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Plotinus was still an independent philosopher, inheriting the traditions of Greek thought, though not the traditions of Greek life, building his system avowedly by a rational method, and altogether rejecting theurgy or religious magic.

In the days when theurgy was still an honourable profession, Apollonius of Tyana said "Knowing what people say is nothing; I know what people don't say."

In the heights of abstraction where it loses itself, it seems very far from popular superstitions; and yet the school of Alexandria unites ecstatic contemplation and theurgy.

The arts of theurgy were employed to wean the mind from sensuous knowledge, and to fix aspiration on unseen realities.

The impaired reason accepted the coarsest superstitions, the most extreme asceticism and most extravagant theurgy.