The religious-philosophical concept of personal daimon and the magico-theurgic ritual of systasis in the Greek magical papyri

Abstract

The paper examines the religious and philosophical concept of the personal daimon in the Greek magical papyri in relation to Greek philosophy and especially to the Neo-Platonist philosophers. Questions to be addressed are: What is the nature of the personal daimon? What is the relationship between the personal daimon and the individual and how is this relationship established in magic? Special emphasis is placed on the role of the magico-theurgic ritual of systasis in the process of establishing the relationship with the personal daimon. Finally, the paper examines the relationship between magic rituals, mysteries and philosophy, focusing on the issue of the internalization of the personal daimon.