Introduction
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The figure of Hermes Trismegistus, the Thrice Great Hermes,
looms large in the Western esoteric tradition. Born from the fusion of the
Greek and Egyptian spiritual traditions, the writings attributed to this great
sage had a decisive effect on the Renaissance. Marsilio Ficino, the great
Renaissance philosopher and astrologer, was asked by his Medici patron to put
aside all other work to translate the Corpus Hermeticum, series of treatises
attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. The availability of the complete Corpus
Hermeticum in Latin set off an explosion of interest in Hermetic philosophy and
the three allied esoteric fields of astrology, alchemy and magic.
looms large in the Western esoteric tradition. Born from the fusion of the
Greek and Egyptian spiritual traditions, the writings attributed to this great
sage had a decisive effect on the Renaissance. Marsilio Ficino, the great
Renaissance philosopher and astrologer, was asked by his Medici patron to put
aside all other work to translate the Corpus Hermeticum, series of treatises
attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. The availability of the complete Corpus
Hermeticum in Latin set off an explosion of interest in Hermetic philosophy and
the three allied esoteric fields of astrology, alchemy and magic.
Medievel
Moon From the time of its first emergence in the great free trade zone of the
Roman imperium, epitomized in the teeming city of Alexandria, filled as it was
with Greeks, Jews, Egyptians and all of the myriad races and cultures of the
Mediterranean, whenever the Zeitgeist, or Spirit of the Age, turns to
Hermeticism there is a surface effulgence of art, literature and culture as
well as a hidden flowering of the esoteric arts. This phenomenon was the hidden
current in the Renaissance and we are experiencing a similar rebirth in our own
age.
Moon From the time of its first emergence in the great free trade zone of the
Roman imperium, epitomized in the teeming city of Alexandria, filled as it was
with Greeks, Jews, Egyptians and all of the myriad races and cultures of the
Mediterranean, whenever the Zeitgeist, or Spirit of the Age, turns to
Hermeticism there is a surface effulgence of art, literature and culture as
well as a hidden flowering of the esoteric arts. This phenomenon was the hidden
current in the Renaissance and we are experiencing a similar rebirth in our own
age.
The summary of any philosophy or esoteric movement suffers
an inevitable loss of meaning, but we can begin by seeing Hermeticism as a
practical method of gnosis, i.e. direct knowledge of the Divine. The true
nature of each of us is Divine and we can, through a process of purification,
learning and initiation, come to have an actual experience of the One.
an inevitable loss of meaning, but we can begin by seeing Hermeticism as a
practical method of gnosis, i.e. direct knowledge of the Divine. The true
nature of each of us is Divine and we can, through a process of purification,
learning and initiation, come to have an actual experience of the One.
A key tenet of Hermeticism is the Unity of the Cosmos and
the sympathy and interconnection of all things. Without this unity we could not
accomplish the mystic union, but it also makes possible the spiritual
connection, without which magic, astrology and alchemy could not function.
the sympathy and interconnection of all things. Without this unity we could not
accomplish the mystic union, but it also makes possible the spiritual
connection, without which magic, astrology and alchemy could not function.
The Traditional View of Hermes Trismegistus
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This extract is from Francis Barrett's The Magus:
Medievel
Trismegistus HERMES Trismegistus, (who was the author of the divine Pymander
and some other books,) lived some time before Moses. He received the name of
Trismegistus, or Mercurius ter Maximus, i. e. thrice greatest Intelligencer,
because he was the first intelligencer who communicated celestial and divine
knowledge to mankind by writing.
Trismegistus HERMES Trismegistus, (who was the author of the divine Pymander
and some other books,) lived some time before Moses. He received the name of
Trismegistus, or Mercurius ter Maximus, i. e. thrice greatest Intelligencer,
because he was the first intelligencer who communicated celestial and divine
knowledge to mankind by writing.
He was reported to have been king of Egypt; without doubt he
was an Egyptian; nay, if you believe the Jews, even their Moses; and for the
justification of this they urge, 1st, His being well skilled in chemistry; nay,
the first who communicated that art to the sons of men; 2dly, They urge the
philosophic work, viz. of rendering gold medicinal, or, finally, of the art of
making aurum potabile; and, thirdly, of teaching the Cabala, which they say was
shewn him by God on Mount Sinai: for all this is confessed to be originally
written in Hebrew, which he would not have done had he not been an Hebrew, but
rather in his vernacular tongue.
was an Egyptian; nay, if you believe the Jews, even their Moses; and for the
justification of this they urge, 1st, His being well skilled in chemistry; nay,
the first who communicated that art to the sons of men; 2dly, They urge the
philosophic work, viz. of rendering gold medicinal, or, finally, of the art of
making aurum potabile; and, thirdly, of teaching the Cabala, which they say was
shewn him by God on Mount Sinai: for all this is confessed to be originally
written in Hebrew, which he would not have done had he not been an Hebrew, but
rather in his vernacular tongue.
