This is my review of The Practical Art of Divine Magic which essentially covers what could be described as theurgy, essentially magickal practices that contact, petition or influence divine energy/energies. The model of reality is described as being four key levels: the realm of matter (hyle), the soul (psyche), the intellect or mind (Nous), and the ultimate source, the One. The One represents the highest reality and the goal of henosis—a state of union with divine truth. The divine is depicted as existing beyond the material world, consisting of eternal ideas within the Nous. The gods remain unchanging, while daimones act as intermediaries, influencing and being influenced by human perception and activity.

Theurgy as Collaboration with the Divine

Theurgy is framed not as an act of servitude or bribery but as a cooperative effort with the gods to achieve henosis. The practitioner does not “work on” a god but works with one, aligning their intentions with divine reality. This shift in perspective transforms theurgic practice from mere ritual into an active partnership with higher powers.

The Importance of Inner Work and Virtue

Throughout the book, Dunn emphasizes the necessity of self-awareness, self-control, and cultivating virtue. The tripartite soul—logos (reason), eros (desire), and thymos (willpower/emotion)—must be harmonized, with logos guiding the other two. Virtues such as prudence, temperance, and justice are not mere moral ideals but practical methods for aligning the mind with the divine. Mastering these virtues fosters wisdom and strengthens the soul’s connection to higher reality.

The Role of Phantasms and Imagination

The concept of phantasms—mental images formed by the senses or the Nous—is central to understanding and interacting with reality. The book provides exercises to develop visualization skills, encouraging practitioners to create, manipulate, and perceive phantasms with greater clarity. This includes experiencing the concept of hyle (matter in its raw state) and using imagination as a bridge to deeper metaphysical truths. This is essentially what draws me to this work, if you look at my writing and practice elsewhere, especially my take on (magickal) nembutsu, then you’ll see that, although it’s from an entirely differernt system (and world in a way) the essential practice has a lot in common, the the theories described here, I feel, much more deeply explain the system of magick that I have personally developed over my lifetime.

Synthemata and Recognizing the Divine in the Mundane

The text introduces synthemata—symbols and correspondences that reveal divine presence in everyday life. It suggests that all aspects of existence are manifestations of the Logos, and recognizing these connections transforms mundane activities into sacred acts. Writing a memo can be aligned with Zeus (authority and structure), while caring for a child invokes Hera (protection and nurturing). By consciously associating tasks with divine principles, the practitioner integrates spirituality into daily life.

Practical Theurgical Techniques

• Contemplations – Meditations on the One, reflections on the soul’s aspects (eros, thymos, logos), and exercises to inventory virtues.
• Libations – Ritual offerings of liquid to the gods, often accompanied by verbal prayers.
• Fire and Water Ritual – A symbolic act representing the mingling of mind and soul.
• Divination – Methods include kledonomancy (interpreting overheard words), bibliomancy (divination through books), and automatic writing. Haruspicy (reading animal entrails) is acknowledged but deemed impractical today. Astrology is presented not as a deterministic system but as a means of meditating on cosmic influences.
• Working with Daimones – Understanding daimones as intermediaries and employing prayers and offerings to establish contact.
• Talismans and Defixiones – Talismans function as long-term magickal tools, while defixiones (binding spells or written petitions) are examined beyond their historical use in cursing, suggesting a broader role in spiritual requests.
• Creating a Mental Temple (Method of Loci) – A memory technique that organizes symbolic information into a structured, mental sacred space. This brings to mind the concept of creating an astral temple described in The Magician’s Workbook, which I have reviewed elsewhere on the site.

The Concepts of Genos (Race/Species) and Axia (Worth/Value)

The book explains that humans share a genos (spiritual lineage) with the gods through the logos—the universal rational principle. This connection enables discipline, self-denial, and personal refinement. Axia, or one’s true worth, is presented as an individual’s guiding principle—an inherently creative and active force that aligns with divine will. Recognizing and pursuing one’s axia leads to a meaningful and spiritually fulfilling life.

The Importance of Reason and Sanity

A recurring theme is the importance of maintaining rationality. The book addresses the stereotype of the theurgist as “crazy,” asserting that a firm grounding in reason is essential for effective practice. It distinguishes between destructive mental instability and the kind of radical, transformative thinking that leads to spiritual insight and happiness. The Pythagorean principle of hygieia (health or wholeness) is highlighted as an ideal state of being.

Harmony and Entrainment

The book explores entrainment, the phenomenon where vibrations synchronize with harmonious frequencies. This concept applies to theurgists, who influence their minds, environments, and even the Nous through symbolic actions, phantasms, and synthemata. By attuning themselves to divine principles, they cultivate spiritual resonance.

Goal Setting as a Primary Magical Act

Setting clear, objective, and time-bound goals is framed as a fundamental magickal practice. The book argues that defining a goal with precision and intent transforms it from an abstract wish into a structured plan, increasing the likelihood of success. This structured approach to goal-setting is presented as a form of practical theurgy, aligning personal will with cosmic order. This idea has blown my mind so much, I’m rereading the book now and intend to write my own experiences with this idea in the future.

Working with Cosmic Cycles

The book emphasizes the importance of timing magickal work with natural cycles. The waxing and waning phases of the moon, along with the influences of lunar mansions, are presented as crucial factors in determining the optimal moments for spiritual and practical endeavors. Aligning personal actions with these cosmic rhythms enhances effectiveness and deepens one’s connection to the greater whole.

