vi-xii) that verses 73-74 of the proem to the poem referred to the execution of thetheurgist Maximus in the reign of Valens in terms of specific legislation against divination passed by the emperor Constantius II (25 January 357).

(36) See Van den Berg, Proclus' Hymns, 87, where he notes the parallel between Iamblichus and Proclus on the fact that prayers were not meant to force the gods as the "gods conferred their blessing on thetheurgist because of the ties of [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] between the gods and their creatures.

(3) This is not surprising when we consider that--much like thetheurgist rediscovering a lost alchemy--public librarians are only recently reacquainting themselves with readers advisory or reader development, as attested by Karen Cunningham, Glasgow's Head of Libraries

Such omissions of necessary details also appear in the theurgic rituals in the Chaldean Oracles, where thetheurgist is told to hold an unidentified password in his mind as he prepares for ascension; "gnostic" Christian and Jewish texts likewise specify knowledge of certain phrases as critical elements of heavenly ascent.

The Symbolists believed in the potential power of poetry to transform the world; the poet was considered to be atheurgist and a prophet.

The same may be said of Pearson's promising thesis that the Nag Hammadi Codices echo rituals of ascent and union comparable to those of thetheurgist. A moment's speculation on the inevitable effects of ritual usage will suffice to explode the |consensus' that the present Zostrianus and Allogenes are the books that Plotinus knew.

Here, thetheurgist is advised to escape materiality by opting to reenter it.

The motif of a prophet,theurgist, or holy man seeking an immortal, often by ascending to heaven, in order to receive esoteric knowledge is one common in late antiquity.(34)

The first is the interpretation developed over the last quarter century of the late antique movement in Neoplatonic philosophy of Iamblichus as no longer demonictheurgist, but as religious philosopher, at least in part countering growing Christian intellectual and social influence by developing the understanding of the philosopher as a pagan holy figure with sapiential sayings, miracles, and historical genealogy.

The latter's treatise De radiis appears therefore to be an innovative combination of catarchic astrology with the magical technique of telestike described for example in the Chaldaean Oracles of Julian theTheurgist.