"Iamblichus had less confidence in philosophy" -Copenhaver [I don't see Pico presenting Iamblichus as anti-philosophy but pro, if occult]
Hugh Trevor-Roper "the pseudo-Dionysius was a Christian Platonist of the sixth century who plagiarized Proclus"
Farmer notes that Pico was as attentive and penetrating a reader as those who later deconstructed Dionysius due to Proclan influence.
Farmer: Pico's identification of the sefirot with the henads was not thus simply the wild fantasy of a Renaissance syncretist.
Farmer: Similarly, when Pico suggested that Proclus's "guardians" (a henadic order) and Pseudo-Dionysius's "powers"
Dionysius made clever use of Platonic terminology for his own purposes, a lesson not lost on Aquinas.This is Pico's metaphysical inheritance
Dionysius was philosophizing about problem of Biblical angel, mitigating dangers of magic+Platonism, Pico follows this trend of careful read
does Pico imply theurgy w/ "higher part of mind/soul convenes w/ angel" or is this simply the kind of angelic presence that is PD's problem?
if all we need theurgy for is mystical ascent,why use term? if special category between magic+mysticism,problem of Pico's magic's uniqueness
Did Pico turn away from Plotinus in later works, or remain faithful to what he valued in Plotinus, although from his post-Dionysian Ar. pov?
In Pico's Plotinus conclusions we don't see a development of theory of magic mentioned in ration, but rather metaphysics of Int. cons.w/Comm
@taramayastales Pico was annoyed at the concept of astrological influence in general;he wanted to be illuminated by angels not planets/stars
@casuist All I know about Pico's love life is he got some retainers killed in a battle trying to flee after kidnapping a Medici's wife.
Pico was not a Renaissance Magus, and his contribution to Renaissance Magic Theory was limited--his criticisms of magic just as important?
due to the popularity of mistaken theurgic/magical scholarly interpretations of Pico in the late 20th century, Pico widely considered magus.
Heptaplus gives us plenty of information about the kind of writing Pico was planning on doing when he collected all those Proclan sentences.
Pico's work on Proclus in the 900 Conclusions (most cited/used thinker) must be understood as ground for Proclan method/interp in Heptaplus.
in Commento Pico experiments with a new philosophical approach to "Angelic Mind" but didn't intend to exposit a new theological doctrine.
Allen in Dougherty 93-94 Pico specifically cites Proclus, Hermias,+Syrianus (Proclus's teacher), along w/the Areopagite http://bit.ly/hmEfnB
Edelheit 161 We know from Marinus' Vita Procli XII that Proclus studied De anima, as preparation for Phaedo,in a private seminar w/Damascius
Neoplatonic metaphysics, understood as a doctrine of the One, established itself as a critique of the Aristotelian metaphysics of spirit.
# Pico adopts many of Ficino's opinions.Yet there is one significant difference, rooted in Pico's Aristotelian background http://bit.ly/hNPd1A
We should expect Pico to be "at play" with theurgy in the 900 theses just as he is tentative, probable + problematical about the rest of it.
Better historians emphasize Pico's subtlety, difficulty, ambiguity and play. Theurgic interpretations don't take seriously PLAY with theurgy
Savonarola... opposed an outright demonization to Pico's subtle interplay between reform and rejection. http://bit.ly/ezNf8w
Pico emphasized the carelessness of astrologers towards their texts as an example of their general ignorance. http://bit.ly/hr9QtW
Pico's conclusions don't tell us what he believed from Proclus, but rather give us information about what parts from Proclus interested him.
best summaries of Pico's philosophy are Craig in Routledge, Copenhaver in SEP http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pico-della-mirandola/
One the one hand undeniably humanists...On the other hand, both Pico and Ficino were also connected with scholasticism. http://bit.ly/gylwHg
It is not my intention to do a Craven-style scolding or Copenhaverian de-Kanting of Pico scholars, I want to look at Pico's angel directly.
Garber/ Ayres "Yates puts too much emphasis on the exotic side of Renaissance Platonism,"
Hadot has drawn attention to the subtle insights of profound ancient philosophers such as Proclus, ... http://bit.ly/fll9JN
In his view Pico's veiled discourse, far from being the contrivance that struck Wind as unnecessarily obscure... http://bit.ly/fll9JN
Cambridge:Proclus' point in De sacrificio was that magic had a metaphysical and cosmological basis in various interactions between heavenly
I don't think Pico was so much concerned with the "rediscovery" part of the pagan mysteries he wrote about; what excites him is confirmation
to rediscover the 'secret mysteries' of pagan theology using Neoplatonic metaphysics as a key
Pico's harmony/concord of Plato+Aristotle can't be reduced to simple siding with or against Ficino on Plotinus vs. Proclus, but this matters
criticized the Neoplatonists for misreading the Sophist, in which—according to Pico—Plato actually maintained that one and being were equal
Moshe Idel on Pico's version of Jacob's Ladder, possible Jewish influence via Alemanno or Bahya http://bit.ly/gb2zVf
Pico's dependence on and extreme respect for Plotinus... "Pythagoreanized" Plotinus. http://bit.ly/e7Tp2k
Pico's reception of Proclus is complex. As with Aquinas, he applies certain philosophical principles (all in all), criticizes others (B/U).
Pico della Mirandola seized the general thought of Proclus on this point+applied it specially to philosophical theology http://bit.ly/hWB0ak
Debus: Proclus' concept of mathematical knowledge is drived directly from the intermediate place of mathematics in ... http://bit.ly/hyEhJp
Catana 124 Hereby Pico probably means, like Proclus, that the hypostasis Mind indirectly contains being http://bit.ly/ik7SHZ
Grafton: Pico neatly transformed Proclus' defense of ethically unacceptable behavior into a defense of grammatically unacceptable language.
Farmer: in Pico's thought—as in Proclus'—consistency+detail with which its implications are developed in the most disparate areas of thought
Kristeller: Proclus states, again in accordance with Plotinus, that
... in the intelligible world all things are in all things, that is, that each idea represents all others in its own particular way
C.Black: In mapping the lines of thought which led to Pico's position in the Heptaplus, we should start with Proposition 103 of Proclus's ET
"All things are in all things, but properly in each"
Edelheit 347 Pico's familiarity with Proclus is beyond dispute.Among the theses taken from other authors,the largest number are from Proclus
1676 edition of H.C. Agrippa, "The Vanity of Arts and Sciences" http://www.archive.org/details/vanityartsandsc00unkngoog
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/agrippa-nettesheim/
http://esotericarchives.com/kircher/cabala.htm
Pico selected sentences for his 900 Conclusions that he thought would be useful for discussion, wasn't trying to replace/alter faith w/them.
Corbin: In the strongest possible contrast to this are the Neoplatonic "angelologies" of Avicenna and Suhrawardi,
...which on the contrary assure "a secure foundation for the radical autonomy of the individual."
