Should I start reading the Eneads by Plotinus?

[Audiolog Edu]

I am a begginer in Occultism and have chosen Ogdoadic path, Aurum Solis works with Neo Platonic philosophy and Ive spended my time studying Hermetic Qabbalah and a little time skimming the Zohar Bereshit. I know 1% Neo Platonism, should I get into the Eneads? or should I go read "The Corpus Hermeticum" which I have not read as well.

 

[AbammonTheGreat]

For a magus Sepher Yetzirah is going to be alot more practical than the Zohar.

Corpus Hermeticum is hermetic philosophy, pretty short but pretty essential. It won't teach you magic but it will provide the foundation for understanding your journey through magic.

The Enneads is extremely dense and you're going to want a background with Platos Timaeus and maybe Parmenides. It is philosophy and philosophy will not teach you magic, it will however help you understand how your magic is functioning. The Theurgia (De Mysteriis) by Iamblichus provides alot more practical Neoplatonism for the magus but it is also a book of Philosophy so it won't help your magic too much until you get enough practice in.

There are tons of occultists that will discourage you from studying this type of material and I am not one of them, I think a magus who knows the philosophies you are setting out to learn is a magus without limits and a magus without systems.

Hermetic philosophy will teach you magical cosmology and give you insight into initiation while Neoplatonic philosophy will help you understand apotheosis, theurgy, and the function behind magical sympathies. However at your stage it is important to couple any study you dive into with this with real practical application of magic. Don't just study the philosophies but learn them through firsthand experience while you study.

 

[HoldAll]

My own skimming through Neoplatonist texts proved to be frustrating because I wanted to know how Iamblichus et al. exactly went about all that theurgy business - special meditations, symbols, drugs, what? Except for tantalizing hints here and there, nothing, and from the quotes from De mysteriis I read I got the overall impression that all that Iamblichus did in there was to engage in some polite bickering, teasing and hairsplitting with Porphyry, with some useful snippets here and there. You might just as well read the Chaldean Oracles too, they were supposed to be important for theurgy... I guess I'm just too thick for (Neo)Platonism, either that or I just don't have the required patience.

Book – PDF - Ruth Majercik - The Chaldean Oracles: Text, Translation and Commentary

The Chaldean Oracles hold a special place in the development of the Platonic tradition - they gave a new impetus and inspiration to a number of philosophers now known as neoplatonists. The extant fragments of the Oracles have been the subject of several studies in the modern era: since its...

wizardforums.com

 

[Mars]

I am a begginer in Occultism and have chosen Ogdoadic path, Aurum Solis works with Neo Platonic philosophy and Ive spended my time studying Hermetic Qabbalah and a little time skimming the Zohar Bereshit. I know 1% Neo Platonism, should I get into the Eneads? or should I go read "The Corpus Hermeticum" which I have not read as well.

Yes.

Its one of the best you can read. Then go straight to the Meditations of Emperor Aurelius. And then corpus hermeticum. If you truly understand those works, You will be more of an occultist than whatever you find online or on reddit.

 

[Sabbatius]

Considering that you are tackling the Hermetic approach to a Neo-Platonic Tradition, I recommend the Hermetic Library author Mark Stavish. As much as he writes more essays than anything, he has practical applications once you finish with the philosophical works.

 

[stalkinghyena]

This might help as a primer and also a review of basic concepts echoed through the Platonic rooted traditions, particularly the Enneads.

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