Theurgy

What theurgy is to me

I came to theurgy through research and practice. I wrote and performed hymns and created ceremonial artwork, and I noticed the effect it had on my consciousness.

Theurgic practice creates a cumulative effect. Writing and performing a hymn, making art, then contemplating that art during and after the performance, lets you penetrate far deeper into specific regions of the collective unconscious. It tunes you to particular channels: archetypes, deities, or facets of your own personality. It becomes a lightning rod for intuitive insight, and it can greatly enhance a meditative practice.

I believe artistic expression, when it is aimed at rendering intuitive insight and making the imaginal, dream and visionary states real, does something very potent to the psyche.

How I use it

Art-making runs through my work: it is how I make symbolic experience tangible. I work in collage and digital illustration, occasionally with AI tools.

A hymn captures visionary insight in a form you can perform, and performing a hymn in the proper mindset is itself a way to re-enter that state: a powerful form of active imagination.

Read an example: A Hymn to Azreal, Angel of Death.