"being has primacy over the good for Thomas+it is in an Aristotelian sense that he interprets "goodness tends to be diffusive of itself"
"This influence is nonetheless carefully filtered at certain decisive points: forThomas, God is not beyond being...subsistent being itself."
influence of Dionysius on Summa of Aquinas http://bit.ly/epqqphhttp://bit.ly/epqqph
Chase: In that Christianity has always been syncretic in its formulation of theology, spirituality, and liturgy,
...the fact that Neo-Platonic cosmological views influenced its angelology does not detract http://bit.ly/hqM5CV
Dante: The Poetics of Conversion, "pseudo-Dionysius transposed this language to angelology, adding a third or oblique" http://bit.ly/eEM6pz
Dionysius, Celestial Hierarchy, in Christian Mysticism: An Introduction to Contemporary Theoretical Approaches http://bit.ly/gy4KWi
Pico is trying to solve Aristotle vs. Plato by using Aquinas+Dionysius to build a bridge between Plotinian and Proclan "angelology"
Perl: As in Plotinus, intellect is being itself at its highest, most perfect level.
"in participation of the thearchic impartation" (Celestial Hierarchy IV.2 180A)
"Angels are not merely the highest in a univocal series of beings;
...rather, they are *beings* in the fullest, most complete, and therefore paradigmatic sense." ibid
Eric Perl, "Angelology becomes ontology." http://bit.ly/gdWHQp Theophany p.70
the Pseudo-Areopagite's elaborate angelology omits the topic of fallen angels http://bit.ly/fVidu7
roots of the angelology of Aquinas in Iamblichus http://bit.ly/fKUJOp
"Iamblichus distinguished divine entities following Aristotle's distinction of Plato's Ideal Numbers and his own Unmoved Movers" G.Shaw p.76
Milton's Neoplatonism is not likely to have come from any one source—neither from Spenser, nor Dante, nor his own interpretation of Plato.
Rahner " the subordination of angelology to Christology (an explicit theme with Paul) does not receive its due"
"It is well known that Neoplatonic demonology and angelology originated with Porphyry." http://bit.ly/gXlCnp
Angelology has no place in the system of Plotinus. According to Iamblichus, Plato did not consider archangels worth mention
Louth p.37 "A Neo- platonic interest in triads is doubtless in the background." http://bit.ly/fVZazi
new edition of Lewy, Chaldaean Oracles and Theurgy http://bit.ly/e72NxS
quote below from The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism - Page 118 Denys Turner http://bit.ly/hSmHBI
Neoplatonism in almost all its Greek+Arabic forms from Proclus onward was an angelology rather than an anthropology in its central interest.
Rough outline of Pico's angel is Dionysius/Aquinas (many cites/silent uses) but there are also the unusual uses he makes of angel philosophy
a superior angel knows more about the types of the Divine works than an inferior angel+concerning these the former enlightens the latter DN4
@EPButler right I'm with you there. so why do Neoplatonist scholars feel justified in using the term angelology? reading as proto-Christian?
Harkness:In his copy of Dionysius, Dee noted that angels were granted divine enlightenment+became responsible for passing arcane information
RT @EPButler Rappe's using "angelology" here to refer to Proclus' discourse about entities HE calls "Gods";that's what I'm calling polemical
notes - outlining subchapters
primary source review - precursors to Pico's angelology in Dionysius and Aquinas-proclan iamblichean principles already in Christian NP trad
do quick review of angel text in Pico before discussing interpretations, then conclusion with what I think we can learn from the disc.
Dionysius and Theurgy intro subchapter will explain the Christian theurgy that I suggest might be better explanation than other theurgies.
intro subchapter will give my argument on "Pico, Aquinas and Dionysius" context for angelology, theological commitments, philos. motivations
emphasize passivity of Dionysian angelic reception, concern for preserving hierachy/distance which Pico shares, although he's funkier than T
Dionysius and Theurgy bit - this activity of Celestial Hierarchy is theurgic in sense of divine works done by God/Jesus/Angels, part. by man
intro Dionysius - problem of angelic knowledge making it to humans via illumination/translation process of Celestial Hierarchy led by Jesus.
are Thomistic "each angel its own species" discussed by Pico in 900 theses and "angel as number" vestigial traces of Proclan henadology?
Kabbalah in Oration bit will look at how Pico uses Dionysian terms to translate Cabala, bring in some Copenhaver and Idel but not 900 yet...
Oration "sed contra" bit will look do philosophical reading of angels in Oration as model of contemplative life
Oration literature review will cover Copenhaver's theurgy theory, then skeptical/philosophical readings seeing Oration as rhetoric not magic
Copenhaver mitigates theurgy+magic by arguing that they are preliminary stages of mystical
initiation for Pico, but finds more than Craven.
De Ente is not as ambitious as Heptaplus formally, but similarly marshals an impressive array of authorities to make a powerful "Ar/PD" arg.
Heptaplus is a masterpiece of literary construction, weaving huge number of influences into tight+overdetermined structure to support theory
Heptaplus and De Ente represent Pico's more mature, longer-format thinking, whereas Commento/Oration/900 were merely notes+sketches, ideas.
Conclusion - Pico's philosophical angelology in Hep/Comm/Ente/Disp might be a better starting point than theurgic speculations about Ora/900
Pico demonstrates his commitments to "ontotheology" post-Aquinas in Commento, Heptaplus, De Ente in ways not possible in 900 short sentences
review of angelology in Commento - angelic level of being seen as a whole (Pico's take on Plotinian style) as "Angelic Mind" / forms stories
if we don't need magic to explain angelology of Heptaplus+Commento,maybe we don't need magic to explain angel mysteries of Pico's 900 Theses
my main point in Comm/Hep/BU/Disp chapter: Pico is paying consistent attention to Neoplatonic Angelology although magic no longer an issue.
Heptaplus and Commento, Disputations are not subject to same degree of theurgic interpretation, Mebane argues vs. Heptaplus-centric readings
Later texts chapter lit review -- Commento+Heptaplus in recent groundbreaking scholarship of Michael Allen, Crofton Black, other evaluations
900 last half, review "Pico's Encounter with Neoplatonic Angelology" and how it relates to better studied scholastic+cabalistic angel theses
900 "sed contra" bit -- short lit review on why 900 can't be seen as Pico system, his own views can't be extracted. Black,Edelheit,Dougherty
900 Kabbalah bit, Copenhaver on angelic talisman theory, Wirszubski on KBL sources+distranslation, Craven on Pico's KBL is clearly stated.
900 Literature review -- Farmer ex. of large scale theurgic interpretation of Theses as a whole, Copenhaver vs. Idel+Craven on theurgy/magic
Henads are the superessential angels of participation, transmitting individuality from the unparticipated One to its ontic fellows in unity.
rather Pico correlates sefirot with NP "gods" b/c it seems like a philosophical precursor to Dionysian angelology and theology of henads
Pico correlates sefirot with "gods" of ancient theology ("Guardians" of Orpheus) not to import pagan diety conjuring, which he warns against
does Pico correlate sefirot with angels, divine mind, forms, henads, intellectuals or intelligibles? it's not entirely clear what he means.
for Pico, as Aquinas+Dionysius, angels indispensable part of story of procession from One to multiplicity, resonant w/Proclus+Cabala sefirot
are Thomistic "each angel its own species" discussed by Pico in 900 theses and "angel as number" vestigial traces of Proclan henadology?
Henad in Proclus commentary on Parmenides http://bit.ly/eAvr5D "each henad has a multiplicity dependent on it"
Conclusion, Aquinas and Dionysius didn't allow for becoming angel. If Pico really is "breaking hierarchy" in Oration this would be serious!
