the personal daimon in the sense of being a guide. Marinus, the biographer of Proklos, noted that Proklos journeyed to Asia to his profit, “for his guardian spirit (daimonion) furnished him the occasion of this departure in order that he might not remain ignorant of the ancient religious institutions which had been there preserved.”

To later Neo-Platonists, the personal daimon was more than just a spirit to conjure for divination or a guide. The personal daimon was a direct connection to deity. In her work Neoplatonism, Paulina Remes points to passages in Plato indicating the goal of an individual life is to become godlike. The human strives to be good and to focus on spiritual rather than material gain. But exactly how godlike are we to attempt to be? If we succeed, aren’t we becoming other-than-human? Is it possible to identify with the intellectual or Empyrean realm, Nous or the One, and remain embodied?

The answer lies with the personal daimon. Moving from the experience of human individuality directly to connection with the source of all is a big leap. When the theurgist first seeks communion with the daimon, and only then with a deity, the daimon acts as a stepping-stone to the world of the divine. The union proceeds in steps, a gradual perfection of the human spirit.

Shaw reads Iamblichus as saying that the guardian deity of an individual human soul assigns a daimon to the soul. Through theurgic operations the daimon appears to the soul and reveals the daimon’s name. The soul identifies with the daimon through the use of this name. The daimon eventually merges with the soul. Then the united daimon/soul is guided by the deity.

In “The Delphic Maxim,” Betz detects a similar formula in the Mithras Liturgy. The magician invokes the deity through a secret name the deity has provided to her. Next, the magician identifies herself with the deity through a series of steps:

“Your name is mine and mine is yours,” then “I am your image,” then “you are I and I am you.”

Christian theology lost the idea of personal deity and altered the understanding of daimones: every human being connects directly with the single monad, and daimones are no longer understood to be both good and evil; instead, demons are wholly evil, and only angels are good. Now instead of “meeting with one’s own daimon,” we meet with our “holy guardian angel” assigned to us at birth.

The name of the operation shifted as well. In medieval magic we no longer sought our own daimones, but our personal angel. In contemporary Ceremonial Magic the operations is called “Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel.” A medieval form of this ritual is found in a German manuscript translated by Golden Dawn founder Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers as The Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage. The manuscript describes a lengthy retreat with elaborate preparations to accomplish the operation of meeting one’s own angel.

Many Ceremonial orders have some form of this operation. “Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel” is a central Thelemic operation. Works of the Aurum Solis order discuss the operation. In Louis Culling’s book Complete Magick Curriculum of the Secret Order G.B.G., the first chapter heading is “The Ultimate Aim of Magick, the Knowledge and Conversation of One’s Holy Guardian Angel.”

Ceremonial Magic’s operation can be complicated, requiring years of preparation. Further, the operation does not have a specific ritual. Instead, each individual magician creates her or his own methodology for accomplishing this. In Book Four Crowley comments, “It is impossible to lay down precise rules by which a man may attain to the knowledge and conversation of His Holy Guardian Angel; for that is the particular secret of each one of us; a secret not to be told or even divined by any other, whatever his grade. It is the Holy of Holies, whereof each man is his own High Priest, and none knoweth the Name of his brother’s God, or the Rite that invokes Him.”

We must note here that both the monotheistic overtones of the term “holy guardian angel” and the male-centric language in which it is described have constituted a bar for Pagans, especially Pagan women and people of other genders to approach this operation. Returning to the Mithras Liturgy, addressed to a woman in Hellenistic Pagan language, provides us with a new perspective allowing Pagans of all genders easier access to the ritual.

Theurgists may engage in this operation whenever they feel drawn to it. The sense of longing for connection is the most important prerequisite. Certainly, it is prudent to engage in a great deal of meditation and contemplation as well as ritual practice. All of the practices of invoking and evoking deity will help prepare for this moment. In all the chain of being, from the One to the many deities, daimones, guides, and teachers, this operation is unique in that the personal daimon is specific to the individual. It is literally the most intimate relationship the operator can have with any entity.

It is love that compels this operation. Metaphors of erotic union and marriage are not out of place here. The personal daimon will manifest to the individual in the way in which the individual feels most appropriate. Heterosexist language presumes a male operator and female daimon, but the actual epiphany is unique. A woman who loves women may find that her daimon manifests to her as a woman, the man who loves men may experience a male daimon, the gender of the daimon may shift from occasion to occasion or be irrelevant, or the daimon may come in the form of light, heat, or another sensation. As Crowley expressed so poetically, magicians almost never speak of their experience not only because it is so personal, but because it is ineffable, difficult to express in words.

Rising through the Worlds

Communion is the culminating operation of the theurgic system. It is the fulfilment of the promise of the system to make the soul immortal, to return the soul to its true home in the stars, to return the soul to the state of being a star.

The ancients used the term “anagoge” to describe the operation. This is often translated as “ascent” and seems to have been used in that way by the ancients. But how are we rising, and what are we rising to?

In “Rising to the Occasion, Theurgic Ascent in its Cultural Milieu,” Sarah Iles Johnston analyzes the Chaldean Oracles and the Mithras liturgy from the Greek Magical Papyri to reconstruct the rite of ascent or communion. In the oracles and in the Mithras Liturgy, the operator sought an experience of particular deities. In the case of the oracles, the deities were Hekate and Apollo, while the Mithras Liturgy identifies the practitioner with Hermes as the personal deity, continuing to a vision of Helios, god of the sun. The soul then passes through the gate of the sun, with Helios as a guide, the ultimate result of which is a visionary revelation.

We can find many examples of mystic visions revealing the hierarchies of the cosmos. Although the Mithras Liturgy specifies the exact deities to be experienced, we may take this as an example rather than a precise guide to what we ourselves will experience. The key here is to invoke our own personal daimon to guide the soul in this experience.

The Mithras Liturgy and the Chaldean Oracles note as the soul rises the theurgist casts a symbola in the mind. In this case, Johnston believes the symbola is a password. These passwords were not recorded, probably by design. In the Mithras Liturgy, the soul is instructed to say “I am a star, wandering about with you.” However this phrase itself is probably not the actual password.

These passwords were transmitted orally, and we don’t seem to have a written example of one, so what password can we use? There are several possible approaches to finding our own particular passwords: as Johnston notes, a guardian spirit may protect the journey, so calling the personal daimon to aid in the ascent would certainly be appropriate. The password may also include the secret name the personal deity has given to the theurgist.

Johnston notes that the theurgist may encounter more than one challenge during the journey and pass through multiple gates. This association suggests that the ascent may be constructed not as a single working but as a series of workings where the operator travels each time farther along the path in successive ascents.