On the Mysteries of the Egyptians - Pimander - Asclepius

On the order of the higher beings.

Our souls are counted among the divine classes. Heroes In the Neoplatonic tradition, "Heroes" are not just brave men, but a specific rank of spiritual beings—souls that have attained a high degree of purification and act as intermediaries between humans and higher spirits. are greater than men; therefore, daemons original: "dæmones." In this context, daemons are not "demons" in the modern sense of evil spirits, but "daimones"—benevolent intermediary spirits who bridge the gap between gods and mortals. are much loftier still. The first of the divine beings is the Good itself The "First Principle" or "The One," the source of all existence. and the gods who follow it; the last in this chain are the individual rational souls. Between these two extremes are two intermediaries: namely, heroes (who are close to souls) and daemons (who are close to the gods), just as air and water exist between the elements of fire and earth. Even though heroes surpass us in power, virtue, beauty, and magnitude, they nonetheless share much in common with our own soul and its life.

Daemons are superior to heroes and act as ministers to the gods, serving much like craftsmen's assistants in the workmanship of the world original: "opificio mundano." This refers to the creation and maintenance of the physical cosmos.. Those things which are inexpressible and hidden within the gods, the daemons express and bring to light. These daemons and heroes adapt the universal, simple, and unchanging gifts of the gods to the lower realms; they bring all things into agreement and are the authors of the harmonic consensus and the "mutual sympathy" of all things. The concept of "cosmic sympathy" (compassio) suggests that all parts of the universe are interconnected like the strings of a lyre; when one part moves, others respond. They translate divine things to us, and in like manner, they lead our affairs back to the divine. Furthermore, they distribute the degrees of the gifts from above and prepare those who are to receive them in an orderly fashion. These various kinds of divine beings differ from one another in three ways: namely, in their essences, their powers, and their actions. In Scholastic and Platonic thought, "Essence" is what a thing is, "Power" (virtus) is its capacity to act, and "Action" is the actual exercise of that power. The property of the gods... original catchword: "deor" [deorum]