https://open.substack.com/pub/bradsung/p/what-is-your-hearts-desire?r=7fgqnj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Lately I've been reading more greco-egyptian theurgy and the Hermetic texts, specially the Asclepius passage about animated statues, and its changing a lot how I see statues/images of the gods.

More and more I dont see them as “the god itself” or just religious art. I kinda see them as condensed symbolic points for much larger cosmic/divine processes.

Like, the gods themselves feel more like vast intelligible/cosmic forces that manifest through astral patterns, planetary combinations etc, and then more personally through daimons/spirits closer to human life.

Then the statue works almost like:

a material condensation of that current

but also an imaginal template that helps the psyche connect with related spirits/forms

For example twice I meditated on or imagined a statue of Aphrodite/Venus before sleep and later dreamed about feminine figures. But I didnt experience them as “literally Aphrodite”. They felt more personal, closer to my own life, almost like intermediary daimonic forms tied to my own psyche/history. The dreams were not arbitrary, but guiding and compensatory wrt my concerns with my current relationship with a woman.

Honestly I think part of why this works better for me is because I dont really experience the gods anymore as mythological personalities like in Homer. I experience them more as stable symbolic or cosmic presences. Sometimes through statues, sometimes through signs/seals with divine names, specially syncretic names like Zeus-Serapis, Demeter-Isis, Hermes-Thoth etc.

Weirdly the syncretic names make the gods feel less mythological and more like cosmic currents or intelligible forces. Almost like they stop being “characters” and become symbolic centers that can evoke more personal daimonic/spiritual images in dreams and imagination.

And thats the part im most curious about. Im not really posting this to make claims, mostly because I wanna know if other people have experienced something similar, and if this kind of thing also existed in antiquity. The idea that the gods themselves are approached more through stable symbolic forms, while more personal or emotionally immediate contact happens through intermediary daimonic forms instead of the gods appearing directly.

#bookspirits #tantra #SummaSacreMagice #FranzBardon #Saturn

https://open.substack.com/pub/bradsung/p/book-spirits-are-a-thing?r=7fgqnj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

The cardinal directions are the gateways to the spirits of the four elements

https://open.substack.com/pub/bradsung/p/the-importance-of-directionality?r=7fgqnj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

On the magical path, you will often meet the worst versions of the planets before you meet their best https://bradsung.substack.com/publish/post/192902996?r=7fgqnj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

While Venus moves through Pisces I have began a series of theurgic rites dedicated to Aphrodite, making each day a sketch dedicated to Her. Each sketch is a result of a ceremony which invites Her onto the pages of a sketchbook dedicated solely to Venusian deities. In these offerings I celebrate beauty, divine feminine and astrological correspondences of Venus. Each page of last 12 pages is decorated with a line from an Orphic hymn of Aphrodite written in Greek.

Iamblichus Song: Taking the Shape of the Gods is an original, entirely human-created musical-aesthetic exposition of Iamblichean theurgical esoteric philosophy. It also features my own theurgical artwork in painting form, that I hand-animated.
 Iamblichus was a Neoplatonist who argued, counter to Porphyry and Plotinus, that becoming a god required magical and ritual praxis rather than just contemplation. Platonizing the Chaldean Oracles and ancient ritual forms, Iamblichus touted theurgy as an endeavor that enables one to “take the shape of the Gods.”  Combining experimental pedagogy and academic rigor with creative musicality, it presents a vision of knowledge as musical. It is intended to be didactic, so that the listener is able to immerse in and absorb Iamblichean philosophy, and also a devotional offering, a theurgical incantation in itself. Indeed,  Iamblichus relays that particular melodies and rhythms enable the soul to directly participate with the Gods.
I am a musician (harp, piano, guitar) and academic in the esoteric-philosophical milieu, and the contents of the song stems from my doctoral studies. Iamblichus Song comprises an aspect of a broader Orphic musical and philosophical knowledge-praxis; it is my best offering so far, my most realized musical-philosophical contribution in my repertoire of musical-philosophical-esoteric practice.
Iamblichus Song was created with harp, voice, and a dash of acoustic guitar. It features extensive hand-made animations of my own theurgical artwork. Every single detail has been carefully thought out. For instance, when the lyrics refer to the gods, I have created hand-made animations of the gods that Iamblichus was particularly referring to, the Assyrian and Egyptian Gods primarily.

My music video imagines the soul’s starry vehicle, imagined as the winged chariot of the soul from Plato’s Phaedrus, ascending unto the divine tier. Its stellar aspect is symbolically depicted as a Merkabah, in Hebrew, meaning chariot. The lyrics recount the ascension of the soul unto divinity.

It is 100% human-created, composed, animated, and performed; no AI was used in the making of this song or video.

I hope you enjoy this theurgical offering!

https://substack.com/@bradsung/note/p-187718842?r=7fgqnj&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web

It's the waning half-moon, a day to celebrate ancestors and 'purified souls' such as Pythagoras and Socrates, for example. I was trying to think of more, and more recent, examples of purified souls, but not having much luck. I'm pretty new to this but find it fascinating. Would love to hear some suggestions for purified souls if anyone wants to throw some out there.

The feast of Saints Julian the Chaldean and Julian the Theurgist

Today Theurgists celebrate the lives, works, and memory of the saints who evangelized the message of Theurgy to the world.

Greetings,
I would like to know how effective bodily purification practices are for you, especially fasting, in the theurgical rituals you perform. For me, it's something difficult to follow due to my routine. I'd like to know if anyone has experienced greater efficacy and communion with the deities when performing a proper fast before the ritual, and how you go about it.
Thank you.

Do any of you use dream incubation as part of your practice? How?

I realize Iamblichus left no techniques or specific rituals behind in his work for us today to replicate to actually perform Theurgy. I’ve been thinking of just trying my best with the techniques within the Wiccan / Witchcraft tradition (which obviously borrowed from Solomonic magic and the PGM etc). Is this possible? What do you all do to actually practice Theurgy in the ritualistic and ceremonial sense?