For the Love of the Gods: The History and Modern Practice of Theurgy

For the Love of the Gods

Text copyright © 2022 by Brandy Williams

Second edition

First edition published 2016 by Llewellyn Publications

For the Love of the Gods is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Cover design by Terry Byrum

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-957581-00-2

Mnemosyne Press

Contents

Preface

Introduction

PART ONE:

STORIES FROM THE ANCESTORS

Chapter One: Priestess of Kemet

I Give You My Daughter

Geographic and Historic Egypt

People of Kemet

Nubia

Learning Ma’at

The Kemetic Academy

Serving the Divine

Kemetic Temples and Priesthood

Flood

Kemetic Cosmology

Duties

Colonialization

Alone with Amun

Stilling the Mind

A young Seshat

Chance Survivals

Burying mothers

The Kemetic Soul

Succession

The Lessons of Neitokrity

Notes on the story

Chapter Two: Plato

A Death in the Family

Classical Greece

Trial of a Teacher

Pythagoras

A New Beginning

Greek Cosmology

Going Home

Greek Temples and Priesthood

The Groves of Academe

Plato’s Worldview

The Most Famous Plato

Plato’s Afterlife

The Lessons of Plato

Notes on the story

Chapter Three: Plotinus

A Picky Student

Aristotle and Macedonia

All Roads Lead to Rome

The Roman Empire

The Dutiful Father

Roman Temples and Priesthood

Spirit Guides

Roman Spirits

An Unexpected Visit

Plotinian Cosmology

The Final Union

Porphyry and Plotinus

The Lessons of Plotinus

Notes on the story

Chapter Four: Sosipatra

When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears

The Chaldean Magi

True Journey is Return

The Chaldean Oracles

A Marriage of Philosophers

Paideia

Pergamon

Julian and Sallustius

The Lessons of Sosipatra

Notes on the story

Chapter Five: Proklos and Asklepigenia

Too dangerous for Pagans

Alexandria

A Young Philosopher

Iamblichus Soter

A Spinning Top

Gods and Fate

A Prudent Departure

Hypatia and Synesius

Athena Lives

Christianization and Triumphalism

A Theurgic Life

Studying at the Academy

Dearest Friend

Successors of Proklos

The Lessons of Proklos and Asklepigenia

Notes on the story

Chapter Six: Boethius

Plato and Aristotle

Byzantion

Mathematics and Magic

The Costs of empire

Lady Philosophy

Pagan Conversion

The Lessons of Boethius

Notes on the story

Chapter Seven: Geber

Silver for the Moon God

Harran and Bagdad

The Lessons of Geber

Notes on the story

Chapter Eight: Psellos

A Precious Text

Jewish Neo-Platonists in Spain

The Philosopher Politician

The Lessons of Psellos

Notes on the story

Chaper Nine: Plethon

An Emperor’s Favor

The Byzantine Empire during the Crusades

Irreconcilable Differences

The Florentine Academy

The Only Copy

The Lessons of Plethon

Notes on the story

Chapter Ten: Tullia D’Aragona

Lover of Knowledge

Renaissance Humanism

A Woman of Letters

Dialogue on the Infinity of Love

The Lessons of Tullia

Notes on the story

Chapter Eleven: Thomas Taylor

Choosing Love

Neo-Platonists in the Seventeenth through Nineteenth Centuries

Patron of Knowledge

The Lessons of Thomas

Notes on the story

Chapter Twelve: Modern Theurgists

Theosophy

Twentieth Century Occultists

Golden Dawn

Thelema

Witchcraft

Lessons from the Teachers

Theurgy is a literate tradition

Theurgy is rooted in Kemet

Theurgy owes a debt to India

Theurgy rests on the work of Plato

Theurgy is an urban tradition

Theurgy meets the challenge of Christianity

Women are important to theurgy

Chapter Thirteen: The Survival of Theurgic Ritual

The Priest

Learning from Living Teachers

The Collector

Skeptical Discipleship

Jean d’Anastasi

Learning from Texts

Albrecht Dieterich

Perennial Philosophy

Karl Preisendanz

Re-Paganisation

Hans Dieter Betz

Linking Platonic Philosophy to Theurgic Practice

Notes on the story

PART TWO:

THE LIVING TRADITION

Chapter Fourteen: Preparing for Practice

Settle the Body

Still the Mind

Contemplate the Divine

Chapter Fifteen: Studying Theurgic Religious Philosophy

What is Philosophy?