Hankins+Allen Pico+F. "more comprehensive ways of theologizing in contexts outside of, if ancillary still to, Christian analysis+exposition"
Theurgy in Neoplatonism is a subject of difficulty and complexity, obviously a simple answer on Pico's theurgy is not to be expected.
Levi: Pico della Mirandola, whose dependence on Proclus was clearly shown by Michael Allen's studies of Ficino ... http://bit.ly/fuNXMh
Szulakowska:recent research of Allen into Ficino's Pythagorean numerology has revealed his interest in optical geometry as a theurgic device
"Where Galileo wanted detachment, Pico looked for coincidence"
Whether or not theurgy is the right term, we will still have many problems to sort out concerning Pico's philosophical motivations in using.
Pico looks to ancient theology not because they share some universal truth that transcends Christianity/but b/c he sees them pointing toward
Ficino believed that Mercury was the original theologian http://bit.ly/fGecbA
Alemanno "Let us come to wisdom and union only by the way of intellectual speculation or by sudden intuition, but not by magical actions"
Pico is clearly working on Dionysian + Thomistic problems in philosophical angelology in his texts/Any theurgic hints are secondary to this.
Angelic influence matters to Pico, as it did for Aquinas+Dionysius, but his writings on this influence do not suddenly change it into magic.
Dougherty shows how attention to the scholastic forms Pico is using in 900 Conclusions clears up misconceptions about his motivations+style.
Pico seems to contradict himself in the 900 Conclusions because he was not giving his own opinion, but preparing sentences for a debate.
it is not clear how a theurgic interpretation of Pico gives us any help in understanding the problems of his epistemology, cognitive models.
On Pico's Kabbalah and Language/Knowledge problems see Stuckrad's Textures of Renaissance Knowledge (cite his W Eso survey on Pico earlier)
God is not intellect (or life, etc.) but is better than that
in the long ch5 of De Ente he came back to this fundamental difference
Blum PRR134 on Commento "this can get Platonists in trouble" Pico attacks this kind of Platonism by underscoring mp gap b/t cr.hum.mind+God
Blum in Dougherty suggests that the reason for Pico's theses being condemned is his failure to respect a boundary between nat.phil+theology.
Blum interprets Pico as a critic of pagan Neoplatonic revival, conservatively defending Christian metaphysics vs. Ficino (Phil.Rel.Renaiss.)
Blum: This intermediate level--name it Sefiroth, Angelic Mind, First Created--keeps world and God apart and together. (Phil.Rel.Ren. 133)
Blum 133 Agreement between Pico's critique of Neoplatonist emanation and Elia's critique of misrepresented cabalism proof Pico an Averroist?
Blum: this very view is the main message in Pico and it is very much at odds with Ficino. Phil.Rel.Ren 132
"the order we find in the world is that of the Sefirot" Del Medigo, ibid
"they believe that in the Infinite there is no thinking or apprehension" Del Medigo letter to Pico(explains why for Pico Kabbalah=Dionysius)
Del Medigo letter to Pico: the order in which the produced beings are produced +maintained within the order is Sefirot...flow from infinite
Petrarch's hope that the study of ancient mythology might enhance reverence for Christian faith was shared by Ficino and Pico. Blum (ibid)
rather than hints of theurgy Blum speak of "hints against poluarizing pagan Platonism"
p.135 Oration should be read as an appeal to spiritual conversion to which knowledge of all sorts of wisdom contributes if properly applied.
Pico understands the Dionysian problem of angelic knowledge and does not neglect the Dionysian concern to preserve the hierarchy/gap between
thesis - Pico's philosophical angelology deserves to be taken more seriously than it has been (magic/kbl/theurgy needs a fair treatment too)
however, recent groundbreaking work has been done that when taken into account allows for a much richer picture of Pico in context
Marshall Angels in EM World "Pico believed that practical Cabbal led to the ... both angel magic and the peril of entrapment by the demonic."
Moshe Idel: A disentanglement of theosophy from theurgy recurred in the Christian version of Kabbalah
Sheppard argues against Dodds's thesis that by accepting theurgy Neoplatonism abandoned its rational basis of Plotinian mysticism
Sheppard elaborates on Smith's analysis by distinguishing three levels of theurgy in Proclus' writings; forms of "white magic" -Majercik
Proclus integrated his response to Iamblichean theurgy into his grand (proto-scholastic?) system of philosophical "theology"+ph."angelology"
Iamblichus' defense of theurgy was very important, but so were his theories of religion and metaphysics of the One/philosophical angelology.
I don't think "theurgy" should be seen as a defining (limiting...) theme for Iamblichus, Proclus, or Dionysius, w/out a great deal of care.
Sheppard makes theurgy central to Proclus' philosophical theology + "mystical experience" ...would certainly be mistake to do so w/Dionysiu
Whatever Pico means by introducing Kabbalah,he describes it as primarily theology+angel metaphysics/secondarily as ground of magic operation
In suggesting philosophical motivations I don't mean to downplay influence of KBL angel, but Pico sees KBL as "exact metaphysics of angels."
Pico's angelology is Biblical and Christian angel read through Neoplatonism (as it was already in Dionysius/Aquinas)+Kabbalah--seen as NP...
Crofton Black suggests that Pico weaves 49 Gates of Kabbalah into Heptaplus structure -- is there a practice here as well as an hermeneutic?
the simplicity of material objects makes it easier to contact divinity
Watts "While it was controversial, theurgy held a strong appeal for those with a philosophical inclination."
Theurgy was a development w/in the Platonic tradition, but a development that on some points was difficult to harmonize http://bit.ly/g8k2sU
as one scholar puts it "The invocations can raise us to union with God."
theurgic interpreters have put too many words in Pico's mouth/really we don't understand theurgy or Pico well enough to say w/certainty
some theurgic interpretations clearly based on misinterpretation, but Copenhaver and Stuckrad understand Pico well
more on ascent see Couliano Psychanodia and "Out of this World"
Moshe Idel discusses Pico's theory of ascent in light of kabbalistic precursors/possible influences in Ascensions on High
on theurgy and "elevation" see Lewy "chaldaean oracles and theurgy" ch.3
theurgic interpreters have not said what theurgy means for Pico's doctrine of Angelic Mind or angelic cognition--"gnostic" is a cop-out
Theurgy is a controversial issue that I'm not bringing up to make an argument resolving/but only to note for important context to angelology
the magic of the Renaissance in general—and Bruno's magic in particular—is a science that primarily (if not solely) works in the imagination
magical interpretations are no excuse for not studying Pico's magic
Language, immateriality, and prayer. http://bit.ly/dLjybZ in Word and meaning in ancient Alexandria.
Like Dionysius Pico doesn't dare to describe the angels as they are, but rather focuses on traditional medieval accounts of their functions.
Pico isn't really theorizing mystical union in a theurgic way--like Dionysius and Aquinas he leaves the details up to God, Jesus, Angelic CH
Theurgy resists being theorized, although Iamblichus, Proclus, Dionysius do an admirable job of mapping what can be said about it/Does Pico?
is a philosophical spirituality more of a problem than a magical spirituality? Pico's philosophical angelology harder to deal w/than theurgy
The only "magical arts" Pico consistently seems to want to apply are the ones that exhort his reader to a Christian sprituality of philosoph
Pico's is a poetic theology not a magical one
I suggest that rather than seeing Pico as structuring his texts like a talisman, might make more sense to see him structuring like PD hymn.
