(c. A.D. 250-325) Among the most important of the Neoplatonic
philosophers. He was a student of Plotinus" disciple Porphyry. His
influential treatise On the Mysteries of Egypt expresses High Magic, which operates through the agency of the gods. Agrippa refers frequently to Iamblichus in his Occulta Philosophia.
Iamblicus wrote, "They (the Beings we invoke) will not hearken to the
person who is invoking them if he is not pure from sexual
contamination..." And, "Theurgy unites us more strongly with divine
nature. This nature is engendered by itself and acts in accordance with
its own powers. It is intelligent and sustains everything; it is the
ornament of the universe and invites us to the intelligent truth, to
perfection, and to share this perfection with others. It unites us so
intimately to all the creative acts of the Gods in proportion to the
capacity of each one of us. After accomplishing these sacred rites, the
soul is consolidated within the actions of the intelligence of the Gods
until identifying itself with them. Thus it is absorbed by the primeval
and divine Essence. Such is the object of the sacred initiations of the
Egyptians."