In classical Neoplatonic accounts the body of light (augoeides) is part of a layered human constitution that corresponds to a layered cosmos: it is the luminous, immortal vehicle of the rational soul which enables the soul's travel through the heavens. Later Renaissance thinkers (notably Ficino) and subsequent occultists reinterpreted and transmitted this ancient taxonomy, describing the body of light as composed of aether/quintessence and as the interface by which human reason and imagination participate in stellar and divine realms.
Sources describe the body of light as luciform, subtle yet quasi-material: a luminous, fiery or 'starry' form rather than ordinary flesh. Neoplatonic terminology (augoeides, astroeides, augoeides okhêma) emphasizes radiance; Ficino speaks of an 'incorporeal light' with a 'fiery and starry nature'; Synesius is cited describing it as 'something very subtle, yet material' and equating its divine aspect with imagination (phantasia).
Functionally it serves as an intermediate vehicle for nonphysical capacities: the augoeides carries the rational, immortal soul through planetary spheres and underwrites ecstatic, mystical, or out-of-body journeys into higher realms. It mediates astrological or stellar influence because it is composed of the same subtle matter (aether/quintessence) associated with the heavens, and it is the locus for imaginative and rational faculties. Neoplatonists and Renaissance commentators also treat it as transformable by spiritual purgation or theurgical practice—proper purgation renders the vehicle more luminous, enabling ascent.
Weaknesses
- conditionimpurity / lack of spiritual purgation
- ritualfailure to undergo theurgical purification (Neoplatonic theurgy) — prevents the vehicle attaining its luminous/immortal form
Wards
- ritualtheurgical purification / spiritual purgation
- otherethical/moral discipline and contemplative practice (sources indicate these conditions enable the augoeides to be rendered luminous)
57 Mnemosyne
57 Mnemosyne is a large main-belt asteroid (S-type) discovered in 1859 and named after the Greek Titaness Mnemosyne. It is a non-sentient astronomical body studied for its orbital and rotational properties and has been used in dynamical measurements related to Jupiter.
Aamon
Aamon (also Amon) is a named spirit in early modern Western grimoire tradition (Pseudomonarchia Daemonum; the Ars Goetia / Lesser Key of Solomon). He is presented as a high-ranking infernal officer (Marquis/Prince) who governs forty legions and is credited with knowledge of past and future and with affecting human relationships (reconciling or procuring feuds and favor).
Abrahel
Abrahel is a demonological entity attested in early modern sources (notably Nicholas Rémy's Demonolatria as summarized in modern reference) portrayed as a female sexual spirit who seduced a man in 1581, induced him to kill his son, then restored the child to life in exchange for worship; the revival produced a diminished, foul-smelling corpse that later died again.
Abraxas
Abraxas (Abrasax) is a late‑antique Gnostic and magical name attested as a high-ranking cosmic power in heresiological summaries and as a potent name engraved on amulets (so-called Abraxas stones) in the Greco‑Roman magical milieu. Heresiologists associate Abraxas with rulership of 365 heavens and note the name's numerological value, while archaeological and papyrological contexts show its use as an amuletic formula.
Achamōth
Achamōth is a feminine emanational figure in certain Gnostic systems, attested as a daughter or subordinate aspect of the divine Wisdom, Sophia. She appears in ophitic/Naassene mythic genealogies where she is named as motherly/filial to lower, problematic figures such as Ilda‑Baoth; beyond this genealogical role the supplied sources record little concrete description or ritual material specific to her.
Adam Kadmon
Adam Kadmon (Hebrew: אָדָם קַדְמוֹן) is the Kabbalistic Primordial Man: a supra‑human, archetypal pattern or persona projected at the first stage of creation after God's contraction (tzimtzum). It is a metaphysical template corresponding to the highest aspect of divine intention and the sefirotic structure rather than a historical, corporeal individual.
Aedesia
Aedesia is a proper name attested in the supplied sources with three distinct referents: a fifth‑century Neoplatonic woman philosopher of Alexandria, a modern botanical genus (Aedesia O.Hoffm.) native to parts of West and Central Tropical Africa, and a reused toponym/moon name in a speculative fiction setting. None of the provided materials portray Aedesia as a supernatural being or attribute spiritlike powers to the name.
Aeon (Gnosticism)
In Gnostic religious systems an Aeon is a divine emanation or hypostasis that issues from the supreme divine source and together with other Aeons composes the Pleroma, the realm or fullness of divine reality. Aeons function as personified principles or powers (e.g., Nous, Sophia) that mediate between the ultimate One and lower levels of existence; their names, numbers, and relationships vary across Gnostic schools (Valentinian, Basilidian, Sethian, etc.).
Agaliarept
A named high-ranking spirit from post-medieval grimoire tradition, presented in the Grimoirium Verum and the Grand Grimoire as a commanding officer in a hierarchical host of spirits; credited with revealing secrets and commanding a legion, and cited in later printed occult imprints and modern fiction.
Agares
Agares is a named, ranked spirit in the European grimoire tradition. Frequently presented as an elderly man associated with the eastern quarter, he is credited in multiple grimoires with teaching languages, stopping or retrieving runaway persons, causing earthquakes, and granting noble titles, and is invoked in evocations and object-binding experiments.
Agathos Daimon (Agathodaemon)
A beneficent household and civic daemon attested in classical Greek and Graeco‑Egyptian religion. In domestic Greece it is a household spirit honored with post‑meal libations; in Ptolemaic Alexandria it appears prominently in serpentine civic and household forms and is syncretised with various Egyptian protective and fate deities in late antiquity.
Agrippa
Agrippa is a polyvalent Latin personal name attested across Roman myth (a legendary king of Alba Longa), multiple historical figures (e.g., Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Agrippa Postumus, Herod Agrippa I & II), and a Renaissance occult author (Heinrich/Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa). The supplied sources treat Agrippa primarily as an onomastic label rather than a single, consistent supernatural entity.
Community Record
- [1]Body of light (Wikipedia). Wikipedia, 'Body of light' article — summary of Neoplatonic and later esoteric accounts (augoeides, astroeides, Ficino, Proclus, Synesius)wiki
- [2]Body of Light, Body of Diamond, Body of Prayer (Servants of the Light event page). Contemporary esoteric organization referencing 'body of light' terminology and training contexts (cited among source set as cultural reuse; not primary doctrinal source)other
- [3]Archive: A Mystery Of The Church | Ephesians 3:1-13. Included among provided materials; cited as adjacent thematic material but not supplying direct doctrinal detail on the body of light in the supplied excerptother