Chaldean Oracles
Magical and Philosophical Precepts
Direct not thy mind to the vast surfaces of the Earth; for the Plant of Truth grows not upon the ground. Nor measure the motions of the Sun, collecting rules, for he is carded by the Eternal Will of the Father,. and not for your sake alone. Dismiss (from your mind) the impetuous course of the Moon, for she moveth always by the power of necessity. The progression of the Stars was not generated for your sake. The wide aërial flight of birds gives no true knowledge nor the dissection of the entrails of victims; they are all mere toys, the basis of mercenary fraud:, flee from these if you would enter the sacred paradise of piety, where Virtue, Wisdom, and Equity are assembled.
Stoop not down unto the Darkly-Splendid World; wherein continually lieth a faithless Depth, and Hades wrapped in clouds, delighting in unintellible images, precipitous, winding, a black ever-rolling Abyss; ever espousing a Body unluminous, formless and void.
Stoop not down, for a precipice lieth beneath the Earth, reached by a descending Ladder which hath Seven Steps, and therein is established the Throne of an evil and fatal force.
Stay not on the Precipice with the dross of Matter, for there is a place for thy Image in a realm ever splendid.
It becometh you not to behold them before your body is initiated, since by always alluring they seduce the souls from the sacred mysteries.
Change not the barbarous Names of Evocation for there are sacred Names in every language which are given by God, having in the Sacred Rites a Power Ineffable.
The conception of the glowing Fire hath the first rank, for the mortal who approacheth that Fire shall have Light from God; and unto the persevering mortal the Blessed Immortals are swift.
It becometh you to hasten unto the Light, and to the Rays of the Father, from whom was sent unto you a Soul (Psyche) endued with much mind (Nous).
There is a certain Intelligible One. whom it becometh you to understand with the Flower of Mind.
But the Paternal Mind accepteth not the aspiration of the soul until she hath passed out of her oblivious state, and pronounceth the Word; regaining the Memory of the pure paternal Symbol.
Unto some He gives the ability to receive the Knowledge of Light; and others, even when asleep, he makes fruitful from His own strength.
It is not proper to understand that Intelligible One with vehemence, but with the extended flame of far reaching Mind, measuring all things except that Intelligible. But it is requisite to understand this; for if thou inclinest thy Mind thou wilt understand it, not earnestly; but it is becoming to bring with thee a pure and enquiring sense, to extend the void mind of thy Soul to the Intelligible, that thou mayest learn the Intelligible, because it subsisteth beyond Mind.
Things Divine are not attainable by mortals who understand the body alone, but only by those who stripped of their garments arrive at the summit.
Having put on the completely armed-vigour of resounding Light, with triple strength fortifying the Soul and the Mind, He must put into the Mind the various Symbols, and not walk dispersedly on the empyræan path, but with concentration.
Explore the River of the Soul, whence, or in what order you have come: so that although you have become a servant to the body, you may again rise to the Order from which you descended, joining works to sacred reason.
Man, being an intelligent Mortal, must bridle his Soul that she may not incur terrestrial infelicity, but be saved.
The telestic life through Divine Fire removeth all the stains, together with everything of a foreign and irrational nature, which the spirit of the Soul has attracted from generation, as we are taught by the Oracle to believe.
The Oracles of the Gods declare, that through purifying ceremonies, not the Soul only, but bodies themselves become Worth) of receiving much assistance and health, for, say they, the mortal vestment of coarse Matter will by these means be purified." And this, the Gods, in an exhortatory manner, announce to the moat holy of Theurgists.
The Oracles often give victory to our own choice, and not to the Order alone of the Mundane periods. As, for instance, when they say, "On beholding thyself, fear!" And again, "Believe thy-self to be above the Body, and thou art so." And, still further, when they assert, "That our voluntary sorrows germinate in us the growth of the particular life we lead."
As the Oracle thereforth saith: God is never so turned away from man, and never so much sendeth him new paths, as when he maketh ascent to divine speculations or works in a confused or disordered manner, and as it adds, with unhallowed lips, or unwashed feet. For of those who are thus negligent, the progress is imperfect, the impulses are vain, and the paths are dark.
The number nine is divine, receives its completion from three triads, and attains the summits of theology, according to the Chaldaic philosophy as Porphyry informeth us.
In the left side of Hecate is a fountain of Virtue, which remaineth entirely within her, not sending forth its virginity.
Lest being baptized to the Furies of the Earth, and to the necessities of nature (as some one of the Gods saith), you should perish.
Nature persuadeth us that there are pure Dæmons, and that evil germs of Matter may alike become useful and good.
So therefore first the Priest who governeth the works of Fire, must sprinkle with the Water of the loud-resounding Sea.
When thou shalt see a Terrestrial Dæmon approaching, Cry aloud! and sacrifice the stone Mnizourin.
If thou often invokest thou shalt see all things growing dark; and then when no longer is visible unto thee the High-arched Vault of Heaven, when the Stars have lost their Light and the Lamp of the Moon is veiled, the Earth abideth not, and around thee darts the Lightning Flame and all things appear amid thunders.
From the Cavities of the Earth leap forth the terrestrial Dog-faced demons, showing no true sign unto mortal man.
A similar Fire flashingly extending through the rushings of Air, or a Fire formless whence cometh the Image of a Voice, or even a flashing Light abounding, revolving, whirling forth, crying aloud. Also there is the vision of the fire-flashing Courser of Light, or also a Child, borne aloft on the shoulders of the Celestial Steed, fiery, or clothed with gold, or naked, or shooting with the bow shafts of Light, and standing on the shoulders of the horse; then if thy meditation prolongeth itself, thou shalt unite all these Symbols into the Form of a Lion.