That the Gods are not how they present themselves, nor are they limited to any human conception
We must understand that the gods are not their atributes, rather, they use them to communicate with us, to form a bridge. It is we who atribute them qualities, which they voluntarily choose to clothe themselves into, so that they can become visible to our spiritual eyes, understood by our spiritual ears, aprehended by our spiritual nose and incorporated by our spiritual mouth (in vedic thought, the indriyas, cognitive senses, “pertaining to Indra”, the Mind).
(The Higher Mind, Nous, as a prism separating the Intelligible Light of The Good into several intellections (principles, logoi), which are still unified like a rainbow (Iris),
and by correspondence, also (in) the human mind.)
“And by Iris, who is sent as a messenger of Zeus, he represents the “speaking” [eironta] word, just as by Hermes he represents the “explicatory” [hermêneuonta] word.5” Homeric Problems, Heraclitus, 28
(Note 5: Iris = eris, “strife” (Servius on Aen. 9.2); iris quasi aeris (“as though of air,” Isidore of Seville, Etymologies 13.10.1). For the derivation from eirô, see Scholia on Hesiod, Theog. 266 = SVF 2.137: iris de ho prophorikos logos (“Iris is the overt word”).
But the gods cannot be forced into manifesting through certain atributes, because first the relation should be like that of a parent to a child, and children don’t dictate the laws, and also because second the atributes change according to the spiritual state of the devotee, and these “laws” are what dictate how they manifest.
Otherwise, trying to force them to manifest through certain atributes will not only be ineffective, it will only attract daimons of a lesser quality, as Porphyry stated in Abstinence from Aminal Food, which impersonate deities, to get “food” to enhance their pneumatic vehicles.
Theurgy and devotional ritual should be therefore, a surrendering, not a demand. Only by surrendering can a deity abide, and even then, it likely will change from atribute to atribute according to the spiritual evolution of the devotee, since the gods work in mysterious ways, and only in ways which please them, and because supermundanely they are essentially “together”, as in the banquet of the gods interpreted by Salutius, meaning, essentially they are not separated. Only in entering or manifesting in the Cosmos do they seem to be separate identities.
“But we may perceive the mixed kind of fables, as well in many other particulars, as in the fable which relates, that Discord at a banquet of the gods threw a golden apple, and that a dispute about it arising among the goddesses, they were sent by Jupiter to take the judgement of Paris, who, charmed with the beauty of Venus, gave her the apple in preference to the rest. For in this fable the banquet denotes the supermundane powers of the gods; and on this account they subsist in conjunction with each other: but the golden apple denotes the world, which, on account of its composition from contrary natures, is not improperly said to be thrown by Discord, or strife. But again, since different gifts are imparted to the world by different gods, they appear to contest with each other for the apple.” Sallust On the Gods and the World, Chapter IV
"“'Now look at the wisdom of the Greeks, and examine it as follows. The authors of the Orphic hymns supposed Zeus to be the mind of the world, and that he created all things therein, containing the world in himself. Therefore in their theological systems they have handed down their opinions concerning him thus:'
Zeus was the first, Zeus last, the lightning's lord,
Zeus head, Zeus centre, all things are from Zeus.
Zeus born a male, Zeus virgin undefiled;
Zeus the firm base of earth and starry heaven;
Zeus sovereign, Zeus alone first cause of all:
One power divine, great ruler of the world,
One kingly form, encircling all things here,
Fire, water, earth, and ether, night and day;
Wisdom, first parent, and delightful Love”
Porphyry, On Cult Images, Fr. 3
“And if we take the male gods to represent the Intellectual Powers and the female gods to be their souls- to every Intellectual Principle its companion Soul- we are forced, thus also, to make Aphrodite the Soul of Zeus; and the identification is confirmed by Priests and Theologians who consider Aphrodite and Hera one and the same and call Aphrodite's star the star of Hera.”
Plotinus, Enneads, Fifth Tractate, Section 8
“Just as lovers systematically leave behind what is fair to sensation and attain the one true source of all that is fair and intelligible, in the same way priests — observing how all things are in all from the sympathy that all visible things have for one another and for the invisible powers — have also framed their priestly knowledge. For they were amazed to see the last in the first and the very first in the last; in heaven they saw earthly things acting causally and in a heavenly manner, in the earth heavenly things in an earthly manner.”
“For what is in the One-before-all makes its appearance in all, in which are also communications between souls set beneath one god or another.”
“The cause of this is not to be grasped from appearances but from intellectual vision and from differences among the causes.”
“Therefore, some solar angels seem to have forms of this same kind, and though they are formless they appear formed to us held fast in form.” etc, etc…
“The first God being incorporeal, immoveable, and impartible, and neither subsisting in any thing, nor restrained in his energies, is not, as has been before observed, in want of any thing external to himself, as neither is the soul of the world; but this latter, containing in itself the principle of that which is triply divisible, and being naturally self-motive, is adapted to be moved in a beautiful and orderly manner, and also to move the body of the world, according to the most excellent reasons [i.e. productive principles or powers].”
“39. The pneumatic substance, therefore, of good daimons, possesses symmetry, in the same manner as the bodies of the visible Gods; but the spirit of malefic daimons is deprived of symmetry, and in consequence of its abounding in passivity, they are distributed about the terrestrial region.”
“40. yet they endeavour to persuade us, that they are the causes of things the most contrary to these, viz. of fertility, [salubrity, and elementary peace.] Hence, they exonerate themselves from blame, and, in the first place, endeavour to avoid being detected as the sources of injury; and, in the next place, they convert us to supplications and sacrifices to the beneficent Gods, as if they were angry.”
“42. For they are full of every kind of imagination, and are sufficiently qualified to deceive, through effects of a prodigious nature; and through these, unhappy men procure philtres, and amatory allurements. For all intemperance, and hope of possessing wealth and renown, and especially deception, exist through these, since falsehood is allied to these malevolent beings; for they wish to be considered as Gods, and the power which presides over them is ambitious to appear to be the greatest God. These are they that rejoice in libations, and the savour of sacrifices, through which their pneumatic vehicle is fattened; for this vehicle lives through vapours and exhalations, and the life of it is various through various exhalations. It is likewise corroborated by the savour of blood and flesh.”
“43. On this account, a wise and temperate man will be religiously afraid to use sacrifices of this kind, through which he will attract to himself such-like daimons; but he will endeavour in all possible ways to purify his soul.”
“For, as theologists say, it is necessary for those who are bound to things external, and have not yet vanquished their passions, should avert the anger of this [malefic] power; since, if they do not, there will be no end to their labours.
44. Thus far what pertains to sacrifices has been elucidated.”
Porphyry, On abstinence from animal food, Book Two
© 2025 Gnomikyon All Rights Reserved
Comentários
Enviar um comentário