Pico may have intended some number magic, or he may have just been making numerological jokes for the initiated to grin about when reading.
But Copenhaver's talisman is quite quite speculative... many other ways Pico's organizational arts structuring his texts could be understood
Copenhaver's angel magic talisman is an interesting speculation. We'd need a whole new category of textual talisman method, owing to Pico...
Copenhaver If Pico wanted his seventy-two conclusions to form an angelic talisman for repelling Azazel by summoning Metatron...
... As a device for doing angel magic, this figure derives its power from its hexagonal form, ...
French p87 follows Yates "it was cabalist angel-magic that, he thought, enabled him to operate in the supercelestial or angelic world"
Yates “Through Reuchlin, Pico's kabbalist magic leads straight on to the angel magic of Trithemius or of Cornelius Agrippa, ...
http://bit.ly/fyLZa0 The western esoteric traditions, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: Planetary and Angel Magic in the Renaissance
Shadduck "One alternative tradition-encouraging the desire for ontogenic elevation-appears in Pico della Mirandola" England's amorous angels
RC digest: "Important developments which Reuchlin gave to angelology cleansed it of the demonological suspicions which..."
ibid p20 "medieval tradition of commenting on Dionysius as a theologian's rite of passage"
In the anteroom of divinity: the reformation of the angels from from Colet to Milton By Feisal Gharib Mohamed - http://bit.ly/gqrBjN
Avery Dulles: His views on this question, because of their consequences in angelology, brought Pico into conflict with the Church. ...
even the self is a social relation, however blind we like to make ourselves to its otherness
what is the difference between mode of cognition of angels / rational souls? difference between God+angels? sensible forms int'ly in angel?
I don't think Pico's 900 Conclusions should be seen as a source for Pico's finished ideas about these matters, but start of his problems w/.
Crofton Black (echoing Craven) describes efforts to render Pico's 900 Conclusions under a single unifying schema in a harsh critical light.
Theurgic interpretations have made too much of Pico's "influences" -- he was indeed eclectic but not determined by any of his many sources.
Dionysian theurgy seems like a good place to look for more light on what Pico means by turning to magic and especially to kabbalah.
Challenge for philosophical reading of Pico remains how to integrate magical, kabbalistic,+possibly theurgic interests w/Pico's Christianity
Pico's angelology is not a finished system, but it is a marvellous effort and was profoundly influential on later esoteric Christians+QBList
Surveys of Renaissance+Medieval Angelology tend to dismiss Pico on the basis of magical interpretations that are not current with P scholars
Philosophical approaches to Pico have problem of not wanting to deal w/ possible implications of theurgy/how Pico really meant to use magic.
Tentative nature of 900 Conclusions I want to emphasize above any insight they may offer. Can't jump to "Conclusions" about Pico's magic...
Pico theorized language as a conduit of divine power as explaining magic+kabbalah/but not necessarily things he wants readers to actually do
Pico gives rhetorical celebration of exalted place of man using Christian+Aristotelian philosophy, not offering a radical magus alternative.
Many have remarked that Heptaplus focuses on fallen+limited state of man, a surprising bummer for those who ignored Christianity of Oration.
Dionysian theurgist is like angel in the sense of illuminating those lower than his position on the church hierarchy. Pico's Syrianus notes.
Dionysius had to deal with problem of human participating in angelic theurgic activity when presiding as hierarch over liturgic rituals.
Can we see Pico's biblical angel comparison problem as similar to Dionysian problems in explaining angel to human interactions?
When Dionysius discusses human participation in Church liturgy or scriptural interpretation as "becoming theurgic" doesn't mean magically...
For Dionysius (emphatically for Aquinas) human does not become angelic b/c stays w/in human limit at position in hierarchy, tho'participates
Dionysius understands theurgy as magical metaphor for saving "Divine Work" performed by Jesus+angels, human participation a special case.
Theurgy is needed to explain Iamblichus-something needed to get past soul's material stuckness-but this is different problem post-Dionysius.
things to remember - Pico doesn't really need magic+KBL, only brings them up to celebrate philosophy and solve theology problems/not rad-ize
remember - stuff from end of De Ente which gives final summation of Pico's mystical program that shows consistent interest in imitate divine
quotes to remember - Yates on taking magic up to supercelestial, Heptaplus compared to 12th cent cosmotheology, Mebane etc. theurgy schools
theurgy might be better term used for Pico if disentangled from magic, seen in NP/PD terms as mystical theology/ascent practice via liturgy.
Pico's angelology is first+foremost a reaction to angelologies of Aquinas+Dionysius. Rest is just resources+tools Pico deploys to develop em
Allen says Angel has lost central role, philosophical explanatory value in Ficino. Why does it remain central for Pico? Magic isn't the key.
Pico sees philosophizing about angels as a natural part of his Christian project that gives him information about how to become angelic/div.
We see in Pico's Conclusions first experiments in translating Neoplatonic philosophical angelology into Christian terms, later refined in H.
juiciest problems of Pico's theurgy I don't even want to touch. but see Mebane, Stuckrad for interesting takes,Copenhaver for best th.interp
listening to all my old Pico tweets being read by the Kindle's rich robot tenor. hypnotic and galvanizing my muscle memory to write more key
Participation is now seen as a key to Aquinas' metaphysics (Wippel). Pico's grok of participation involved detailed study of NP use of term.
need to remember for first half: Paul, Library, Proclus on theurgy of number, Copenhaver on seriousness of Proclus' magic, Pallas angel knot
Pico's 900 Conclusions cannot be seen as giving us Pico's final systematic opinions, but it can help us understand angel phil. motivations.
It should be obvious from the fact that Pico circumscribes a limited place for magic, yet devotes much text to angelology, which is central.
The corporeal imagination: signifying the holy in late ancient ... - Page 194 Patricia Cox Miller - 2009
I don't have an answer to theurgic interpretation, but prefer to bracket the question until philosophical angelology of Pico better studied.
Pico saw himself as doing Christian Neoplatonic philosophical angelology in same style as Dionysius+Aquinas/original Christianized Platonism
Edelheit: Di Napoli's defense of Pico's sincerity/orthodoxy neglects his inventiveness. But do we need to sacrifice orthodoxy to see as inv.
Approaching Pico from "scholastic influences" angle just as dangerous as "occult influences" name of the game is what he did creatively with
I can only confess that philosophical approach to Pico has flaws in not being able to handle the theurgic+magical on its own medieval terms.
Haeffner "angel magic was a sophisticated science in the Renaissance Cabala of Pico della Mirandola and HC Agrippa" http://bit.ly/gqyGb5
Brann "debate/genius" inviting the angel magic of Cabala into Ficino's blend of Platonic, Neoplatonic, and Hermetic principles...
if following Dionysian/Thomistic capacity+image/participated being constraints, perhaps Pico's talisman deals w/angelic being at human level
Pico might be structuring his text as a talisman in ways that don't get angels involved?