Pagan Theology

The Nature of the Divine

The First God

The Second God

The Third Goddess

The Triple Deity

The Three Worlds

The Journey

The Divine Hierarchy

The Gods

New Gods

Spirits

The Neo-Platonic Soul

Christian Theurgy

Updating the System

Chapter Sixteen: Crafting a Theurgic Practice

Hellenistic Operations

Evocation into a Statue

Invocation into a Person

Invocation into Yourself

Contemporary Practice

Ritual Garb and Ritual Space

Devotional to a Deity

Evocation into a Statue

Collect Synthema

Obtain Image

Evoke Deity

Offerings

Invocation into a Person

Invocation into Yourself

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advanced Theurgic Operations

Meeting with One’s Own Daimon

Rising through the Worlds

Chapter Seventeen: Theurgic Ritual Workbook

Meditation to Clear Thought

Ritual of Honoring the Ancestors

Create the Altar

Light the Ancestor Candle

Call to the Ancestors

Invocation to Mnemosyne

Hymn to Iamblichus

Hymn to Asklepigenia

Hymn to Proklos

Speaking the Names

Offering and Petition

Conclusion

Ritual of the Theurgist

Set up Altar

Dedication

Working

Conclusion

Ritual of Devotional to a Deity

Choose Deity

Create Altar

Conduct The Ritual Of The Theurgist

Read Names Of Deities

Evoke The Deity

Read Prayers And Hymns

Make Offering

Give Thanks

Conclusion

Outline

Ritual to Discover Synthema

Conduct the Ritual of the Theurgist

Honor the Deity

Invoke Iynges

Meditate

Conclusion

Outline

Ritual to Animate a Statue

Conduct the Ritual of the Theurgist

Purify and Consecrate the Statue

Honor the Deity

Animate the Statue

Make Offering

Meditate

Conclusion

Outline

Ritual of Daily Devotional to Animated Statue

Outline

Ritual to Call the Personal Daimon

Outline

Ritual of Invoking Deity Into Another

Synthema

Prepare Space

Call Deity

Release Deity

Ground

Outline

Ritual of Invoking Deity Into Yourself

Outline

Ritual of Rising through the Worlds

Perform Ritual of the Theurgist to the Conduct Working section.

Evoke the Teletarches

Call Personal Daimon

Ascend

Conclusion

Outline

Chapter Eighteen: The Story Yet to be Written

Appendix A - Theurgy FAQ, A Dialogue between Teacher and Student

What is theurgy?

Who practiced theurgy?

What kind of philosophy?

Who was Plato?

Who were the Neo-Platonists?

Were women also Neo-Platonists?

Were all the Neo-Platonists white and European?

Is Neo-Platonism dead?

Is Neo-Platonism just a philosophy?

Why does this matter?

What does philosophy have to do with ritual practice?

What does a theurgist do?

How do I practice theurgy now?

Appendix B: Theurgic Study Course

How to read the texts

African wisdom texts

The Pyramid Texts

Coffin Texts

Book of Going Forth by Day

Kemetic ritual practice

The Works of Plato

Platonic philosophers

Plotinus

Iamblichus

Hypatia

Proklos

Ritual texts

Chaldean Oracles

Kemetic and Greek Ritual Texts

Graeco-Egyptian source works

Hermetica

Appendix C: Glossary

Bibliography

About the Author

Preface

The life of this book is a story of persistence. On the first day of its release it reached Amazon bestseller status in the religious encyclopedia category. Many people kindly wrote reviews and promoted it to the Pagan and magical communities. It was warmly received by my fellow writers on theurgy. After a few years sales of the book fell off, so Llewellyn placed the book in out of print status and returned the print and ebook rights to me. Since then Pagan teachers have asked if I would bring it out again. They refer their students to it and even base lesson plans on it – it’s a reference and it needs to remain available. That’s the first persistence, re-issuing the book to keep it in print.