 

 

Most Important Ideas and Facts (with Quotes):

• Henosis: “In theurgy, you are not serving god, nor are you bribing god to serve you. Instead, you are collaborating together to achieve a joint goal: henosis.” Henosis is further defined as “union of perspective with the highest reality in the universe, the one thing from which everything else proceeds.”
• Theurgy as Work With, Not For or On, the Divine: “It’s not work on a god, or even work for a god—it’s work with a god.”
• The Dualistic Nature of Language and the Difficulty of Describing Oneness: “Attempts to describe it fall short, because language is inherently dualistic.”
• Matter as Quality-less Potential (Hyle): “Try to imagine matter without any qualities: an object with no adjectives to describe it, no nouns to classify it. What you end up with is a concept the philosophers sometimes called hyle, a Greek word meaning “forest” or “timber.” We might say “clay.” Consider this clay of no qualities.” ((this is my (alwaysjay) aside)… and perhaps you could consider unmanifest matter as astral light (just my thought, which I will develop and write up in the future)).
• The Nous as the Realm of Timeless Ideas: “We think, and we think timeless thoughts. We can recognize the timeless truth of these thoughts, without ourselves being fully timeless.”
• “As Above, So Below”: This Hermetic maxim is referenced in the context of the human mind reflecting the universe and the correspondence between macrocosm and microcosm.
• Phantasms from the Nous: The ability to visualize a hypercube demonstrates that “This image does not exist in physical matter, but it exists in the Nous as an idea, and we have access to it through our minds, and then can build phantasms of it.”
• The Eros and Training Desire: “The eros never really wants an object in the physical world. The eros is driven toward or away from phantasms of things, coming either from our senses or our memories… And the eros can be trained to be satisfied with the phantasm itself, at least some of the time.” (See the book Open to Desire by Mark Epstein (Buddhism) or the writings of Neville Goddard (Christian Mysticism)).
• Phronēsis (Prudence/Discernment): Described as “identifying and separating good from bad, true from false, and right from wrong.”
• Gods as “Athanatoi” (Undying) and Non-Material Ideas: The dialogue between Philanike and Euthymios establishes that gods are “athanatoi,” not subject to death, and therefore not material, existing as “mental—ideas, in other words, in the cosmic sense.”
• Daimones as Intermediaries: Daimones are presented as spirits that interact with reality, acting as intermediaries between the gods and the world, and influenced by human minds. “The daimones are like slices across the multidimensional forms of the gods.”
• Syncretism as Recognition of a Central Truth: The ancient practice of equating gods from different cultures (e.g., Odhinn as “the Germanic Mercury”) is interpreted not just as cultural leveling but as a “recognition of a central truth: that Odhinn is a slice across the same vast divine Idea that Mercurius is.”
• Synthema: “Every act, every area and domain of life, is a temenos, a sacred precinct of one or more gods. When we overtly recognize this fact, we begin to make our lives a synthema.” This highlights the symbolic connection between the mundane and the divine.
• Virtue as Power: ““Virtue” comes from root words meaning “power,” ultimately. It’s the capability to do something, and later, the capacity to do something good.” Objects possess “virtues,” not “magical energy.”
• Entrainment in Magical Practice: “An analogous process takes place when we construct a phantasm (nembutsu?) or work with a synthema. It begins to pluck the relevant strings in our minds, in the minds of others around us, and in the Nous itself.”
• Goal Setting as a Powerful Magical Act: “This in itself is the single most powerful magical act one can do, because it can literally begin to change your life.”
• Genos and Axia: “For truly, the Good Daimon called the gods immortal humans; and humans, mortal gods.” This speaks to the shared “genos” or nature between gods and humans. “What we do is our name, our true name. This name is our true will, the reason we came. And that is our axia, our worth or value.”
• Hygieia (Health/Wholeness) as a Pythagorean Watchword: “Rendered as hygieia in the Latin alphabet, this word means “health” or “wholeness,” and the Pythagoreans took it as their watchword and greeting.”

Further Exploring the Practical Art of Divine Magic

Theurgy is often misunderstood as a form of servitude to the gods, but in the context of this text, it’s more about collaboration. The goal isn’t to serve the divine but to work with the gods to achieve henosis. Henosis, in simple terms, means a union of perspectives with the highest reality—the ultimate source from which everything arises. It’s not about dissolving into the divine or losing your individuality, but about aligning your view with the One, the source of all existence.

Now, let’s talk about the nature of matter. The text describes matter as hyle—a base substance, formless and devoid of inherent qualities. Our minds are the ones that impose qualities on this raw matter, shaping it into everything we perceive, from a mug to water vapor. Even science does this by breaking down matter through conceptual frameworks. What’s important here is that our thoughts—particularly timeless truths, like mathematical ideas—are non-material and reside in the Nous, the universal mind. These truths exist independently of our awareness of them and show us that the material world is not all there is.

The Nous is key in the theurgic process. It’s the cosmic Mind, holding eternal ideas and universal truths. Our minds, though not fully timeless, have the potential to access and understand these truths. Hermetic philosophy teaches that “As above, so below,” meaning our consciousness mirrors the universe itself, giving us the ability to comprehend its principles. Through imagination and visualization, we can even create mental constructs of things that don’t exist materially. This ability links us directly to the Nous, allowing us to shape reality through our minds.

Eros and logos, two central concepts in this text, relate to our desires and our reason. Eros, representing our desires, is often driven by mental images, or phantasms, that come from our sensory experiences or memories, rather than from the things themselves. Logos, on the other hand, represents reason. It’s what helps us set limits on these desires, guiding them with wisdom and discernment. The text advises us to be conscious of our desires, to sit with them, and to negotiate with our “inner child” to avoid impulsive actions. This practice helps us develop self-control and cultivate virtues that align us with the divine.