Theurgy is a controversial issue that I'm not bringing up to make an argument resolving/but only to note for important context to angelology
the magic of the Renaissance in general—and Bruno's magic in particular—is a science that primarily (if not solely) works in the imagination
magical interpretations are no excuse for not studying Pico's magic
"Theurgy of Number" in Iamblichus(Shaw)+Proclus(Wear)might be a great place to look for philosophical motivations behind Pico's Number magic
the life of the angel is not perfect (De Ente) it is left to Angel to be a Number (Heptaplus) we should imitate their life (Oration) but how
Copenhaver approaches Pico from history/philosophy of science perspective, but resorts to theurgic explanation b/c can't integrate Pico M+K?
Marshall Angels in EM World "Pico believed that practical Cabbal led to the ... both angel magic and the peril of entrapment by the demonic."
Like Dionysius Pico doesn't dare to describe the angels as they are, but rather focuses on traditional medieval accounts of their functions.
Pico isn't really theorizing mystical union in a theurgic way--like Dionysius and Aquinas he leaves the details up to God, Jesus, Angelic CH
Theurgy resists being theorized, although Iamblichus, Proclus, Dionysius do an admirable job of mapping what can be said about it/Does Pico?
is a philosophical spirituality more of a problem than a magical spirituality? Pico's philosophical angelology harder to deal w/than theurgy
The only "magical arts" Pico consistently seems to want to apply are the ones that exhort his reader to a Christian sprituality of philosoph
Pico's is a poetic theology not a magical one
I suggest that rather than seeing Pico as structuring his texts like a talisman, might make more sense to see him structuring like PD hymn.
Pico may have intended some number magic, or he may have just been making numerological jokes for the initiated to grin about when reading.
But Copenhaver's talisman is quite quite speculative... many other ways Pico's organizational arts structuring his texts could be understood
Copenhaver's angel magic talisman is an interesting speculation. We'd need a whole new category of textual talisman method, owing to Pico...
Copenhaver If Pico wanted his seventy-two conclusions to form an angelic talisman for repelling Azazel by summoning Metatron...
... As a device for doing angel magic, this figure derives its power from its hexagonal form, ...
French p87 follows Yates "it was cabalist angel-magic that, he thought, enabled him to operate in the supercelestial or angelic world"
Yates “Through Reuchlin, Pico's kabbalist magic leads straight on to the angel magic of Trithemius or of Cornelius Agrippa, ...
http://bit.ly/fyLZa0 The western esoteric traditions, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke: Planetary and Angel Magic in the Renaissance
Shadduck "One alternative tradition-encouraging the desire for ontogenic elevation-appears in Pico della Mirandola" England's amorous angels
RC digest: "Important developments which Reuchlin gave to angelology cleansed it of the demonological suspicions which..."
ibid p20 "medieval tradition of commenting on Dionysius as a theologian's rite of passage"
In the anteroom of divinity: the reformation of the angels from from Colet to Milton By Feisal Gharib Mohamed - http://bit.ly/gqrBjN
Avery Dulles: His views on this question, because of their consequences in angelology, brought Pico into conflict with the Church. ...
even the self is a social relation, however blind we like to make ourselves to its otherness
what is the difference between mode of cognition of angels / rational souls? difference between God+angels? sensible forms int'ly in angel?
# I don't think Pico's 900 Conclusions should be seen as a source for Pico's finished ideas about these matters, but start of his problems w/.
Crofton Black (echoing Craven) describes efforts to render Pico's 900 Conclusions under a single unifying schema in a harsh critical light.
Theurgic interpretations have made too much of Pico's "influences" -- he was indeed eclectic but not determined by any of his many sources.
Dionysian theurgy seems like a good place to look for more light on what Pico means by turning to magic and especially to kabbalah.
Challenge for philosophical reading of Pico remains how to integrate magical, kabbalistic,+possibly theurgic interests w/Pico's Christianity
Pico's angelology is not a finished system, but it is a marvellous effort and was profoundly influential on later esoteric Christians+QBList
Surveys of Renaissance+Medieval Angelology tend to dismiss Pico on the basis of magical interpretations that are not current with P scholars
Philosophical approaches to Pico have problem of not wanting to deal w/ possible implications of theurgy/how Pico really meant to use magic.
Tentative nature of 900 Conclusions I want to emphasize above any insight they may offer. Can't jump to "Conclusions" about Pico's magic...
Pico theorized language as a conduit of divine power as explaining magic+kabbalah/but not necessarily things he wants readers to actually do
@aureliomadrid Pico only describes Aquinas+Dionysius as "glory of our theology" has lesser praise for other influences in their image mostly
@aureliomadrid I posted a link below to argument that NP distorts Pico's theology. I disagree b/c NP is crucial to Aquinas+Dionysius "glory"
@soundhunter Dionysian "sacramental theology" is all about how the invisible+transcendental must be seen as entering through senses, body...
@soundhunter there's great stuff in Dionysius--he's following Neoplatonists on need for divine to be infused into matter to help us ascend.
Since "all is in all" but hierarchical levels are still distinct, man gets angelic being at his proper level. Swedenborg emphasized this.
while Dionysius influence still a problem, constraints of Dionysian "becoming theurgic" help contextualize Pico's "becoming angelic" model.
@aureliomadrid my strategy is to cover a few theurgic interpretations at beginning and show why I like them. Yates for highlighting mystical
@aureliomadrid But those looking for an angel magic or theurgy in Pico would do well to first understand his philosophical angelology texts.
@aureliomadrid I'm saying theurgic interpreters are correct to want to look at this stuff, there is something we can learn about religion...
@aureliomadrid I still think there's a problem with magic+theurgy. I'm only bracketing them really, not explaining them away or minimizing.
Heptaplus: like angels we cannot go in a circle and come back upon ourselves" crucial Proclan insight Pico gets via Dionysius + now directly
@aureliomadrid How can I be sensitively treating these delicate problems? I want to account for Pico's commitments + strange interests.
Pico gives rhetorical celebration of exalted place of man using Christian+Aristotelian philosophy, not offering a radical magus alternative.
Many have remarked that Heptaplus focuses on fallen+limited state of man, a surprising bummer for those who ignored Christianity of Oration.
Dionysian theurgist is like angel in the sense of illuminating those lower than his position on the church hierarchy. Pico's Syrianus notes.
Dionysius had to deal with problem of human participating in angelic theurgic activity when presiding as hierarch over liturgic rituals.
Can we see Pico's biblical angel comparison problem as similar to Dionysian problems in explaining angel to human interactions?
When Dionysius discusses human participation in Church liturgy or scriptural interpretation as "becoming theurgic" doesn't mean magically...
For Dionysius (emphatically for Aquinas) human does not become angelic b/c stays w/in human limit at position in hierarchy, tho'participates
Dionysius understands theurgy as magical metaphor for saving "Divine Work" performed by Jesus+angels, human participation a special case.
Theurgy is needed to explain Iamblichus-something needed to get past soul's material stuckness-but this is different problem post-Dionysius.
Theurgy theory of Iamblichus rests on difficult problem not being philosophical or theological account. Pico doesn't need a theurgy between.
Theurgy of Neoplatonists now seen as Religious, not coercive, passive participation in rituals given by gods who plant symbols,but crucially
Theurgy studies have already been set back long enough by confident misreadings that explain it as something else "theurgy is really magic."
Theurgic interp. has to deal w/problem of Pico not using term theurgy, getting far from his actual text. Why not use his own terminology?
