Alexandrian Platonists

The term "Alexandrian Platonists" refers to philosophers associated with Alexandria, Egypt, a major intellectual center in antiquity. "Platonism" derives from the Greek philosopher Plato, whose ideas formed the foundation of their thought. This school flourished from the 1st to the 3rd centuries CE.

The followiiipr is from /\/.s- I' nn ih <l -. "The lii-ahnian Gi'iliasta (the ivoeator; nuist ]>»• in a state of eoniplftc pnrity hefon^ he ventiires to call foith tilt' Pitris. After iiavinj; prepared a lamp, some sandal-ineensc ote.. and havinfr traeed the majjie eircles taufrht him by tlie superior Guru, in order to keep away hod spirits, lie eeases to ])reathe, and calls the fhr ( Ki(tt(l<ilifii) to his help to ilisjx'rse his body." He pronounces a certain number of times the saered word, and "his soul (astral body) escajjcs from its prison, his body disapi)ears and the soul (imapre) of the evoked sjnrit descends into the double body and animates it'*. Then "his (the tlieurgfist's) .soul (astral) re-enters its body, whose subtile particles have aprain been aprprefjatinp: (to the objective sense), after having: formed for thenLselves an aerial body for the deva (god or spirit) he evoked". . . . And then, the operator propounds to the latter questions "on the mysteries of Being and the transformation of the impcrishahlr". The j)opular j^i-evailing idea is that the theurprists, as well as the magicians, worked wonders, such as evoking the souls or shadows of the heroes and gods, and other thaumaturgic works, by supernatural powers. But this never was the fact. They did it simply by the liberation of their own astral body, which, taking the form of a god or hero, served as a medium or vehicle through which the special current preserving the ideas and knowledge of that hero or god could be reached and manifested. (See "lambliehus".) Thirty-two Ways of Wisdom (Kah.). The Zohar says that Choehmah or Ilokhmah (wisdom) generates all things "by means of (these) thirtytwo paths." (Zohar iii., 290a). The full account of them is found in the Sepher Yczirah, wherein letters and numbers constitute as entities the Thirty-two Paths of Wisdom, by which the Elohim built the whole T'^niver.se. For. as said elsewhere, the brain "hath an outlet from Zeir Anpin. and therefore it is spread and goes out to thirty-two ways". Zeir Anjiin. the "Short Face" or the "Lesser Countenance", is tlie Heavenly Adam, Adam Kadmon, or Man. Man in the Zohar is looked upon as the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet to which the decad is added : and hence the thirty-two symbols of his faculties or paths.

The Alexandrian Platonists, a constellation of thinkers who illuminated the intellectual firmament of Egypt, offer a potent reminder that the pursuit of wisdom is rarely a solitary endeavor. They were not mere academic speculators, but seekers who wove together the Platonic threads of ideal forms and the soul's innate divinity with the vibrant, often mystical, currents of their time. Figures like Plotinus, though later, stand as towering heirs to this tradition, articulating a vision of the One, the ultimate, ineffable source from which all existence flows, a concept that echoes across millennia of spiritual inquiry.

Their work suggests that true understanding is a dialectic between the rational mind and the intuitive spirit. The ancient practice of theurgy, hinted at in Blavatsky's definition, though often misunderstood as mere magic, speaks to a profound desire for participation in the divine order. It was not about commanding forces, but about aligning oneself with cosmic principles, a spiritual technology for bridging the chasm between the material and the divine. This resonates with Mircea Eliade's observations on the sacred as a reality that can be re-experienced through ritual, transforming ordinary space and time into something holy.

The Alexandrian synthesis, by integrating diverse traditions, demonstrates a remarkable capacity for recognizing shared spiritual impulses beneath differing cultural expressions. This echoes the work of Henry Corbin, who explored the rich interplay of Persian mysticism and Islamic philosophy, revealing universal patterns in the human quest for meaning. For the modern seeker, the Alexandrian Platonists provide not just a historical footnote, but a living invitation to engage with the perennial questions of existence, to cultivate the inner life, and to perceive the divine immanence within the intricate weave of reality. Their legacy is a testament to the enduring human aspiration to know oneself as part of something immeasurably larger.