The virtues discussed in the text are key for anyone on the theurgic path. Prudence, temperance, and justice are highlighted as essential virtues for achieving alignment with the divine. Prudence allows us to discern things as they truly are. Temperance helps us find the right balance between extremes, while justice ensures fairness to ourselves and others. These virtues, however, aren’t just ideals; they’re practical tools that cultivate wisdom. For theurgists, developing these virtues is necessary for creating a mind that resonates with the divine mind, enabling deeper connection and more effective practice.

Gods and daimones are seen through a unique lens in this framework. Gods are undying and unchanging cosmic principles, existing beyond time and space. They impose form on matter, shaping it according to their eternal truths. Daimones, on the other hand, are intermediaries. They act as bridges between the gods, the material world, and humanity, often taking on different forms depending on human perception. While the distinction between gods and daimones can be fuzzy, they are both agents of the divine, working through the ideas contained in the Nous.

Practical theurgic practices are an essential part of this system. One of the main practices is to expand your consciousness and experience the One, which is the ultimate source of reality. Contemplating the parts of the soul—eros, thymos (spirit), and logos—helps align your inner world. The text also suggests taking an inventory of your virtues to cultivate self-awareness. It encourages you to see the divine in everyday life by recognizing “synthemata,” or symbolic connections between the material and the divine. Offering libations, using fire and water to symbolize the mingling of mind and soul, and engaging in divination (like bibliomancy and kledonomancy) are all practical ways to establish a conscious relationship with the divine.

Finally, understanding your “genos” and “axia” is crucial in the theurgic path. Your genos, or race/species, refers to your shared nature with the gods—the capacity for reason and the drive for wholeness. Your axia is your individual true will, your unique purpose. Recognizing your genos connects you to the divine intellect, while understanding your axia guides you toward fulfilling your potential in a way that aligns with the greater cosmic order.

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In The Practical Art of Divine Magic, the text begins with Plato’s allegory of the cave, where the Chthonians, bound to face a wall, see only shadows cast by objects moved by the Aions. The Chthonians take these shadows as reality, while the Aions, through the fire and forms, point to a truer existence beyond mere perception. The book uses this to explore the distinction between appearance and reality, urging the reader to consider how sensory experience shapes understanding. Exercises follow, prompting one to examine personal perceptions in light of these ideas.

Theurgy is then defined as “work with a god,” aimed at henosis—union with the highest reality. The text distinguishes it clearly: it is neither bribery of divine forces nor an act of submission or willpower, but a collaboration toward oneness. The reader is guided to reflect on this practice and its goal through questions that clarify its nature. Next, a dialogue between Eu and Ph addresses matter. Eu posits matter as anything describable, but Ph counters that thoughts lack extension in space, unlike matter. This leads to hyle, matter without qualities, a formless base shaped into distinct things. The text invites the reader to apply this to the separation of thought and the material.

The Nous emerges as the Mind of the universe, holding eternal truths such as mathematical principles. The Hermetic idea, “As above, so below; so below, as above,” ties human thought to this cosmic intelligence, suggesting a reflection of the greater reality within us. Exercises involve phantasms, mental images from sensory experience or the Nous itself. The text describes visualizing a hypercube—an object not present in the physical world—as an example, showing how such images, though immaterial, affect us as real.

The soul is divided into eros, thymos, and logos—desire, emotion, and reason. The text proposes a “rational bargaining” process: one may address these parts as separate entities, understanding their aims and negotiating with them to resolve conflict. Phronēsis, practical wisdom, is presented as discernment of good from evil, true from false. Related to virtue, it allows clear perception. An exercise applies it to a flaw, such as lying, distinguishing the act (“I have lied”) from the self (“I am a liar”), thus enabling change.

The Neoplatonic view of deity includes the transcendent—perfect and unchanging—and the immanent, through daimones, spirits that act in the world. The text explains this apparent contradiction by noting humanity’s dual nature, eternal and temporal. A creation myth of Atum from the Heliopolitan tradition follows: Atum rises from Nun, creating Shu and Tefnut, who beget Geb and Nut, then Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. This ordered emergence frames the divine’s role in existence. Finally, synthemata are signs of the divine in the world. The text offers examples: drafting a memo as an act of Zeus’s order, or caring for a child as Hera’s work. Exercises encourage recognizing these in daily life.

The Practical Art of Divine Magic presents these concepts—Plato’s allegory, theurgy, the Nous, and more—alongside practices to engage them. For a reader seeking to understand and apply such ideas, the text provides both explanation and means to do so, drawing one toward a deeper grasp of reality and the divine.

 