# Theurgy interpretations have problem accounting for why Pico would feel the need to conjure angels when already in contact acc. to PD story.
Magic+Theurgy problems much harder to solve (KBL work already had pioneering studies) but angel philosophy grounding will only help matters.
There is plenty of easy and moderately difficult work to be done on Pico's Encounter with Neoplatonic Philosophical Angelology before magic.
Philosophical approach has tools to offer future theurgic interpretations, which can't rest on misunderstandings of Pico's motives+tool use.
@toastbeard Yeah, Pico is absolutely pointing to language of tools. Cabalists show how divine creation key language can be mined by artists.
@toastbeard Pico's is definitely a magic of real uses, whatever they are. But it could be he just imagines natural philosophy is useful...
over 12,000 words, I have 24 hours to sculpt http://angelologyofmirandola.blogspot.com/2011/01/almost-everything-all-together-outline.html
@aureliomadrid I'm not arguing for his orthodoxy. I am arguing for his sincerity. It's not just rhetorical cleverness to avoid accusations.
@aureliomadrid But I'm arguing we can take Pico's word for it that he's only exploring this stuff, not implying any conjuring, finds useful.
@aureliomadrid Big part of problem which may clear up eventually is we don't understand how magic stuff fits into Pico's theology project.
@aureliomadrid It seems like Pico was jazzed on Kabbalah bc he thought it was Dionysian mysticism, feels free to leave out what don't agree.
@aureliomadrid My last insight is to admit that my philosophical approach has issues of not yet being ready to deal with all the magic+KBL/T
@aureliomadrid Wirszubski points out that all Pico's kabbalistic sources have divine language power as source of Kabbalistic operations.
@aureliomadrid I point at selections he's making. In 900 leaves out theurgy of Iamblichus+Proclus. Heptaplus omits sefirotic interpretation.
@t3dy ...this seems so difficult to untangle because of all the mystical/hermetic & kabbalistic teachings pico embraced.
@aureliomadrid yeah it's a toughy. as I polish my final i'm pained to give my opinion a shape as argument.got any more thoughts on sensitiv?
I can't say Dionysius is not dangerous or possibly controversial, but Pico thought situating his angel mysticism in PDian mode made it safe.
Pico presents a Neoplatonic cosmology+anthropology...that was notably modified by his knowledge of the medieval Jewish magical tradition. CT
Renaissance transformations of late medieval thought Front Cover Charles Edward Trinkaus p.326 treats Aristotelian Pico
Trinkaus, Charles. “Cosmos+Man: Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico on the Structure of the Universe+the Freedom of Man,” Vivens Homo 5 (1994)
Pico sees his angelology as a Biblical problem, situated in the thinking of Paul, Dionysius, and Thomas Aquinas.
Pico sees Dionysius as giving the angelology of Paul
Pico’s texts might be read as Dionysian style theurgic hymn/prayers rather than magical talismans
Copenhaver sees Kabbalistic angel as possible place where Pico imports novel practices but no practices are mentioned in Pico's later texts.
I will look at Idel, Copenhaver, Wirszubski on Pico's Kabbalah, which is only a problem for Oration+Conclusions, later texts don't treat K-A
I will devote some attention: Copenhaver's use of the term theurgy, Allen's study of Commento angel, Crofton Black on Dionysius in Heptaplus
Stuckrad: Alemanno had "intensive intellectual exchange" with Pico. W.Esotericism p 72
Stuckrad: Pico doesn't regard this KBL as Jewish--rather expropriates Jews w/reproach they hadn't understood true meaning of own teachings."
Craven has good rips on Pico misreaders "He is far from giving his own opinion" "no hint of theurgy" ... impatient historiography
Pico's "Dignity" only seems like radical new role for man in hindsight; in context it is clearly a standard medieval role (however enthused)
things to remember - Pico doesn't really need magic+KBL, only brings them up to celebrate philosophy and solve theology problems/not rad-ize
remember - stuff from end of De Ente which gives final summation of Pico's mystical program that shows consistent interest in imitate divine
quotes to remember - Yates on taking magic up to supercelestial, Heptaplus compared to 12th cent cosmotheology, Mebane etc. theurgy schools
theurgy might be better term used for Pico if disentangled from magic, seen in NP/PD terms as mystical theology/ascent practice via liturgy.
Pico's angelology is first+foremost a reaction to angelologies of Aquinas+Dionysius. Rest is just resources+tools Pico deploys to develop em
Allen says Angel has lost central role, philosophical explanatory value in Ficino. Why does it remain central for Pico? Magic isn't the key.
Pico sees philosophizing about angels as a natural part of his Christian project that gives him information about how to become angelic/div.
We see in Pico's Conclusions first experiments in translating Neoplatonic philosophical angelology into Christian terms, later refined in H.
juiciest problems of Pico's theurgy I don't even want to touch. but see Mebane, Stuckrad for interesting takes,Copenhaver for best th.interp
listening to all my old Pico tweets being read by the Kindle's rich robot tenor. hypnotic and galvanizing my muscle memory to write more key
Participation is now seen as a key to Aquinas' metaphysics (Wippel). Pico's grok of participation involved detailed study of NP use of term.
need to remember for first half: Paul, Library, Proclus on theurgy of number, Copenhaver on seriousness of Proclus' magic, Pallas angel knot
Pico's 900 Conclusions cannot be seen as giving us Pico's final systematic opinions, but it can help us understand angel phil. motivations.
It should be obvious from the fact that Pico circumscribes a limited place for magic, yet devotes much text to angelology, which is central.
Whatever Pico means by introducing Kabbalah,he describes it as primarily theology+angel metaphysics/secondarily as ground of magic operation
In suggesting philosophical motivations I don't mean to downplay influence of KBL angel, but Pico sees KBL as "exact metaphysics of angels."
Pico's angelology is Biblical and Christian angel read through Neoplatonism (as it was already in Dionysius/Aquinas)+Kabbalah--seen as NP...
Crofton Black suggests that Pico weaves 49 Gates of Kabbalah into Heptaplus structure -- is there a practice here as well as an hermeneutic?
Blum, Philosophers of the Renaissance
p.5 The Neoplatonic interpretation of Plato, which found its most important support in his Parmenides and Timaeus, received considerable impetus from the gradual discover of Plotinus, Proclus... The proposed solutions varied on individual points, but all agreed in assuming the presence in time and in the finite world of the Eternal and the Infinie, to which the knowing human soul must draw near. Even the debate over the immortality of the soul was a debate over the methodological versus the cosmological approach to knowledge. The immortality debate... gained momentum during the Renaissance and led to the early modern contention between rationalism and empiricism. This is why epistemology always tended to be cosmology as well; and indeed, it tended to be ethics, because the process of knowledge, understood in this way, contained a volitional element, an intentional opening up of oneself or a drawing near to the Infinite.
[nice passage on the background of neoplatonism to renaissance philosophy--Pico's texts exhibit this connection between cosmology and epistemology-ethics, the end of felicity etc.]
...
The cosmological aspect of the problem of creation led to an intensive search to identify the principle (or at any rate, as few principles as possible) by which everything that takes place is governed. For the sake of finitude, this principle may not be directly God himself (the accusation of pantheism was occasionally leveled) This is why... Agrippa and Bruno, under the influence of Ficino, speak of the world-soul, monads, and Pythagoerean numerical structures, while light and spirit or other forms of soul are the candidates in Ficino, Pico... and others.
