Theurgy: Theory and Practice

Connects the magical practice of theurgy to the time of Homer

• Explores the many theurgic themes and events in the Odyssey and the Iliad

• Analyzes the writings of Neoplatonists Porphyry and Proclus, showing how both describe the technical ritual praxis of theurgy in Homeric terms

• Examines the methods of telestike, a form of theurgic statue animation and technique to divinize the soul, and how theurgy is akin to shamanic soul flight

First defined by the second century Chaldean Oracles, theurgy is an ancient magic practice whereby practitioners divinized the soul and achieved mystical union with a deity, the Demiurge, or the One.

In this detailed study, P. D. Newman pushes the roots of theurgy all the way back before the time of Homer. He shows how the Chaldean Oracles were not only written in Homeric Greek but also in dactylic hexameter, the same meter as the epics of Homer.