Some practical exercises

CONTEMPLATION OF MATTER

1. STEP 1: Begin by finding a small object. It literally does not matter what it is, and you don’t need to strive for the mystical and poetic. An empty soda can will work as well as a seashell. As you repeat this exercise, you can choose different objects and objects of greater size and complexity, but for now aim for something you can hold in your hand.
2. STEP 2: Analyze out from that object all of its qualities. These are descriptors, usually either adjectives or nouns, that you might use to describe the object to someone else. List them out, a word or a phrase at a time, on a piece of paper. The first few times you do this exercise, it’s important to do this in writing so you can keep track. As you get better at it, you can forego the writing and hold these qualities in your mind. You can categorize those qualities by the kinds of phantasms they invoke: for example, visual, tactile, and so on.
3. EXAMPLE: Taking away the concept of color and texture, material phase (solid or liquid), and finally shape itself, I’m left with …
4. STEP 5: It’s easy to say at this point that you’re left with nothing, but do not succumb to that notion. Try to hold the pen in your mind without having any concept of its qualities for as long as you can. Perhaps you’ll feel a curious mental blankness or fog. You will almost certainly experience the pen trying to take shape again, but whenever it does gently deny it qualities so it returns back to the formless chaos to which you have reduced it. You will not be able to articulate your experience of what remains, because to do so will be to apply qualities to it, but what remains is pure hyle, without any impression from the Nous at all: it’s matter, receptive and malleable. It’s substance, sub-stance, that which stands underneath.
5. If you do this exercise you may well have a sense that something remains—something tenuous, barely existent, but there. Notice that all the things we regard as existing are phantasms we create in regard to the object. Kicking a stone doesn’t prove that the stone is hard: it creates a phantasm of the stone’s hardness. The stone, we might say, is liable to create phantasms of hardness, but the stone itself is not hard outside of conceptions of its hardness.

EXPERIENCING THE ONE

1. STEP 1: When first beginning this exercise, it helps to get as comfortable as you can. As you become familiar with it, you can do it while doing other things (although I wouldn’t recommend doing it while driving!) [3].
2. STEP 2: Focus on your breath. Aim for a four-fold breath, where you inhale for a count of four, hold for a count of four, exhale for a count of four, and hold for a count of four. If you’re sitting still, with some practice you should be able to do this, but if you’re moving about you may find it easier to aim for a count of two rather than four or otherwise modify the time.
3. STEP 3: Imagine yourself from outside yourself, as if you have a floating-eye perspective of the scene. It is as if you are standing behind yourself and can see yourself breathing.
4. STEP 4: Expand that sense of yourself outward. Take in the room you’re in, the building, the neighborhood, the city.
5. STEP 5: Eventually, you will take in the whole world, then the solar system, then the galaxy, then the whole universe as a whole. If you don’t manage this the first few times, don’t worry. You are gaining benefit just by seeing the big picture as high as you can.
6. STEP 6: When you can hold the universe in your imagination, contemplate the totality of it without focusing in or catching on any one thing for a few breaths.
7. STEP 7: Now, holding it all in your mind at once, let the boundaries between all its parts dissolve: the galaxy is the same as the people, and all perspectives collapse. If you can do this, you may glimpse a moment of unity.
8. STEP 8: If you can achieve step 7, which may take some time, try now to abolish even the boundary around the universe. The experience of this is hard to describe, but you will probably find your discursive, binary mind stopping in a sudden awareness of unity. This is a glimpse of henosis.
9. STEP 9: Whether you got to step 7 or not, after holding the image of the entire universe, or the oneness behind it, for a while start to move back inwards to the galaxy, solar system, planet, continent, and location. This helps ground the experience; in theurgy the return is as important as the journey.

MEETING YOUR CHARIOT HORSES

1. STEP 1: Find a comfortable place where you won’t be interrupted for a little while. Sit or lie down and begin to breathe evenly and deeply.
2. STEP 2: Relax your body from head to toe. If you have a method of progressive relaxation that you prefer, by all means use it.
3. STEP 3: Feel whatever desires you are currently experiencing. These may be small—a desire to shift to a more comfortable position or eat something—or they may be much larger. Perhaps your eros is calm and satisfied right now or a raging storm of lust. Either way, feel it where it is in your body without responding to it.
4. STEP 4: When you have a strong sense of that desire, let it take form in front of you. Perhaps it will look like a child, an animal, a double of yourself—it doesn’t matter. Just let it take form and hold the visualization of it in this mental space.
5. STEP 5: Now, determine which emotions you are feeling. What are your physiological responses to events, and how are you interpreting them? Are you feeling sad, happy, content, nervous—or some combination? Don’t worry about listing the emotions by name: just feel them.
6. STEP 6: Once you have a strong sense of those emotions, again, let them take form outside of you in that mental space.
7. STEP 7: You’ve now got your eros and your thymos separated from you, and what remains is the logos. Now you can communicate with them directly, asking them questions and listening to their responses, as well as the reactions of your body. For example, if you wish to overeat, you could ask your thymos why your appetite exists from its perspective, what emotional needs it fulfills. Then you could turn to your eros and ask why it desires this, and would it settle for some other desire instead? Eventually, you can begin to negotiate.

THE DAILY ASSESSMENT OF VIRTUE

1. STEP 1: The daily inventory: retroactive writing. At the end of your day, take a few moments to sit down with a notebook or your computer and think about the day you’ve just experienced. Try to bring to mind specific events, even small ones, and ask yourself these questions about each event:
   • Was my action in this circumstance prudent?
   • Was it courageous?
   • Was it temperate?
   • Was it just?

   Write down your answers. Don’t judge yourself or try to excuse your behavior: just answer honestly. If you find yourself constantly falling short in one area, take some time to think about why that might be. What value might you be prioritizing over these classical virtues?

2. STEP 2: The daily assessment: retroactive contemplation. For this step, you will do a similar activity but rather than write it down you’ll run through it in your head. I like to do it before bed, but some people do it while brushing their teeth or waiting for the bus [9].
3. STEP 3: Prospective contemplation. In the morning, before beginning your day (perhaps in the shower) take a few moments to think about what you might face. For example, if you have a project that needs to be done, ask yourself “what will be a prudent action to take? What would be the courageous, temperate, just course of action?” Do this for each of your day’s planned activities, and you will find quickly that you have developed a habit of virtue that kicks in even when unexpected events surprise you.