[Alemanno scholar on the cosmological bent of his sefirot, Idel on characterizing the specific moment of Italian Renaissance Kabbalah and Jewish Philosophy, just as interested in magic as Christians were]
Pico in spring of 1486
Toussaint in Blum Page 72
he read the Cabbalists, newly discovered Hebrew philosophers such as Levi ben Gershom, Maimonides, Nachmanides and others, Plotinus, Hermes Trismegistus, the Chaldaean Oracles, Simplicius, Themistius, Philostratus, Iamblichus, Averroes, Avicenna, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Henry of Ghent, among others, and the number of Conclusiones grew from seven hundred to nine hundred. In this short space of time, Pico not only composed the Conclusiones, but also the Commento, in which he developed an independent theory of the nature of the beatiful in Plate, and the celebrated Oratio, which is regarded as the manifesto of the new Renaissance thinking.
Toussaint warns against watering or dumbing down Pico's Renaissance Philosophy
Blum 81 Against this background, the various recent attempts to reduce Pico's work to a purely humanistic scholarship and rhetoric, or to a Scholastic, or even "reactionary" interpretation, must be regarded as a throough watering down of the philosophical Renaissance that Pico embodies, and as a gradual philosophical dumbing down of his thinking.
[While I think Toussaint may overemphasize the magical and "radical" Pico, he has a point. In looking at his scholastic interestings and emphasizing the religious and philosophical commitments evidenced in Pico's treatment of angelology, I do not want to seek to reduce Pico to some medieval paradigm. In looking to Pico's magic and theurgy, we must not exaggerrate any detail but we also must not ignore
the hints. What we have is, as Copenhaver points out, much closer to the medieval angel of Dionysius and Aquinas. But we also have a Renaissance angelology and a "re-platonizing" in the light of Pico's contemporary theological ambience as well as his particular original brilliance.]
Blum, Philosophers of the Renaissance
p.5 The Neoplatonic interpretation of Plato, which found its most important support in his Parmenides and Timaeus, received considerable impetus from the gradual discover of Plotinus, Proclus... The proposed solutions varied on individual points, but all agreed in assuming the presence in time and in the finite world of the Eternal and the Infinie, to which the knowing human soul must draw near. Even the debate over the immortality of the soul was a debate over the methodological versus the cosmological approach to knowledge. The immortality debate... gained momentum during the Renaissance and led to the early modern contention between rationalism and empiricism. This is why epistemology always tended to be cosmology as well; and indeed, it tended to be ethics, because the process of knowledge, understood in this way, contained a volitional element, an intentional opening up of oneself or a drawing near to the Infinite.
[nice passage on the background of neoplatonism to renaissance philosophy--Pico's texts exhibit this connection between cosmology and epistemology-ethics, the end of felicity etc.]
...
The cosmological aspect of the problem of creation led to an intensive search to identify the principle (or at any rate, as few principles as possible) by which everything that takes place is governed. For the sake of finitude, this principle may not be directly God himself (the accusation of pantheism was occasionally leveled) This is why... Agrippa and Bruno, under the influence of Ficino, speak of the world-soul, monads, and Pythagoerean numerical structures, while light and spirit or other forms of soul are the candidates in Ficino, Pico... and others.
[Alemanno scholar on the cosmological bent of his sefirot, Idel on characterizing the specific moment of Italian Renaissance Kabbalah and Jewish Philosophy, just as interested in magic as Christians were]
Pico in spring of 1486
Toussaint in Blum Page 72
he read the Cabbalists, newly discovered Hebrew philosophers such as Levi ben Gershom, Maimonides, Nachmanides and others, Plotinus, Hermes Trismegistus, the Chaldaean Oracles, Simplicius, Themistius, Philostratus, Iamblichus, Averroes, Avicenna, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Henry of Ghent, among others, and the number of Conclusiones grew from seven hundred to nine hundred. In this short space of time, Pico not only composed the Conclusiones, but also the Commento, in which he developed an independent theory of the nature of the beatiful in Plate, and the celebrated Oratio, which is regarded as the manifesto of the new Renaissance thinking.
Toussaint warns against watering or dumbing down Pico's Renaissance Philosophy
Blum 81 Against this background, the various recent attempts to reduce Pico's work to a purely humanistic scholarship and rhetoric, or to a Scholastic, or even "reactionary" interpretation, must be regarded as a throough watering down of the philosophical Renaissance that Pico embodies, and as a gradual philosophical dumbing down of his thinking.
[While I think Toussaint may overemphasize the magical and "radical" Pico, he has a point. In looking at his scholastic interestings and emphasizing the religious and philosophical commitments evidenced in Pico's treatment of angelology, I do not want to seek to reduce Pico to some medieval paradigm. In looking to Pico's magic and theurgy, we must not exaggerrate any detail but we also must not ignore
the hints. What we have is, as Copenhaver points out, much closer to the medieval angel of Dionysius and Aquinas. But we also have a Renaissance angelology and a "re-platonizing" in the light of Pico's contemporary theological ambience as well as his particular original brilliance.]
Craven's minimizing account of Magic+Kabbalah in Pico
Craven p.57-58 in the Apologia, Pico explains that the purpose of the thesis on the divinity of Christ was to demonstrate that natural virtues could be discounted as possible explanations for the miracles. Magic and Kabbalah, science which dealt with natural virtues, could be used to show their limits. Pico can hardly be said to have "concentrated" on degending this thesis... It is, moreover, a sketchy treatment... Pico makes the conventional distinction between natural and bad magic... gives very little idea of the kind of magic Pico has in mind. It concerns little more than the virtues of numbers.
In his Oration Pico is careful to define magic as dealing with the natural world only.
In contrast to "demonic" forms of magic which involve conjuring, and he claims the church rightly hates,
Pico suggests a magic that is the operative part of natural philosophy, and serves a purpose of generating religious wonder.
However, although Pico attempts to distinguish between the bad and good kinds of magic, when he waxes eloquent about the value of magic to philosophy and theology, he is nevertheless getting into dangerous territory. Blum suggests that Pico got himself into trouble over magic because he was crossing a boundary that the Renaissance chuch wanted to maintain between natural philosophy and theology. Pico was not suspected of the kind of sorcery that theurgic interpreters have tried to read into him, but for a dangerous concept of natural philosophy, according to this view.
many scholars have put the becoming angelic part together with the theological value of magic.
Yates and French, even COpenhaver ________
Bono and Mebane
Pico's relationship to Aquinas is a controversial issue that has been unnecessarily confused.
Craven's historiography - impatient with historians who should have known better, read Pico more carefully, didn't understand theological issues before making accusations of gnosticism/heresy/magic.
Angel inspires Pico to mystical action, but not because his ultimate goal is to become infused at his human level with angelic being for magical purposes, but in order to escape his human state.
Dionysius "theurgical understanding"
"Seeing that our hierarchy, most sacred of sacred sons, [consists] of the inspired and divine and theurgical understanding and energy and perfection..."