There is a hope for persistence in the copyright for this edition, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. It gives explicit permission for the work to be reproduced at any length while crediting the author and noting any changes made. We have the work of women theurgists of antiquity only because their male students credited them and kept their correspondence. This book has already gone out of print once. I am hopeful these words will reach into the future, whatever form they might take. I ask those who come after me to remember me.

Finally, this book recounts the persistence of Pagan history. Until a few decades ago scholastic consensus held that Pagan religion had been definitively suppressed in antiquity. As much as I wished for a connection with my Pagan ancestors, as a responsible scholar I had reluctantly accepted that I was starting something new with fragments of something that was broken. The publication of The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation in 1996 changed all that. The first time I read the Ritual of the Heptagram I knew I could work that ritual. It was clearly the predecessor of other rites that I have done all my magical life. The Greek Magical Papyri were a time capsule of magical practice from the ancient world, and that magical practice is understandable as mine. I realized that there actually was continuity between the Pagan past and the Pagan present.

Holding that thread of connection I set out to tell the stories of our forebears. They illustrate the vast diversity that has created the magic we do today. The people whose stories I tell were black and brown and white, Indian and Egyptian and Greek, children and seniors, able and not, lovers and loners, women and men and people of every gender.

The rituals we do today are rooted in Pagan Hellenistic culture. Scholar-magicians are working to re-link the rituals of the Greek Magical Papyri with the philosophical texts that describe them. We call what we are doing by the ancient word for spiritual magic: theurgy. This book presents rituals for practicing theurgists. They can be performed by Witches, Pagans and ceremonial magicians alike, because are based directly on the foundation of all our magics.

I am not alone in doing this work and I am deeply grateful to the people who made this book possible. Two women in particular have nurtured the contemporary revival of theurgy. Llewellyn editor Elysia Gallo championed the first edition of this book. Pagan organizer Glenn Turner invited me to present at TheurgiCon and introduced me to other teachers and practitioners.

For quite a few years Hercules Invictus has been bringing together Llewellyn writers and TheurgiCon presenters to talk to each other once a month on a theurgy forum. The group includes Bruce MacLennan (also known as John Opsopaus and Apollonius), Jean Louis de Biasi, Patrick Dunn and Tony Mierzwicki. I am grateful to them for including me in the collegium and to Hercules for keeping it going.

Two great teachers of Kemetic ritual are no longer with us. Richard Reidy's work Eternal Egypt brought the practice of creating living statues within the reach of contemporary practitioners. Matt Whealton helped to bring out Richard's second book Everlasting Egypt posthumously before he himself achieved his apotheosis. They both made tremendous contributions to theurgic practice and warmly encouraged mine.

I am grateful to Dr. Megan Rose for gently prodding me until I put this project on the front burner. Her belief in the book has brought it back to life. Special thanks also to my dear friend Gordon Cooper who enthusiastically engages with my work. Aside from my partners he is my most faithful reader.

Everything I write benefits from the unwavering physical, emotional and spiritual support of my dearest companions Alex Williams, Ted Gill and Kallista. Few people are lucky enough to have one Great Love or Great Friend in a lifetime, and Fortune has given me three.

Introduction

The gods call us, and we answer. We are drawn to learn about them, approach them, move into their presence. As our love for them grows we seek teachers who can show us the path to know them even more intimately.

Pagan instruction in the way of the gods historically passed from teacher to student, person to person. But the deliberate suppression of Pagan religion seems to have broken our connection with their teachings. What happens to the story of our lives if what we are called to do was not passed to us by our ancestors? We feel a rupture, a loss of continuity, a lack of genuineness. This is what has happened to Pagan religion in the monotheistic world. How can we bridge the gap between what we want to do and the people who could teach us how to do it?

What if there was no gap?

