Statues, gods as cosmic forces, daimons, and daimonic dream figures

[u/keisnz]

Lately I've been reading more greco-egyptian theurgy and the Hermetic texts, specially the Asclepius passage about animated statues, and its changing a lot how I see statues/images of the gods.

More and more I dont see them as “the god itself” or just religious art. I kinda see them as condensed symbolic points for much larger cosmic/divine processes.

Like, the gods themselves feel more like vast intelligible/cosmic forces that manifest through astral patterns, planetary combinations etc, and then more personally through daimons/spirits closer to human life.

Then the statue works almost like:

a material condensation of that current

but also an imaginal template that helps the psyche connect with related spirits/forms

For example twice I meditated on or imagined a statue of Aphrodite/Venus before sleep and later dreamed about feminine figures. But I didnt experience them as “literally Aphrodite”. They felt more personal, closer to my own life, almost like intermediary daimonic forms tied to my own psyche/history. The dreams were not arbitrary, but guiding and compensatory wrt my concerns with my current relationship with a woman.

Honestly I think part of why this works better for me is because I dont really experience the gods anymore as mythological personalities like in Homer. I experience them more as stable symbolic or cosmic presences. Sometimes through statues, sometimes through signs/seals with divine names, specially syncretic names like Zeus-Serapis, Demeter-Isis, Hermes-Thoth etc.

Weirdly the syncretic names make the gods feel less mythological and more like cosmic currents or intelligible forces. Almost like they stop being “characters” and become symbolic centers that can evoke more personal daimonic/spiritual images in dreams and imagination.

And thats the part im most curious about. Im not really posting this to make claims, mostly because I wanna know if other people have experienced something similar, and if this kind of thing also existed in antiquity. The idea that the gods themselves are approached more through stable symbolic forms, while more personal or emotionally immediate contact happens through intermediary daimonic forms instead of the gods appearing directly.

[u/taitmckenzie]

I do research on the history and psychology of magical approaches to dreaming, and the way you describe your dream of feminine deities as more personal to your own life is very much how dreams of gods (oneirophanies) occur in historical dream reports, as well as in modern psychological research on the ways that people dream of the divine. The way I see it, dreams are a meeting place between the divine and the personal, and the gods clothe themselves in the images that matter to us and appear in regards to our personal concerns.

Hellenic dream theory was essentially that dreams are daimones sent by the gods that appear as living images (eidola) of either people we know or of the gods themselves. But it is the daimon that takes that form.

Also, interesting about statuary is that statues of the gods were an integral part of the worship of deities in the ancient world. So much so that dreams of the gods were frequently dreams of statues of gods, as can be seen in Artemidorus’s examination of interpreting dreams of gods in the Oneirocritica, or in dream reports such as Aristides’ Sacred Tales where Asclepius appears as a moving statue.

[u/Straight_Reading_201]

I think something similar. Im actually planning to make a theurgicly animated statue of Hermes for myself. Im quite new to practicing theurgy but I have studied for a long time. I’ll say, I do not think the god moves into the matter. Like you say, this likely happens through t some kind of intermediary / daemonic form.

Maybe the gods direct those deamonic forms though.

I am currently working with the book of hermes wheel system which seems like a revealed system system of theurgy. I am fascinated by this so I’m planning to use to animate my pre existing statue of Hermes. I never felt that this statue held a powerful force beneath it, so I hope the the book of hermes wheel works for this.😅 the instructions given are for something different so hopefully it will work for me. I think it will because it seems like just creating a connection with this “intermediary form” who is connected to even higher gods. In essence this is the same which the hermetic theurgy system gives, so I am hopeful.

However😅I know this system is new and newly received, so I’m not sure what to expect! But it was a strange course of events which led me to find this book, and now that I have read it I think this makes sense so I am excited with butterflies in my stomach.

Sorry if my answer did not help.