Abstract
Any attempt to define the notion of ‘mysticism’ must face the challenge presented by the evanescent nature of its object. The scholars must rely on written texts or other reports without personal experience, but the mytics, as well, are limited by their cultural background; trying to share an experience that lies beyond the words, they have to formulate it within a system of notions as known in their own religion. Among the religious trends of Antiquity the Neoplatonic theurgy bears the closest resemblance to something we can rightly call mysticism. As a result of the theological background of the post-Iamblichean theurgy the paradigmatic form of mystical experience became the divine possession of a medium, so the theurgist himself remained a mere observer. In the final chapters I make an attempt to identify signs of genuine mystical experience in the Chaldean Oracles, a key-text of the Neoplatonic theurgy.
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Notes
- 1.
The research leading to these results has received funding from the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund, project number OTKA K 101503.
- 2.
The main source of Iulianus’ life is the Suda s.v. ‘Iulianos’ (iota 434.). For his personality see Dodds, E. R.: ‘Theurgy and its Relationship to Neoplatonism’, Journal of Roman Studies 37 (1947) 55–69, especially 55; Lewy’s great monograph is mostly concerned with the Neoplatonic reception of the work (Lewy, Hans: Chaldaean Oracles and Theurgy. Mysticism, Magic and Platonism in the Later Roman Empire. Paris 1978).
- 3.
Edition of the fragments: Édouard des Places, (ed., trans.), Oracles Chaldaïques. Paris 1971.
- 4.
Dodds, 56.
- 5.
Lewy 1978, 7–8, 449–456.; Dodds 1947, 58.
- 6.
Plotinus Enneads II. 9 ‘On Gnosis’, Porphyrius, Vita Plotini 16, Dodds 1947. 57., Luck, George: Theurgic and Forms of Worship in Neoplatonism. In: Luck, G. (ed.): Ancient Pathways and Hidden Pursuits. Ann Arbor 2000. 110–152, especially 123.
- 7.
Enneads I.6.9.; IV.8.1. and VI.7.34.
- 8.
We know very well the methodological basis of theurgy : the mechanism of sympatheia, the complex net of symboloi and synthemata, connected with each other and with the divinities. The manipulation of these symbolons ennabled the theurgist to reach the sphere of the gods. But this is purely ritual; it is difficult to grasp the spiritual aspect. See Luck 2000, 119ff. on the precise methods by which personal spiritual experience and ritual may have been connected.
- 9.
E.g. the Lives of Sophists by Eunapius, or Marinus’ Life of Proclus. According to Marinus (Vita Procli 28) Proclus met with Hecate in a vision, was able to make rain with the iynx, made talismans against earthquakes, and uttered prophecies.
- 10.
It is characteristic how Dodds tried to defend Plotinus (the ‘rational’ Plotinus) against the charge of theurgy (Dodds 1947, 57ff.), cf. Athanassiadi-Fowden, Polymnia: Julian and Hellenism. Oxford 1981. 7.ff. The responsibility for this ‘deterioration’ is frequently attributed to Maximos, the master of Iulianus, whose most famous deed is recorded by Eunapius (p. 475.): he made the statue of Hecate laugh. However, Dodds read even the De mysteriis of Iamblichus as a “manifesto” of irrationalism.
- 11.
Cf. Olympiodorus In Phaedonem 123. ed. Norvin: he distinguishes philosophers who preferred pure philosophy, e.g. Plotinus and Porphyrius, and those who preferred ‘hieratikē’, the ‘sacred art’ e.g. Iamblichus, Proclus, Syrianus.
- 12.
Iamblichus, De mysteriis III. 29. 173.
- 13.
Iamblichus, De mysteriis II. 11. 96–97, clearly distinguishes theurgical and contemplative henōsis . It does not mean that contemplation was unknown for a theurgist: Iamblichus appreciated it as a highest form of henōsis, which may be reached only by the philosophers. Anne Sheppard (‘Proclus’ Attitude to Theurgy’, Classical Quarterly 32 (1982), 212–224
.) distinguishes three levels of theurgy in the texts of Proclus, from white magic to pure contemplation. - 14.
Iamblichus on enthousiasmos : De mysteriis III. 4–6.
- 15.
Iamblichus, De myst. III. 4–6.
- 16.
Iamblichus, De myst. III. 6. 112.; Dodds 1947. 68.
- 17.
Iamblichus, De myst. III. 4. 110. may refer to the cult of Cybele and the priestess of Anahita, III. 10.120–121.: the cult of Cybele and Sabazius, III. 10.122.: the nymphs and Pan, III. 11.123ff.: the traditional oracles of Apollo .
- 18.
Plato , Phaedrus : he refers to the trances sent by Apollo , Dionysus, Aphrodite and the Muses. Cf. Laws 719c.
- 19.
Luck 2000.120, 146–152.
- 20.
E.g. Eunapius 475 on Maximus.
- 21.
Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 9, 3: a marble statue of a god urged the persecution of Christians. Luck (200.118) cites a story from the Apophthegmata patrum (PG 65, 314c), of a monk who realizes that his pagan theurgist opponent can see his gods face to face. Such experiences could strengthen the self-legitimization of the pagan intellectuals whose social position became more and more marginalized.
- 22.
Proclus, In Tim. III. 120.22: Iulianus theurgos had a charm to conjure Cronus. Proclus, In rem publicam II. 123, 9ff: he could make the soul leave the body. Psellus, De catena aurea, 217. (ed. Sathas): he conjured up the ghost of Plato . As to the mediumistic trance: Dodds 1947, 65.
- 23.
Proclus, In rem publicam II. 324.-325.
- 24.
Lewy 1978, 76–77., 159.n.351, 353:
- 25.
Lewy 1978. 77.; Luck 2000.120.
- 26.
Lewy 1978. 100–101. Cronus is kykloeliktan and helikoeidēs.
- 27.
Lewy 1978. 249–252.
- 28.
Luck 2000. 130., Lewy 1978. 249.
- 29.
Mirjam Mencej, ‘Walking in Circles’, in Mencej, Mirjam (ed.), Space and time in Europe, Ljubljana 2008, 35–66. Cf. Mencej, Mirjam: “A fonástabu megsértőit büntető mitikus lények,” in É. Pócs (ed.), Mágikus és szakrális medicina. Budapest 2010, 154–183, especially 162ff.
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Tóth, A.J. (2017). Mystical Experience in Theurgical Practice. In: Vassányi, M., Sepsi, E., Daróczi, A. (eds) The Immediacy of Mystical Experience in the European Tradition. Sophia Studies in Cross-cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures, vol 18. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45069-8_3
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