Chaldean Oracles
Surviving fragments of an early-2nd c. CE Greek mystical poem attributed pseudonymously to Zoroaster — scripture for the late-Neoplatonic theurgic school (Iamblichus, Proclus, Damascius). William Wynn Westcott's 1895 edition (Collectanea Hermetica vol. VI), drawing on Stanley (1661) and Cory (1828).
Source context· Greco-Christian stream · Egypto-Chaldean cultural impulse
- Stream
- Greco-Christian
- Cultural impulse
- Egypto-Chaldean (3rd post-Atlantean cultural age)
- Composed
- c. 150 CE
- Written down
- Greco-Latin (4th post-Atlantean cultural age) manuscript epoch
- 1Preface — Preface — Westcott on the Oracles
W. Wynn Westcott's 1895 preface to his edition of the Chaldean Oracles. The Oracles' provenance (the second-century Julian the Theurgist and his son Julian the Chaldean), their later prominence in Iamblichean and Proclan Neoplatonism, and their survival only in fragments through citations in the Neoplatonist commentators.
894 words - 2Introduction — Introduction — sources and method
On the sources by which the Oracles have come to us — chiefly through Damascius, Proclus, Psellus, and Plethon. The principles of textual reconstruction; the rationale for grouping the fragments under thematic headings (rather than presenting them in the chronological order of their citations).
4,172 words - 3The Oracles of Zoroaster — The Oracles of Zoroaster
The largest section — the body of fragments traditionally grouped as the Oracles of Zoroaster. The doctrines of the Paternal Fountain, the Intelligible Triad, the empyrean and ethereal worlds, the iynges and the great chain of being. The cosmological core of the Chaldean tradition.
1,339 words - 4Ideas — Ideas — the Platonic forms in Chaldean dress
On the Ideas in Chaldean teaching. The Paternal Mind contains the eternal Ideas as the patterns of all existence; the Ideas proceed forth through the iynges (the connecting principles); the world of becoming is the manifestation of the Ideas at the lowest level.
1,158 words - 5Particular Souls — Particular Souls
On the individual soul. Each soul has its origin in the divine source, descends through the seven planetary spheres acquiring its vehicles, and is enjoined to ascend again through theurgic practice. The Chaldean prescription of the soul's return.
795 words - 6Matter — Matter
On matter (ὕλη) in Chaldean doctrine. Matter as the dark recipient at the lowest extreme of the procession from the One; not evil in itself but the place where the soul becomes most heavily bound; the realm from which the theurgist works upward.
1,167 words - 7Magical and Philosophical Precepts — Magical and Philosophical Precepts
The aphoristic-practical fragments: Slope not downward!, Stretch not thy mind earthward!, Defile not the spirit, nor add a plane to a plane! The injunctions by which the soul orients itself for the upward path. The proverbs of the Chaldean discipline.
1,786 words - 8Oracles From Porphyry — Oracles from Porphyry
The fragments that survive specifically in Porphyry's citations — chiefly from his Philosophy from Oracles. Porphyry's selection emphasises the soul's purification and the role of theurgic ritual; the section preserves the principal Porphyrian witness to the Chaldean tradition.
264 words
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