Theurgy is a Pagan religious and magical practice that was passed from teacher to student. Although some have declared that the connection to our Pagan past was destroyed, this book links contemporary rituals with ancient teachers, reclaiming Pagan theurgic practice in the continuity of history.

Part One of this book, Stories of the Teachers, tells our history from a Pagan perspective. Why tell this history in stories? We can learn philosophy from texts, and rituals from academic and popular descriptions, but critical analysis keeps the teachers themselves at a distance. When we immerse ourselves in the lives of the teachers we can recreate the experience of being in their presence, learning from them directly.

Part Two of this book, The Living Tradition, describes the specific theurgic rituals which bring us into the presence of the gods. The teachers instruct us how to engage in study, prayer and ritual to raise our souls to the experience of the gods and of the One. As we learn from them we realize that our practice keeps Pagan theurgic tradition alive.

Theurgy participates in the project to restore Pagan religion. Together with indigenous peoples, reconstructionists, and those who create new paths, theurgists embody Pagan religion in living practice today.

While theurgy is open to all humans – this cannot be emphasized enough – it developed in cities among people who travelled between cultures. For that reason it is especially welcoming to those of us who live in urban environments far from the lands where our ancestors were born. Theurgy embraces people of all genders, ethnicities, ages and abilities. Theurgy welcomes those who envision the gods in human-like form and those who perceive the gods as universal forces. This cosmopolitan, inclusive, and inspiring path provides us continuity with the past and a path to experience the divine.

Pagan religion never died. The historic attempt to suppress Pagan religion was unsuccessful. The techniques of theurgy are self-healing and continually renew the tradition. Telling stories of the teachers returns to us the continuity of our history and connects us to our ancestors. It heals the sense of isolation and lack of genuineness. Through the lives of the teachers we can understand ourselves as the inheritors of a sophisticated and ancient tradition which is living and thriving today.

The great teacher Plato said the true goal of a life is to become good, to center our lives not on material gain but on spiritual understanding. As our love for the gods draws us we seek to become like the gods ourselves, suffused with their light, dwelling within the happy presence of the divine.

PART ONE:

STORIES FROM THE ANCESTORS

We call on those who have come before us,

Ancestors of our bodies and spirits.

We are the ones who walk in the world now,

The link between the future and the past.

As we walk on our living journey

Grant us the support that ancestors can give.

To contemporary Pagans the word ancestors often means the people connected to our bodies – that is, our mothers and fathers and their mothers and fathers as far back as we can reach. We advise one another to research our family lines, to discover our people, to find the divinity which calls to us through our blood. This discovery may be easy for some, difficult for others, impossible for those whose ancestors were stolen from their homelands and brought to Europe and America as slaves.

There is another way to look at our ancestors, the ancestors of our souls, a chosen family of the spirit. Any ancestor who speaks to us can form part of that lineage. This does not depend on our physical bloodline and no one can exclude us from that relationship.

Pagan theology has a category of people who stand out above the rest, who contribute so much and live such exemplary lives that they occupy a space between humans and spirits. The term for these people is heroes, and especially, teachers.

To ancient Pagans, teachers were not simply people who imparted knowledge. They were also spiritual guides. They themselves glowed with the energy of the gods they invoked, serving as intermediaries between students and the gods. They were called by titles such as Divine and Savior. They inspired respect, but also reverence, and even love. Individually they can guide us; collectively they form the golden chain which connects us to our human past and to the knowledge of the ultimate source of our souls.

We can and must study the works the teachers left behind, but if we limit ourselves to reading the texts, we’re just walking back down the road of understanding with the mind only. We also need to understand the context of those works. Where did they live? What gods did they worship and how? What was happening in the world that affected their work?

We tend to treat the texts of the ancients as if they exist outside of space and time, floating in a mind-only world. But the people who wrote those works had a physical life. They were children once, they had great triumphs and terrible losses, and they had flaws. We need to understand who they were, how they lived, what their friends thought of them, where they succeeded and where they failed. We need to hear their stories.

