Practical theurgy or "ceremonial magic," so often resorted to in their exorcisms by the Roman Catholic clergy, was discarded by the Theosophists.
Plotinus was still an independent philosopher, inheriting the traditions of Greek thought, though not the traditions of Greek life, building his system avowedly by a rational method, and altogether rejecting theurgy or religious magic.
The latter made the state of ecstasy or quietism its ideal condition, and sought to purify the mind by theurgy or special religious rites.
His letter to the Egyptian priest, Anebo, consists of sharply-put questions as to the validity of any kind of theurgy or divination.
The first of these was drawn, repelled, and tortured by the common superstitions, especially the magic and theurgy which made men gape; but Iamblicus gladly sported in these mottled currents.
In the Augustan Age an effort was made to bolster up Neopythagoreanism by means of theurgy and magic.
The celebrated cures by Vespasian are connected with the ordinary theurgy of the Pythagorean School; and Apollonius is found here, as in many other instances, to be the instrument of a political party.
To whichever principle the miracles of Apollonius be referred, theurgy or magic, in either case they are independent of the First Cause, and not granted with a view to the particular purpose to which they are to be applied.
And of theurgy itself, though he recommends it as reconciling angels and demons, he cannot deny that it treats with powers which either themselves envy the soul its purity, or serve the arts of those who do envy it.
Not until this stage was reached did theism and theurgy lose their title and become superstition; until then they could claim fullest acceptance in medicine as thoroughly logical consequences of the prevailing theory of life.
Theurgy was the second method of counteracting the evil influence of demons.
The occult knowledge gleaned by religion from the fat fields of theurgy was sedulously guarded for its own use, and it sent to the stake only those practitioners who poached on its preserves.
It is said that the religious bodies copied their demonology from the Kabala of the Jews, and that the latter borrowed their system of theurgy and theology from the Egyptian and Babylonian priests.
In fine, the Christian Theurgy being employed by a pontiff in the consecration of a king, renders him more respectable in the eyes of men, and stamps him with a divine character.
We have already seen thisTheurgy in Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist.
The element of theurgy is thus brought into relation with the heathen divinities: “The first and chief names of the gods, one must admit, are founded in the gods themselves.
Now as theurgy through certain symbols calls forth the unenvying goodness of God to the light of the images of the artist, the science of thought makes the hidden reality of God appear through the uniting and separating of the tones.
It was inevitable that the triumphanttheurgy should set to work with remorseless vigor to extirpate its fallen rival, as soon as it could fully control the powers of the State.
This theurgy was developed to its fullest extent in the marvels related of the Neo-Platonists, thus directly influencing Christian thought, which necessarily ascribed its miracles to the invocations of demons.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "theurgy" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
