Acknowledgments for the First Edition i
Abbreviations iii
Foreword: Neoplatonic Theurgy and Christian
Incarnation v
Preface to the Second Edition xix
Introduction: To Preserve the Cosmos 1
I
Matter and Embodiment
**1 **Embodiment in the Platonic Tradition 23
**2 **Matter as Cosmic Instrument 31
**3 **Matter as Obstacle to the Embodied Soul 41
**4 **Theurgy as Demiurgy 50
II
The Nature of the Embodied Soul
**5 **The Descent of the Soul 67
**6 **Soul as Mediator 78
**7 **The Constraints of Embodiment 90
**8 **The Freedom of Immortal Bodies 98
**9 **The Paradox of Embodiment 110
**10 **Descending to Apotheosis 121
**11 **Eros and the One of the Soul 134
1
III
The Liturgy of the Cosmos
**12 **Cult and Cosmos 147
**13 **Ritual and the Human Hierarchy 162
**14 **Ritual as Cosmogony 173
**15 **Material *Sunthemata * 183
**16 **Intermediate Sunthemata—Seeing and Hearing the Gods 192
**17 **Intermediate Sunthemata—Naming the Gods 201
**18 **Noetic Sunthemata—Mathematics and the Soul 212
**19 **Noetic Sunthemata—The Theurgy of Numbers 223
**20 **The Sunthema of the Sun 242
IV
Toward a Universal Platonism
**21 **The Platonizing of Popular Religion 259
Conclusion 266
Select Bibliography 273
Index 293