Telling the stories of the teachers of theurgy from a Pagan perspective strengthens the golden chain that connects them to us. It is an act of reclaiming, bringing back to life the lives that have come before us, framing a Pagan context for our own relationships with the gods. We learn from the teachers and they show us the way.

The Neo-Platonic teachers all insisted that their knowledge was rooted in Egypt. We begin our study of the lives of the teachers in Kemet, with the practices in the temples where priestesses and priests approached the living presence of the gods.

Chapter One: Priestess of Kemet

Three women between them ruled Thebes for nearly two centuries. From 700 BCE to 525 BCE Shepenupet, Nitocris, and Ankhesneferibre held the reins of power.

Their names are rendered in many different ways by scholars. Douglas Blake, an independent scholar, translates the cartouche of Nitocris as Nt-ikrty mrti Mwt, by virtue of Neit beloved of Mut. I have Anglicized the name here as Neitokrity to highlight her connection with the goddess of her childhood town. Neitokrity was among the most powerful women who ever lived and she dedicated her life to the service of a god.

I Give You My Daughter

When Krity was a young child she sailed with her father to Waset. Her first glimpse of the temple was through soldier’s legs. Her father’s army surrounded her as they marched toward the open gates of Ipet-Iset, the sublime house of the god. It was dazzling. Stone pylons rose up toward the sky, figures of the gods strode across the face of the temple in a rainbow of colors, gigantic statues of pharaoh flanked the gate. She frankly gawked.

Her father led his army through the gate without pausing and marched into a vast walled courtyard open to the sky. As they penetrated more deeply into the temple they found themselves in a forest of massive pillars supporting a gigantic stone roof; slits in the roof let rays of sunlight filter in, but the light never reached the floor, and the room was forbiddingly dim. The army stopped for a moment to let the soldiers light torches.

Finally they faced the entrance to the holiest of holies, the shrine where the god himself lived. A man and a woman stood side by side in front of the door, blocking their path. The man’s round face was rigid, his arms folded across his chest. He was impressive, but the woman was formidable, fully as tall as him and as proud, holding her head high under a massive double serpent crown.

The marching soldiers stopped. Shadows flickered in the torchlight. The temple of the great god was so quiet Krity could her own breathing.

The man facing them beat his chest once. Mentuemhat, he said. Fourth priest of Amun, governor and protector of Waset. He inclined his head toward the woman standing next to him. Shepenupet, wife of Amun-Re, creator of the world.

So you say, Krity thought - she knew her own patron goddess Neit had actually created the world.

Her father beat his chest once too. Psamtik, he said. Pharaoh of Kemet.

Pharaoh of Sau, Mentuemhat countered, refusing to acknowledge the man in front of him as the leader of his country.

Shepenupet took a step forward. Even in the dim hall Krity could see her eyes blazing. You may not pass! she thundered. Amun is in his house and you may not enter! Krity hid behind a soldier, shaking with fear.

Mentuemhat held his arms out straight as if to stop the entire army by himself. The temple has been robbed. There is no more gold to be taken, no more silver on the walls, nothing is left. What do you want with us? Do you mean to take the wife of the god from the house of her husband? We stand against you! We will not permit it!

I am pharaoh! Psamtik shouted. Krity hid her head behind a soldier’s leg. More quietly Psamtik went on, I come to restore Ma’at. I do not come to take. I come to give.

There was silence in the hall.

Psamtik said, Neitokrity, step forward.

Hoping no one could see how badly she was shaking, Krity slowly slipped between the soldiers to stand at her father’s side. Psamtik took her hand and held it up. This is my daughter, Psamtik said. I have brought her to give to you.

After a long moment Shepenupet exhaled and her shoulders dropped. A man who brings his daughter does not mean to sack a city, she said, her voice shaking a little. Only then did Krity realize that the formidable woman was scared too.

Psamtik said conversationally, This is a mighty and terrible place and the child is afraid. Is there somewhere we can go to talk?

Geographic and Historic Egypt

Krity’s Kemet was very similar to our Egypt today. Travelers can still visit the great temple at Karnak. We can watch farmers tilling the fields along the river using methods three thousand years old.

