"Let the immortal depth of your Soul lead you, but earnestly raise your eyes upwards. Psell., 11. Pletho, 20." — The Chaldæan Oracles
The Chaldean Oracles are a collection of mystical, theurgical, and philosophical texts, written in Greek in the 2nd century CE. They are not thought to not be genuinely "Chaldean" (Babylonian) but Neoplatonic and influenced by Hellenistic, Persian, and Hermetic traditions. They were attributed to Julian the Theurgist and possibly his father, Julian the Chaldean, who were mystics and theurgists in the Roman Empire.
They became a central text for the Neoplatonists, especially for figures like Iamblichus and Proclus, who saw in them a framework for understanding the cosmos, divine hierarchy, and spiritual ascent. The Oracles combine elements of Persian, Mesopotamian, and Greek thought and provide a vision of the cosmos that heavily influenced later theurgical practices and mystical traditions.
"There is above the Celestial Lights an Incorruptible Flame always sparkling; the Spring of Life, the Formation of all Beings, the Original of all things! This Flame produceth all things, and nothing perisheth but what it consumeth. It maketh Itself known by Itself. This Fire cannot be contained in any Place, it is without Body and without Matter. It encompasseth the Heavens. And there goeth out from it little Sparks, which make all the Fires of the Sun, of the Moon, and of the Stars."
— The Chaldæan Oracles
"Explore the River of the Soul, whence, or in what order you have come: so that although you have become a servant to the body, you may again rise to the Order from which you descended, joining works to sacred reason. Psell., 5. Pletho. 1. Z."
"Every way unto the emancipated Soul extend the rays of Fire. Psell., 11. Pletho, 24. Z."
"The Chaldeans, likening earthly things to heavenly ones and the heavens to the lower world, saw in this mutual sympathy of the parts of the universe—divided by their position but not by their very essence—a harmony that unites them like a musical chord." — Philo