CONTEMPLATING BEAUTY

1. STEP 1: Go somewhere beautiful. This might be a museum to look at a painting or a sculpture, or it might be out into nature to look at a landscape. Sit and contemplate this beauty.
2. STEP 2: You will begin to see that this beauty exists elsewhere in other things as well: the fall of a waterfall, the movements of a cat, and so on. Recognize and contemplate the nature of these beauties, all of a kind together with each other, each representing some instantiation of the same ultimate beauty.
3. STEP 3: As you continue with this contemplation, you will begin to see the beauty of virtue superseding that of the body itself. Contemplate those virtues that are beautiful, leaving behind physical form. Muscles are beautiful because they are power in control: the control of power is a virtue separate from any physicality, so contemplate the virtue of self-control or balance and harmony.
4. STEP 4: As you do so, you will begin to see the beauty of systems of knowledge, ideas, and laws. Contemplate the beauty of these until you begin to recognize that what is beautiful in a society or a system of knowledge is the same thing, no matter how it is instantiated. Recognize that cultural customs may change but they reflect ultimately the same underlying values of the family that is humanity.
5. STEP 5: Ultimately, you will begin to move up to realize that all beauties, all virtues, all beautiful customs and systems of knowledge partake of a single ineffable beauty, the Good. This experience is henosis, and achieving it, even for a moment, makes your mind the same as the Good, which is the One.

INCENSE OFFERING

1. STEP 1: Light some incense. You can use charcoal tablets in a censer for loose incense or simply light a stick of stick incense. As the smoke rises, imagine your thoughts and prayers rising with it.
2. STEP 2: Imagine a small blue light in your solar plexus. As you inhale, imagine it getting brighter.
3. STEP 3: Visualize a golden light that surrounds this blue speck in a sphere. As you inhale, let it spin clockwise, stopping while you hold your inhalation for a second, then reversing when you exhale. As it spins clockwise, let it expand outward. As it spins counterclockwise, let it concentrate and shrink. It helps to work with an actual strophalos beforehand to get that physical sense of expansion and contraction.
4. STEP 4: As the golden light expands, imagine your prayers and intentions being carried outward with it, mixed with the fragrant smoke of the incense. Visualize these intentions reaching the divine beings you wish to contact.
5. STEP 5: When you are finished with your prayer, let the golden light contract back to the blue light in your solar plexus. Sit quietly for a few moments, feeling a sense of connection and peace.

ENLIVENING A STATUE

1. STEP 1: Obtain a statue or image of the deity with whom you wish to work. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, but it should be something that resonates with you and that you feel drawn to.
2. STEP 2: Kindle a fire on charcoal or a simple lamp for less elaborate rites. Make sure you know what you’re doing—keep the room ventilated if using charcoal and don’t burn anything on it you wouldn’t want to inhale. (A single pinch of hot pepper might be very symbolically appropriate to Mars, but it’s hard to complete a ritual when suffering the results of being pepper-sprayed. Trust my hard-won experience on this, and accept my plea of youthful ignorance.) Probably you’re lighting this with a match or lighter. So it goes. But it might be worthwhile to sanctify this fire with an incantation. Even if such actions were not done traditionally in sacrificial rituals, they were done in theurgist rituals. You can use the following, which I’ve stitched together from various bits of the Chaldean Oracles, or you can devise your own formula of sanctification. The goal is to identify the fire itself with the Nous so we can use it as a gateway:“I call upon the living fire, the pure fire, the fire that knows no decline. May this material fire become a gateway to the divine fire, the fire of the Nous, the fire that illuminates all things. By this fire, may my prayers be heard and my offerings accepted.”
3. STEP 3: Walk about clockwise, holding the water and—if using it—a sacred knife. If not, the water will suffice. When you return to the altar, sprinkle the altar and the ground within the circle with the water. If you like, you can say something signifying that the water is purificatory, such as this verse from the Chaldean Oracles: “Foremost, let the priest undertaking the work of fire himself be sprinkled with the icy waves of the deeply roaring sea.” (If that sounds familiar to those inclined to ceremonial magic, it should: the same verse was cribbed for the same purpose by the Golden Dawn although with a different translation.) Pour some water on your hands to clean them.
4. STEP 4: Circumambulate the altar, holding the statue in your right hand and the water in your left. When you return to the center, put down the statue and dip the three fingers of your right hand into the water, sprinkling it over the altar and then in the four directions. You can say something like: “Inflame the water of the soul with the light of Mind, to purify matter and drive out all the profane”. Pour some of the water over your hands and dry them on a clean cloth.
5. STEP 5: Perform the contemplation of matter from exercise 1.1 on the statue until it is reduced to formlessness in your mind.
6. STEP 6: Recite the following from the Hermetica while looking upward and aspiring as much as possible to the Nous:“Holy is God, and the parent of everything. Holy is God, whose will is done by his own powers. Holy is God, who wants to be known and is known by his own. Holy are you, having coalesced existence in a word. Holy are you, from whom all nature takes form. Holy are you, whom nature did not shape. Holy are you, the strongest of all powers. Holy are you, better than all goodness. Holy are you, too great for praise.”
7. STEP 7: Now, touch the statue and say:“Come into this image, O [Name of the deity], you who are everywhere and nowhere. Manifest your presence here, that I may know you and serve you.”
8. STEP 8: Offer incense to the statue, saying something like:“Accept this fragrant offering as a sign of my devotion.”
9. STEP 9: Pour a libation of water or wine into a bowl or onto the ground before the statue, saying:“Accept this pure libation, a gift from my hands.”
10. STEP 10: Kneel or stand before the statue and recite a prayer of your own devising to the deity, or use a traditional hymn or prayer if you know one. You can include a petition for knowledge or empowerment:“Accept pure spoken offerings from a soul and a heart stretching out to you who are ineffable, inexpressible, named in silence. Give a sign to me that you will not reject my petition for the knowledge of our being. Empower me, and with this grace I will enlighten those of my kind who dwell in ignorance— my siblings, your children. Therefore, I believe and I witness: I progress to life and light. You are the basis of rationality, and your people want to join with you in the sacred work, as you provided them with the power to do so.”
11. STEP 11: Light more incense.
12. STEP 12: Place your hands on the statue and visualize the divine presence filling it. Feel a connection between yourself and the deity through the image.
13. STEP 13: Contemplate the god as long as you wish. This can be a few minutes or quite a long time, depending on your personal desire. There’s no extra credit for taking longer, but also don’t rush through it.
14. STEP 14: When finished, offer a short prayer of thanksgiving such as the following:“I give thanks to the gods, the daimones, and the ancestors who have led me to this place and who support an aid me in the great work of creation. May there be friendship between us.”
15. STEP 15: Close the ritual by placing the statue in an appropriate place (some statues you may wish to cover from prying eyes). When done, kiss your hand to it, turn around and leave the room in silence. Make sure you can easily clean and care for the statue as well as burn incense to it periodically. Pour out the libation outdoors, and let the incense burn down and cool before putting it away.
16. STEP 16: Eat and do something mundane after a ritual like this one. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this statue itself is a god; it is the dwelling of a god, and the god is not bound to it and can and will come and go as it pleases [20].

