Theurgia, or The Egyptian Mysteries (includes Letter to Anebo)

sacred knots and unloose them, open locked places, and change the intentions of those they encounter, turning them from paltry to worthy. Those who are able to produce mystic figures are also not to be held in low esteem. They observe the course of the heavenly bodies and determine, from their positions and relations, whether the oracular announcements of the ruling planet will be false or true, or whether the rites performed will be useless, expressive, or arcane—even if no god or spirit is actually drawn down to them.

There are some, however, who suppose there is also a subordinate race of a tricky nature—artful, assuming all shapes, and turning many ways—that personates gods, spirits, and the souls of the dead like actors on a stage. They believe that through these beings, everything that seems good or bad is made possible. They hold this view because these spirits cannot contribute anything truly beneficial to the soul, nor can they perceive such things; instead, they abuse, mock, and often impede those who are returning to virtue.

They are also full of conceit and take delight in vapors and sacrifices.

5. Because the begging priest with open mouth attempts in many ways to raise our expectations (The agurtes or begging priest generally belonged to the worship of Rhea or Kybêlê, the Mother. He is frequently depicted in a most unfavorable light. Apuleius speaks of a company of these emasculate priests in the eighth book of the Metamorphoses. They are also described in the Republic of Plato: "Agurtæ and Mantics frequent the houses of the rich and persuade them that they possess a power granted by the gods to expiate, by sacrifices and chants any unjust act that has been committed and that they induce the gods by blandishments and magic rites to help them. They collected money in this way, and they also followed the selling of nostrums and telling of fortunes.").

THE INVOCATIONS OF THE THEURGIC RITES

It perplexes me greatly to conceive how those who are invoked as superior beings can be commanded like...