The ancient Greeks thought that individuals might train themselves to be possessed by deities via the practice of theurgy. Individuals who were ritually possessed functioned as oracles.
Theurgy, which means "working with God," was the last significant expression of Pagan faith, and it served as a basis for subsequent magical traditions. Julianus the Chaldean, who authored The Chaldean Oracles in c.170 CE, coined the word "theurgy."
In Theurgy, Hecate was a particularly important goddess. The declared goal of theurgy was to help the individual magician gain access to heavenly truth.
There were a variety of approaches:
• Theurgists recite incantations based on Egyptian customs to induce spirits to enter sculptures. The statue may then be asked questions.
• Children who acted as mediums were put into trance states (see also Istinzal).
• The spirit mounts, or briefly possesses, a theurgist who aids ritual possession via the use of clothes, equipment, and music in a manner similar to contemporary Santeria, Vodou, and Zar.
Theurgy was labeled as evil when Christianity became popular.
The last Pagan Roman Emperor, Emperor Julian, was an initiated theurgist who promoted other theurgists to prominent administrative posts.
- Julian was succeeded by a Christian Emperor, who ousted the theurgists from power and subjected them to Christian persecution once again.
- Proclus (February 8, 411–April 17, 485) was the last of the great theurgists, teaching Theurgy in Plato's Academy in Athens.
- Emperor Justinian outlawed Theurgy, along with all other Pagan practices, in 529.
You may also want to read more about Paganism here.
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