SCRYING WITH WATER

1. STEP 1: Obtain a bowl of dark-colored liquid. Water with a few drops of black ink or dark food coloring works well. You can also use a commercially produced scrying mirror or a bowl of polished obsidian.
2. STEP 2: Sit comfortably in a dimly lit room. Place the bowl or mirror in front of you on a table at a comfortable viewing distance.
3. STEP 3: Relax your gaze and look into the surface of the liquid or mirror. Don’t try to focus on any particular point, but let your eyes go slightly out of focus, as if you are looking through the surface rather than at it.
4. STEP 4: Clear your mind of any specific thoughts or expectations. Simply observe any images or sensations that arise in your mind or on the surface of the scrying tool.
5. STEP 5: Ask your question silently or aloud. Keep your focus soft and receptive.
6. STEP 6: At first, you may experience visions in your imagination, and have a sense that they are internal. The more you work with scrying, the more these visions will externalize, but do not worry about whether or not the vision is in your mind or outside it. If the vision provides you useful information, it really doesn’t matter.
7. STEP 7: Also be prepared to receive perceptions with your other senses, including hearing, smell, and even your kinesthetic sense.
8. STEP 8: When finished, offer your gratitude to the god you have called, then end the ceremony as you would any other ritual. It’s useful to ground yourself in some mundane activity immediately afterwards.

AUTOMATIC WRITING WITH THOTH

1. STEP 1: Choose a specific question you wish to ask.
2. STEP 2: Prepare the place of working by having an image of the god, water for purification, and an incense offering. Also have some paper and a good reliable pen. We learn that Thoth is the Greek version of his name, which was something like Djehauti, give or take some vowels.
3. STEP 3: Purify the area by carrying around the image and the water, then sprinkling as usual.
4. STEP 4: Perform an offering, praying that Thoth will come and guide your hand in writing.
5. STEP 5: Sit in the god-posture—essentially, sitting upright in a chair with your hands on your knees. Have the pad and paper handy.
6. STEP 6: Relax and close your eyes. Visualize a phantasm of your dominant hand (the one you write with) lifting off your physical hand [23].
7. STEP 7: Project that phantasm out in front of you, hovering over the paper.
8. STEP 8: Now, visualize the image of Thoth standing behind your phantasmal hand, gently guiding it.
9. STEP 9: Offer another short prayer to Thoth, asking for his guidance in answering your question.
10. STEP 10: Ask your question, and let—but do not force—the hand to move. This is sometimes called automatic writing. Some people remain unconscious of what the hands write. I, however, become aware of it a word or two at a time, as if transcribing rather than writing it.
11. STEP 11: You’ll probably find this a bit tiring, so when the hand stops or you become exhausted, move the phantasm of your hand back to overlap your physical hand and return the physical hand to the god-posture.
12. STEP 12: Project the phantasm of the god standing up and stepping away from you. Salute it by kissing your hand and then reassert your body once again, limb by limb. It’s important to check each limb, making sure you have control over it and that it is where you think it is. It’s a way of regrounding into your body.
13. STEP 13: Offer a prayer of gratitude and add more incense to the fire, then close the ritual as usual.
14. STEP 14: Interpret the writing on the pad. Those things you don’t remember writing are often the most important and significant.

