Mystai

This one caught my eye fairly recently, and is a collection of essays by various authors on modern approaches to Neoplatonic theurgy and practice. It's nice to see some Porphyrian and Plotinian material getting attention here too, with contemplative theoria included/classified as theurgy, rather than a purely Iamblichean ritual approach, which is becoming the norm.

Excited to dig in!

#theurgy #neoplatonism #plotinus #porphyry #Iamblichus

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 5

Mystai

I know I have been largely inactive on here for the better part of a year, mostly as I've been writing a thesis and completing my MA. Quite honestly, I also became dissolutioned with online stuff, especially given the current political and social climate. It has felt nice to solely focus on in-person events and lectures for a while.

I submitted my thesis a couple of weeks ago though, so am slowly coming back to my old online pages and reviving them a bit. I have a couple of new series ideas that I am actively writing and editing right now, mainly focused around theurgy, late antique philosophy and practical handbook knowledge, the cognitive science of religion (and Lived Religion models in anthropology, and interactions between Buddhism and Neoplatonism (mainly Plotinus and Iamblichus).

A large part of my MA also had me studying and getting invovled in MENA (Middle East and North African)/SWANA (South-West Asian and North African) politics, heritage and ethics, especially around the utilisation of the region's heritage in modern politics, war and identity. I would love to share some videos and content on heritage, ethics, archaeology and the like, but it would be a little different to the usual programming, so let me know if it's something you'd be interested in.

When I left the channel a year ago, I had just reached 2000 subs, and this is the first time i've logged in, and we're now at ~3.5k, which is great. It also means there are a lot of new faces here who I haven't really interacted with yet. So, here's a poll to help me get an idea of what kind of content you'd like to see moving forward.

Any other suggestions welcomed in comments!

3 months ago | [YT] | 6

Mystai

Brunton's (1928) excavations at the cemeteries of Qau and Badari are fascinating to me. He catalogued tons of items from graves, but i'm especially finding his amulet section useful.

He charted amulets across multiple dynasties (here the 4th-12th, although his dating is quite off for boundaries) and grouped them on the basis of form. What's really cool is that you can see how generations attempted to replicate older forms, but struggled as knowledge and craft style changed, creating this interesting "degeneration" effect where they get progressively more blocky and abstract. But a lot of the time, you can still kinda see what the original model was (presumably that the artisan had seen in front of them at some point).

I'm wondering how much this kind of principle also applies to forms of ritual or textual formats, where concepts and ideas are re-interpreted across generations and re-inscribed with meaning.

6 months ago | [YT] | 5

Mystai

"Once visualisation has been established, the Yogi enters the Three Beings (sattva; sems dpa') phase. [They] begin by visualising the main Yidam (form of the deity) in the space in front of them before "becoming" it, in visualised form, created mentally by the imagination (the Meditational Being, samayasattva)

The Yogi then invokes the "real" deity (Jna asattva, the Wisdom Being) [i.e. through and by the mentally produced image, cf Plotinus Enn V8 (31). 9.13, also VI 5 (23) 7.4-6, and V (10). 6.9] and its accompanying Wisdom Beings (daimons), all of which then merge into their mental, "artifical" visualisation.

In the heart of the samayasattva and jnanasattva conjoined that the Yogi is, there then appears the Absorbtion Being (samadhisattva) often in the form of the seed-syllable, surrounded by the mantra [cf voces magicae].

The Three Beings: the Meditational/Symbolic (which is generated) the Wisdom/Joining (which is invited), and the Absorbtion (which is the result) are central to Tantric/Vajyrayana practice.

From here, with the recitations of the mantra, the deity emits rays of light in all directions.

For Iamblichus, once the luminous ochema is filled with light, it allows us to take in light, but the vision is no longer our own, we become possessed...we no longer receive light; we give it...

...the same activity of the divine fire which shines universally on its own initiative, self summoned and self energising, acts in the same way throughout all Beings (DM IV 3.185 6-7)."

