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Theurgy and Magic with Gregory Shaw, Ph.D, Begins
Five Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
DATES TBD: REQUESTED: January 15 - February 12, Thursdays 7-9 p.m. EST
7 pm - 9 pm EST
$160 Paid Patreon Members / $177 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time.
Theurgy and Magic invites us to recover the Hermetic Art, the ancient Egyptian and Platonic magic that envisioned a world ensouled by intelligent spirits.
Platonic philosophers created Western culture in the form of inspired mathematics, music, philosophy, and architecture. In the 4th century, Platonism culminated in theurgic rituals that were guided by Hermes and transmitted by Iamblichus who taught theurgy as a Hermetic art with Hermes as the founder and inspiring presence of his tradition. We don’t know Hermes historically, but theurgists saw him as the master of Egyptian magic that was integrated with Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy. Iamblichus and Platonic theurgists created a framework that engaged the social world and provided the means to experience gods and spirits in our embodied life. For them the world was filled with spiritual powers, and theurgic magic was the art of engaging these powers. Intellectuals today derisively describe their worldview as animism, which is the experience of living in an ensouled world. Today we no longer live in that world. In fact, we ridicule and disparage anyone who does.
We have lost the vision and the magic of these Platonic theurgists, yet for creative artists who follow a visionary way of life, Iamblichus and theurgy provide support that can sustain their work. When introduced to theurgy, artists of all kinds recognize a system that they already know intuitively and express in their poetry, dance and visual art. Iamblichus makes this magical tradition not only accessible imaginatively but intellectually as well. The Hermetic art of theurgy was honored as the highest form of philosophy by the leading thinkers of the ancient world. Although it was repressed and eventually suffocated by the Imperial Church, theurgy survived in esoteric traditions, among magicians, alchemists, artists, and even within the Abrahamic religions. From this perspective, all genuine elevations of the soul can be seen as theurgic, as collaborations with divine activity.
This course will introduce theurgy through selected readings. Each class assignment will begin with a focus on theurgy in the 4th century, but we will translate Iamblichus’s framework to our experiences and practice. This course will not focus on simply gaining information about the ancient world but will use Iamblichus’s theurgy to deepen our own spiritual work. Those who enroll in the class will be expected to share their understanding of theurgical principles in our readings and in their own art, whether that art is writing, painting, dancing, music, astrology, or the channeling of spirits.
—
Gregory Shaw, Ph.D. is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College. He is the author of Theurgy and the Soul (1995; 2014). Hellenic Tantra (2024)' and Iamblichus and Theurgy - Collected Papers (2025). Having taught for 35 years, Professor Shaw's passion is realized in the spontaneous insights that arise in class discussion.
Five Week Class Taught Online Via Zoom
DATES TBD: REQUESTED: January 15 - February 12, Thursdays 7-9 p.m. EST
7 pm - 9 pm EST
$160 Paid Patreon Members / $177 General Admission
PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time.
Theurgy and Magic invites us to recover the Hermetic Art, the ancient Egyptian and Platonic magic that envisioned a world ensouled by intelligent spirits.
Platonic philosophers created Western culture in the form of inspired mathematics, music, philosophy, and architecture. In the 4th century, Platonism culminated in theurgic rituals that were guided by Hermes and transmitted by Iamblichus who taught theurgy as a Hermetic art with Hermes as the founder and inspiring presence of his tradition. We don’t know Hermes historically, but theurgists saw him as the master of Egyptian magic that was integrated with Pythagorean and Platonic philosophy. Iamblichus and Platonic theurgists created a framework that engaged the social world and provided the means to experience gods and spirits in our embodied life. For them the world was filled with spiritual powers, and theurgic magic was the art of engaging these powers. Intellectuals today derisively describe their worldview as animism, which is the experience of living in an ensouled world. Today we no longer live in that world. In fact, we ridicule and disparage anyone who does.
We have lost the vision and the magic of these Platonic theurgists, yet for creative artists who follow a visionary way of life, Iamblichus and theurgy provide support that can sustain their work. When introduced to theurgy, artists of all kinds recognize a system that they already know intuitively and express in their poetry, dance and visual art. Iamblichus makes this magical tradition not only accessible imaginatively but intellectually as well. The Hermetic art of theurgy was honored as the highest form of philosophy by the leading thinkers of the ancient world. Although it was repressed and eventually suffocated by the Imperial Church, theurgy survived in esoteric traditions, among magicians, alchemists, artists, and even within the Abrahamic religions. From this perspective, all genuine elevations of the soul can be seen as theurgic, as collaborations with divine activity.
This course will introduce theurgy through selected readings. Each class assignment will begin with a focus on theurgy in the 4th century, but we will translate Iamblichus’s framework to our experiences and practice. This course will not focus on simply gaining information about the ancient world but will use Iamblichus’s theurgy to deepen our own spiritual work. Those who enroll in the class will be expected to share their understanding of theurgical principles in our readings and in their own art, whether that art is writing, painting, dancing, music, astrology, or the channeling of spirits.
—
Gregory Shaw, Ph.D. is Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at Stonehill College. He is the author of Theurgy and the Soul (1995; 2014). Hellenic Tantra (2024)' and Iamblichus and Theurgy - Collected Papers (2025). Having taught for 35 years, Professor Shaw's passion is realized in the spontaneous insights that arise in class discussion.