INVOKING YOUR GENIUS

1. STEP 1: Prepare a small shrine. This can be as simple as a clean shelf or tabletop. Place an unlit candle, a bowl for libations, and a censer for incense on it.
2. STEP 2: Gather your materials for an offering. This should be something personal and meaningful to you. It could be a piece of art you created, a poem you wrote, a song you composed, or even a physical object that represents your aspirations.
3. STEP 3: Purify yourself and the space as you normally would. Synthemata, names, and so on for your genius will come later. Your previous work in developing relationships with deities, animating statues, making offerings, divination, and so on can all be used to help you in connecting to the genius.
4. STEP 4: Raising your arms, say a prayer to the genius like this one, substituting the name of your genius for N., or leaving that part out if you don’t know it yet:“Hear me, Agathodaimon, called N., or by whatever name you may be called and whether god or goddess, and come from your abodes in the empyrean to receive my praise. If ever I have burned sweet scents to you, spoken words of praise, or made offering in your name, come and hear me, as you have done before. Give me guidance to the One, true knowledge of the hidden things, and authority over the lesser daimones of the world, so I may fulfill my purpose which is to join the gods in the great work of creation. Accept this offering, and by it may you be propitiated and increased, and may it turn your face toward me.”
5. STEP 5: Light the candle and the incense. Place your offering on the shrine and pour a small libation of water or wine into the bowl.
6. STEP 6: Spend some time in the contemplation of the genius, remaining receptive to any answer it may offer you.
7. STEP 7: Thank the genius for its presence and guidance. Close the ritual by extinguishing the candle and the incense. Leave the offering on the shrine for a period of time before disposing of it respectfully.

MAKING FRIENDS WITH A LOCUS GENIUS

1. STEP 1: Find a place that you find beautiful or interesting. This could be a park, a grove of trees, a riverbank, an old building, or any location that has a certain feeling or energy to it.
2. STEP 2: Gather a small offering. This could be a natural object you found in the place itself (a leaf, a stone), a bit of food or drink, or a small, inexpensive gift.
3. STEP 3: Say something like the following:“Spirit of this place, whether god or goddess, by whatever name it pleases you to be called, hear my prayer. I come in humility and friendship. Accept this offering of friendship, and may you be increased by it, strengthened, cleansed, healed, and made strong. Accept also this speech offering, and be praised.”
4. STEP 4: You may wish to speak extemporaneously about what feature particularly attracts you.
5. STEP 5: Lay the offering on the altar or pour out the libation. Imagine the form of the offering expanding out, multiplying, and filling the space with abundance.
6. STEP 6: Say something like “May our friendship grow” to end. Only when you and the location have made a strong relationship should you try to ask for favors.

PROPITIATING A KAKODAIMON

1. STEP 1: Purity is always important, but here it is doubly important. In addition to purifying yourself with water and natron, or chernips, you may also wish to fast for a day beforehand.
2. STEP 2: Prepare your ritual space. This should be a place where you will not be disturbed. Have your wand, iunx (a spinning wheel or similar device), incense (lunar incense is appropriate here), a libation offering (water or wine), and a libation dish ready. Begin by picking up your wand as a symbol of authority and stating, in a loud voice, “Hekas, hekas, este bebeloi,” which simply means “begone, begone, profane things.” It’s a traditional signal that a ritual is about to begin.
3. STEP 3: Light incense or add it to the censer and say something like:“May my Genius hear my prayer and stand beside me in this working. If ever I make an error, by omission or commission, leave out a word or speak awry, or in any way fail in my ritual obligations, let it be as if I had performed the ritual correctly. Accept this offering, Agathodaimon, and deliver me from any evil.”
4. STEP 4: Circumambulate your ritual space clockwise, reciting a prayer to Hekate, asking for her protection and guidance. You can use a traditional Orphic hymn to Hekate or one of your own devising.
5. STEP 5: Recite the following words of power, a phylactery against daimones:“ACHTHIŌPHIPH ERESCHIGAL NEBOUTOSOUALĒTH SATHŌTH SABAŌTH SABRŌTH”
6. STEP 6: Imagine a phantasm of the daimon standing just outside of the circle around which you circumambulated, while you spin your iunx and repeat this phrase every time it changes direction: “Magic wheel, bring N. to me,” N. being the name of the daimon. Spin the iunx and repeat the formula until it becomes clear. If the phantasm attempts to become grotesque, point your wand at it until it assumes a more pleasing form. Try not to allow it to become zoomorphic or monstrous, even if you’re a fan of Dürer.
7. STEP 7: Address it thus:“Hear me, N., daimon of [Superior god], by whatever name you are called in the heavens or under the earth, and from whatever abode you come, for I am [your name] whom [your mother’s name] bore, and I stand in the presence of Hekate your Queen, to whom you must bow.”
8. STEP 8: The phantasm should bow. If it does not do so without you forcing it, again point your wand at it and place the fingertips of your other hand on the altar until it does.
9. STEP 9: Continue:“Accept this drink offering, and let it mark friendship between us, that you work for my good and under the instructions of the goddess Hekate and my genius, for I know the secret words of Ephesus which are ASKION KATASKION LIX TETRAX DAMNAMENEUS AISIA to which your kind is bound to answer. Let therefore enmity be done, friendship begun, and may you submit to the authority of the gods.”
10. STEP 10: Pour the libation completely into the libation dish. Kiss your fingers in friendship to the phantasm, then to the phantasm of Hekate.
11. STEP 11: Say the following:“I offer you, Hekate, this speech offering in gratitude for your aid. Continue, O Goddess of the Ways, to keep and guide me, and protect me from evil. Accept these sweet scents, and may it be acceptable unto you.”
12. STEP 12: Add more lunar incense.
13. STEP 13: Step away from the altar, kiss your hand, turn around, and leave the room in silence to end the ritual. You can of course come right back again if you do most of your magic in the living room. But don’t put things away until the incense has all burned down and cooled. Then, dispose of the ashes of the incense and the wine outside, ideally at a crossroad or junction or, failing that, a liminal space like the side of a road. Don’t put it in your own yard or near your own house. At least cross a street to dispose of it.