To understand Egypt you have to understand the river. The Nile flows peacefully from Sudan through Egypt’s deserts to the Mediterranean Sea in the north. Kemet, the Black Land, is the gift of the Nile, a truism that is emphatically reinforced by a flight over the country: there is a strip of blue water, a narrow band of green on either side, then reddish rock out to the horizon.

The country of Egypt, modern Misr, ancient Kemet, is situated in North Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the west, Sudan to the south, Israel to the east, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north, with Greece across the sea.

Egypt encompasses three geographical regions: Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, and Nubia. This is confusing until you get used to it, as Lower Egypt is actually in the north, and the river Nile is one of the few in the world that flow from south to north. Lower Egypt describes the Nile delta and the seaport of Alexandria whose ancient buildings are now submerged. It also includes the cities of Memphis (ancient Men-Nefer), Sais (ancient Sau), and the modern capital Cairo. Upper Egypt lies south and includes the modern city of Luxor, which the Greeks called Thebes and the people of Kemet called Waset.

Nile agriculture provided a stable basis for the Kemetic economy. Historian James Burke called ancient Kemet the world’s longest running good times. From the earliest historical period until Roman times the culture of Kemet remained essentially unchanged no matter who ruled the country.

The record keepers of Kemet began their historical sequence with the Pharaoh Menes. Everything that happened before him is referred to as pre-dynastic. Menes united Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt about 3100 B.C.E. Egyptian dynastic history is generally presented in four time periods, the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, and the Late Period, with times in between when Egypt was ruled by outsiders or there was no clear rulership.

Good times for all meant especially good times for women. Throughout the Dynastic period, women chose their husbands, divorced without fault, and received support if their husbands left the marriage. Women represented themselves legally, shared equally in property during marriage and bequeathed it on their deaths. Land and titles passed through the mother, so ambitious men married women with royal ties.

Women served as priestesses and pharaohs. In the dangerous times when Kemet was invaded and the male pharaohs killed, the women of the royal families stepped up to rule the country, lead armies, and expel the invaders. They also led during times of peace. For example the Pharaoh Hatshepsut enjoyed a long reign, building huge monuments that are among the most popular tourist attractions today.

Many royal women bore the title hemet neter, God’s Wife, but it wasn’t until the Nubian pharaohs that the bearer of that title assumed both political and religious authority in Waset.

People of Kemet

Krity and her father relaxed in the shade of a courtyard beside a shimmering tiled pool. Palm trees rustled overhead while young servants dashed about offering them water, plates of cheese, and honey cakes.

Mentuemhat adjusted his black shoulder-length wig. Shepenupet said kindly, It’s on straight, Mentu.

He patted her hand in response. Nu, you’re in your own house. You can take off your crown. Krity thought they sounded like comfortable old friends.

The priestess laid aside her crown and sighed. My, but that’s a heavy thing, she said. She cast a shrewd glance at Psamtik. As you have come to know, I think.

I have faced down the king of Assyria, Psamtik said. Neitokrity, who was that?

Krity startled and dropped the date she was holding. In her mind the courtyard vanished and the walls of her childhood home enclosed her while her mother’s voice beat the names into her head, repeating them over and over until her daughter got them right. Assurbanipal, she blurted.

Nu looked up at the sky as if seeing another scene. Assurbanipal came as an enemy. He burned Waset the beautiful city. He took so many captives. She turned haunted eyes to Psamtik. When I walk the streets I still smell the smoke. Even after ten years. And the streets are so empty.

And yet he did not take you captive, Psamtik said, taking a bite of cheese. How did you do it?

Nu shook her head. All night I stood in the doorway of the Holy of Holies, just as I did today, while the soldiers ran through the temple. They never came near me. Her eyes filled with tears. It was Amun. The great god protected me. They never laid hands on me.

Well, we didn’t oppose him, either, Mentu said mildly. He meant to punish Kemet and pay his troops, but he didn’t see us as his sworn enemies.

The middle way, Psamtik agreed. "Neither serve nor oppose. This is the way I have chosen as well.