Topic: Dionysius The Areopagite

Gordon White rejects the idea of a rigid spiritual hierarchy, viewing it as an artificial construct created by early Christian apologists like Dionysius the Areopagite to categorize pagan spirits. Instead, he proposes an "ecosystem model" based on animism, where the spirit world is a realm of independent and interdependent beings. In this view, the goal of the practitioner is to navigate this environment, finding helpful entities while avoiding hostile ones.