Langouët, G. 2025. Iamblichus' Theourgia and Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, Non-material Sunthemata and Yidam Practice. In Alexandrov, E; O'Neili, A (eds): Buddhism and Neoplatonism. Chisokudo: Japan. 119-147 [132-133]

#Iamblichus #buddhism #theurgy #plotinus #vajrayana #sattva #ochema #deityyoga

6 months ago | [YT] | 8

Mystai

Little out of season, but the Solstice does mark the nights getting longer, I suppose. I've heard great things about Edward Parnell's books, especially in how he writes and deals with the prospect of grief. Some good ghost stories and landscape phenomenology are great mediums for it 🪨

7 months ago | [YT] | 4

Mystai

Current study obsession: Astrological Pinaxes. Here's one reconstructed by Moyer (2024: 122) based on the one described in the "α" recension of the Alexander Romance (1.4.5-7):

“As (Nectanebo) spoke, he drew out a costly and royal tablet (pinax), which words are unable to explain; it was made of ivory and ebony and gold and silver, divided into three zones; on the first circle it had the 36 decans, on the second, the 12 signs of the zodiac, and in the middle, the Sun and the Moon; and he placed it on a stool. Then he opened a case, likewise of ivory and small, and having emptied out the seven stars and the ascendant (horoskopos), made of eight worked stones he laid out the firmament –so great! – in a tiny circle, and illuminated it all around, setting forth the Sun
of rock-crystal, the Moon of diamond, the Mars of haematite, the Mercury of emerald, the Jupiter of ethereal stone, the Venus of lapis lazuli, the Saturn of serpentine, and the ascendant of white marble. And he said, “Tell me, queen, the year, month, day, and hour of your own birth.” When she had spoken, Nectanebo calculated his own nativity and hers, to see if their stars were in a favorable alignment. Seeing that the casting of the stars was well-disposed, he said, “What do you wish to hear, O queen.”

While this literary portrait is definitely anachronistic in terms of the tools and astrological system for a scene set in the 4th century B.C, it would have been fairly recognisable as having Egyptian flourishes in the late Hellenistic and Imperial Roman period.

Second Image: One of two 2nd century AD ivory/wood diptychs found in Grand (Vosges).

#astrology #demotic #nectanebo #egyptianastrolgy #hellenistic #decans #iatromathematica #hermetica

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7 months ago | [YT] | 10

Mystai

Short post of some of my current reading up on patreon! I'm looking at evidence of continuity in scribal formating conventions in the Demotic formularies and how they differ from more hellenised literaty formats like the Phillina and Berlin papyrus.

There's some solid work by Dieleman (2011), which I cite here, but also Faraone (2000) and Edmonds (2020), which situates the Greek-Egyptian formularies in the context of circulating practical knowledge that shares formatting and rhetorical styles/strategies with contemporary alchemical and medical texts/collections of recipes.

Read here: www.patreon.com/posts/130360087?utm_campaign=posts…

#pgm #demotic #alchemy #magic #zosimos

7 months ago | [YT] | 4

Mystai

Oldie but goldie. Very excited to begin study of this one. Thank you to Julie from @fintrytrust for making me aware of the ongoing reading/study groups for Plotinus' works on Beauty (integralwisdom.org/book-group-exploring-beauty-bea….

#plotinus #enneads #nous #beauty #noesis

8 months ago | [YT] | 4

Mystai

https://youtu.be/5uCxzLy9cTo?si=ZLgLE...

I'm in the process of remastering some of my older videos now I have a bit of time in between my thesis. The first is the one on Tulpas that was pretty popular. I've remastered the audio and added new visuals and altered the scripting and pacing slightly for better viewing.

Hope it helps!

8 months ago | [YT] | 7

Mystai

I've been working on some Late Saxon/Early Medieval folk charms recently, and they do have a certain quality to them that always intrigues me. Here's a translation of the famous Wið Færstice by Hall (2007: 2-3), a charm designed seemingly to cure "elf-shot" (perhaps an early interpretation of rheumatoid):

They were loud, yes, loud, when they rode over the (burial) mound; they were fierce when they rode across the land.

Shield yourself now, you can survive this strife.
Out, little spear, if there is one here within. It stood under lime-wood, under a light-weight shield, where those mighty women marshalled their powers, and they sent shrieking spears.

I will send another back, a flying arrow ahead in opposition. Out, little spear, if it is here within.
A craftsman sat, forged a knife/knives; small as swords go, violent the wound. Out, little spear, if it should be here within.

Six craftsmen sat, wrought slaughter-spears.
Be out, spear, not in, spear. If there is here within a piece of iron/swords, the work/deed of hægtessan, it must melt.

If you were shot in the skin or were shot in the flesh or were shot in the blood, or were shot in the limb, may your life never be harmed. If it was the shot of ēse or it was the shot of ælfe or it was the shot of hægtessan, now I want to help you.

This for you as a remedy for the shot of ēse; this for you as a remedy for the shot of ælfe,
this for you as a remedy for the shot of hægtessan; I will help you. Fly around there on the mountain top. Be healthy, may the Lord help you.

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9 months ago | [YT] | 4