EH 1.1
EH 3.3.12 How might the imitation of God become ours differently if not by the memory of the most holy theurgies being renewed always by both the hierarchical sacred words and hierurgies? This we do, as the oracles say, in remembrance of [the theurgy]. This is why the divine hierarch standing at the divine altar hymns the aforementioned sacred theurgies of Jesus, most divinely provided for us, which are provided for salvation of our kind by the goodwill of the most all-holy Father in the Holy Spirit in order to to fulfil the oracle. Having praised also the awful majest [of the theurgies] and perceived a theoria with noetic eyes, he proceeds to the divinely-ordained symbolic hierergy of them; then after the sacred praises of the theurgies, the hierergy so far above him, both reverently and hierarchically crying out, he apologises as he sacredly approaches it.
EH 5.2 theoria is given as the commen element linking the activity of our hierarchy with that of heaven
Eh 3.3.15 In theses things the whole of the sacred order has gathered hierarchically and communicated with the most divine [gifts]; it ends with a sacred thanksgiving, having acknowledged and praised propotionately the grace of the theurgies.
EH 4.3.12 The theurgy is super-celestial and super-essential, of all our theurgical sanctification it is source and being and perfecting power... For it is a sacrament of God also, since for our sake in human form he is sanctified and theurgically perfects and sanctifies everything being perfected.
Dionysius "theurgical understanding"
"Seeing that our hierarchy, most sacred of sacred sons, [consists] of the inspired and divine and theurgical understanding and energy and perfection..."
EH 1.1
Early Medieval Phil 480-1150
By John Marenbon
19
A complex, metaphysical angelology was not the pseudo-Dionysius' only bequest to the Middle Ages. In two of his works, DN and the brief MT, he confronts a problem which was to trouble many a Christian thinker. How can one speak at all of a God who is beyond human understanding and description? The problem was particularly acute for the PD because, as a much more faithful NPist than Augustine, he held that God could not even be described as "being." The PD turned to the pagan NPists for helf, but the solution which he found was to a problem rather different from his. In commentaries on Plato's Parmenides, it had become the practice to apply the series of negations found in Plato's dialogue to the One (whose absolute transcendence had been stressed ever since Plotinus), and the series of positive statements to the hypostases which emanated from the One. Despite his adoption of the Neoplatonic scheme of hierarchies, the PD was a Christian, who had to accept both that God was immutable and transcendent, and yet that it was he, directly, who created and who administers the universe. He could not therefore equate God with the positively indescribable One; nor could he directly transfer every description of God to some lower emanation. Consequently, he applied both series of statements, positive and negative, to God himself. God is at once describable by every name, but only metaphorically, by reference to his manifestation of himself in his creation; and he can be described by no name--every attribute may be more truly negated of him than applied to him positively.
Occultist interp - gnosis dictionary
from Pico article in Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism
950 Of particular importance in this regard is the role played by theology in Pico's attempt to creat an all-comprehensive system of knowledge, intended to embrace and reconcile the most difference rational and religious disciplines. His project of establishing a harmonius syncretism (concordia) between barious theological and philosophical doctrines was certainly based on intellectual foundations. For this reason, modern scholars have often considered Pico's thought to have been a strongly mundane achievement; but a closer inspection of Pico's texts allows us to perceive how closely connected Pico was to contemporary Christian religious position. As a matter of fact, all Pico's speculation expresses his faith and willingness to adhere to Christian orthodox views, although some scholars have assumed that for a man whose work was suspect to the Roman Church this was just a strategy in order to hide his real intellectual concerns. Nevertheless, his program of universal salvation obtainable from an intellectual knowledge starts from an elitist attitude, according to which esoteric doctrines are the unique way for the initiate to better understand his relationship with nature and God.
951 Following Ficino, Pico wanted to establish a beneficent magic based on ancient authorities, which might involve the celebration of special reituals for summoning angels; in this manner the human soul could be united with higher entities thus creating a path leading to Christ or directly to God. In his approach to kabbalistic mysteries, Pico highlighted the meaning of letters and angelic names, widely employing mystical techniques which were diffed within medieval Jewish mileus and were mostly available to the humant through Abraham Abulafia's treatises...
952 trend of comprehending Pico's speculation as an attempt to transcend physical limits by means of occult kabbalistic techniques at the theurgical production of a spiritual descent of efflux from above. However, it is also possible to explain the humanist's attitude in purely rational terms, if we maintain that the intellect of the wise man is attributed the privilege of raising itself up to the degree of the Active Intellect, where God's grace will meet it and lead it to the supernal realms of knowledge.
Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism
Number Symbolism -Jean-Pierre Brach
876
In order to bridge the gap betwen the immutable realm and the material world,
subject to change, Plato introduces, as manifesting an intermediary order of
reality, a series of "musical" proportions structuring the world-soul, which
is itself a middle-term between the intelligible Forms and the corpus mundi.
876 [Neoplatonism] On the theurgic, ritual side, numbers served as one of the mainstays of a
"sacramental" approach to Nature, in which each level of being provides a
rung sustaining the gradual ascension of the soul towards direct spiritual
contact with the divine entities; concurrently, numbers represent the
intellectual offering par excellence, something the soul must eventually
sacrifice to the higher deities, in order to transmute all cosmological
bounds which fetter its essentially spiritual essence.
876-877 in order to exactly understand the mathematical tenets contained in Plato's
dialogues and in order to ascribe to mathematics their correct place within
the general hierachy of knowledge and, accordingly, assess the ontological
status of number, the later strands of neoplatonism consciously "pythagorized"
the philosophical approach to reality.
877 If... the mathematical archetypes are no longer represented by the platonic
"Forms and Ideal Numbers", they become "essences" coextensive with the divine
mens and, as such, presiding over the creation. However, one may easily observe
that, according to both doctrines, numbers nevertheless continue to reflect
higher principles, as well as serve as models of the lower levels of reality.
Yet although influenced by neoplatonism like the rest of Augustine's general
thinking, his number-symbological speculations never depart from an exclusively
Christian perspective, structured at least around threefold correspondences...
880 Pico has done much for the "formal" (qualitative) aspect of
number to regain cultural favour, insisting on its importance
as regards "natural philosophy" or theology, as well as
highlighting its magical and kabbalistic functions
Renaissance Magic and the Return of the Golden Age: The Occult Tradition and ...
By John S. Mebane
38-39 Pico perceived the Cabala as a means of invoking the angels as a stage in our ascent toward complete knowledge of and unity with God, and in Reuchlin, Agrippa, and Dee there was increasing emphasis upon the Cabala as a source of techniques for a form of Christian theurgy.
Mebane uses the term theurgy in a chapter title but never really explains why he's using it, what he means in context of Pico's specific texts. Doesn't justify invocation of angels--seems to have uncritically accepted Yates' conjuring vision. Craven argues against the Yates conjuring vision, "no hint of theurgy is justified." Kabbalah according to Craven has been misinterpreted as a "source of techniques" rather Pico recognizes Christian doctrines in it not some Other magic that he can "mix" with Christianity. Yates had thought Pico's "magic and Cabala" led straight to the theurgy of these latter Cabalists, Reuchlin, Agrippa, and Dee. But regardless of whether they make more "Christian theurgy" out of Kabbalah, Pico does not seem to be getting angel magic from Kabbalah. He is clear about how he's using it in the Oration and 900, and doesn't use Kabbalah in the Heptaplus or BU.
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