SET GOALS

1. Using your magical diary if you keep one (I recommend it for this kind of work) or just a notebook or computer file you can find easily, write out a set of goals. If you’re having a hard time finding inspiration, you can organize goals in three general areas:
   • Personal: These are goals for yourself, such as health, fitness, skills you want to learn, or personal qualities you want to develop.
   • Professional: These are goals related to your work or career, such as getting a promotion, starting a new business, or improving your performance.
   • Spiritual: These are goals related to your theurgic practice, such as deepening your connection to a particular deity, achieving a greater understanding of the Nous, or developing your magical abilities.
2. For each goal, write down one or two simple, objective, and time-bound steps you can take towards achieving it.
3. For each goal, brainstorm at least four or five material (non-magical) methods you could use to help you achieve it.
4. Start working on the easiest goals first to build momentum and confidence. If you encounter a goal that feels too difficult, break it down into smaller, more manageable steps.
5. Regularly review your goals and track your progress. Adjust your methods and steps as needed. Don’t be afraid to revise or even abandon a goal if it no longer aligns with your values or desires.

MAKING A TALISMAN

1. STEP 1: Determine your goal. What do you want this talisman to help you achieve? Be specific.
2. STEP 2: Identify the planetary ruler of your goal. Research the correspondences of the planets to various aspects of life.
3. STEP 3: Choose an appropriate time for the ritual. Consult astrological resources to find a time when the ruling planet is in a strong and well-aspected position. The planetary hour is much, much less important than the planet’s dignity.
4. STEP 4: Select a material for your talisman that corresponds to the planet. Metals, stones, colors, and scents all have planetary associations.
5. STEP 5: Prepare your ritual space as usual. Include an image or symbol of the planetary ruler, incense corresponding to the planet, and a libation offering (wine is often appropriate for planetary work).
6. STEP 6: Purify yourself and the space.
7. STEP 7: Hold the raw material of the talisman in your hands and visualize your goal being imbued into it by the power of the planet.
8. STEP 8: Pour a libation into your libation dish and touch the talisman with a bit of the remaining wine, then drink. By all three sharing the same drink offering, you have linked yourself, the talisman, and the god. Immediately thereafter, pass the talisman through the incense offering so the smoke fumigates it.

   STEP 9: Thank the god for aiding you.

   STEP 10: Close the rite as usual.

   After completing the ritual, carry the talisman with you or set it in a place that makes sense. For example, if you created a talisman to aid in learning the piano, you might place it on or near the piano. The sources state that you do not have to recharge a talisman, but it can help to renew the contract whenever the relevant planet is in a good position or well-aspected.

   It’s important to remember that a theurgic talisman is seen as a physical manifestation of a union between your individual nous and the cosmic celestial Nous, a “meeting of minds”2 . It’s a contract with divine forces, and the act of bringing down the god through the offering rite is essential to finalize this agreement3 .

    

   Following the detailed instructions for Exercise 7.2: MAKING A TALISMAN, the text discusses defixiones as another practical magical technique1 . While the book describes defixiones and their historical use, it does not present a numbered, step-by-step “exercise” for creating and using them in the same format as the talisman exercise. Instead, it outlines a general approach:

   The process is described as similar to making a talisman, involving writing out a petition, sometimes with voces magicae and charactres, along with a drawing of the relevant deity2 .

   •

   This written petition is then fixed together, potentially tied in a scroll or bundle instead of using a nail (as was common in historical defixiones intended for more aggressive purposes).

   Finally, the petition is deposited in a sacred area such as a grove, spring, or temple space, or burned on a sacrificial fire for noetic gods2

   After the discussion of defixiones, the book transitions to Chapter 8: Know Thyself. This chapter emphasizes the importance of understanding one’s own nature as fundamental to theurgy. While the initial part of the chapter is a philosophical dialogue, it leads to the exploration of practical methods for self-knowledge, drawing on concepts introduced earlier in the book.

   The chapter mentions two ways back to the One according to Plotinus:

   1.

   Declaring the dishonour of the objects which the Soul holds here in honour: The text notes that this method is “amply exhibited elsewhere”. This likely refers to exercises and contemplations presented in earlier chapters that encourage detachment from material concerns and a shift in focus towards the divine. For instance, Exercise 1.1: CONTEMPLATION OF MATTER could be relevant here, as it encourages understanding the formlessness of matter apart from our perceptions. Similarly, Exercise 3.2: CONTEMPLATION OF BEAUTY guides the practitioner towards abstract and ultimately divine beauty, away from purely physical appreciation.

   2.

   Teaching or recalling to the soul its race and worth: This involves recognizing our inherent connection to the divine. While not presented as a numbered exercise with specific steps in this chapter, the underlying principle suggests practices that foster a sense of our divine origin and potential. This could involve:

   Contemplation on the nature of the Nous and our mind’s ability to access it, as discussed in relation to phantasms and the hypercube

   Practices aimed at achieving henosis (union with the One), such as Exercise 1.2: EXPERIENCING THE ONE, which is presented as an ongoing practice.

   Cultivation of virtues, as detailed in Exercise 1.4: INVENTORY OF VIRTUES, as virtue is linked to building a mind that resembles the divine.

   Cultivation of the genius (personal daimon), as described in Exercise 6.1: CULTIVATION OF THE GENIUS, which acts as a guide for spiritual development and a conduit to the Nous

   #Theurgy, #Neoplatonism, #Henosis, #Nous, #Phantasms, #Synthemata, #DivineCollaboration, #Virtue, #Logos, #CosmicOrder