But whether he was Moses or not 1, it is certain he was an
Egyptian, even as Moses himself also was; and therefore for the age he lived
in, we shall not fall short of the time if we conclude he flourished much about
the time of Moses; and if he really was not the identical Moses, affirmed to be
so by many, it is more than probable that he was king of Egypt; for being chief
philosopher, he was, according to the Egyptian custom, initiated into the
mysteries of priesthood, and from thence to the chief governor or king.
Egyptian, even as Moses himself also was; and therefore for the age he lived
in, we shall not fall short of the time if we conclude he flourished much about
the time of Moses; and if he really was not the identical Moses, affirmed to be
so by many, it is more than probable that he was king of Egypt; for being chief
philosopher, he was, according to the Egyptian custom, initiated into the
mysteries of priesthood, and from thence to the chief governor or king.
He was called Ter Maximus, as having a perfect knowledge of
all things contained in the world (as his Aureus, or Golden Tractate, and his
Divine Pymander shews) which things he divided into three kingdoms, viz.
animal, vegetable, and mineral; in the knowledge and comprehension of which
three he excelled and transmitted to posterity, in enigmas and symbols, the
profound secrets of nature; likewise a true description of the Philosopher's
Quintessence, or Universal Elixir, which he made as the receptacle of all
celestial and terrestrial virtues. The Great Secret of the philosophers he
discoursed on, which was found engraven upon a Smaragdine table, in the valley
of Ebron.
all things contained in the world (as his Aureus, or Golden Tractate, and his
Divine Pymander shews) which things he divided into three kingdoms, viz.
animal, vegetable, and mineral; in the knowledge and comprehension of which
three he excelled and transmitted to posterity, in enigmas and symbols, the
profound secrets of nature; likewise a true description of the Philosopher's
Quintessence, or Universal Elixir, which he made as the receptacle of all
celestial and terrestrial virtues. The Great Secret of the philosophers he
discoursed on, which was found engraven upon a Smaragdine table, in the valley
of Ebron.
Medievel Sun Johannes
Functius, in his Chronology says, he lived in the time of Moses, twenty-one
years before the law was given in the wilderness. Suidas seems to confirm it by
saying, "Credo Mercurium Trismegistum sapientem Egyptium floruisse ante
Pharaonem." [I believe that Hermes Trismegistus, the Egyptian sage,
flourished before Pharoah.] But this of Suidas may be applied to several ages,
for that Pharaoh was the general name of their kings; or possibly it might be
intended before the name of Pharaoh was given to their kings, which, if so 1,
he makes Trismegistus to exist 400 years before Moses, yea, before Abraham's
descent into Egypt.
Functius, in his Chronology says, he lived in the time of Moses, twenty-one
years before the law was given in the wilderness. Suidas seems to confirm it by
saying, "Credo Mercurium Trismegistum sapientem Egyptium floruisse ante
Pharaonem." [I believe that Hermes Trismegistus, the Egyptian sage,
flourished before Pharoah.] But this of Suidas may be applied to several ages,
for that Pharaoh was the general name of their kings; or possibly it might be
intended before the name of Pharaoh was given to their kings, which, if so 1,
he makes Trismegistus to exist 400 years before Moses, yea, before Abraham's
descent into Egypt.
There is no doubt but that he possessed the great secret of
the philosophic work; and if God ever appeared in man, he appeared in him, as
is evident both from his books and his Pymander; in which works he has
communicated the sum of the abyss, and the divine knowledge to all posterity;
by which he has demonstrated himself to have been not only an inspired divine,
but also a deep philosopher, obtaining his wisdom from God and heavenly things,
and not from man.
the philosophic work; and if God ever appeared in man, he appeared in him, as
is evident both from his books and his Pymander; in which works he has
communicated the sum of the abyss, and the divine knowledge to all posterity;
by which he has demonstrated himself to have been not only an inspired divine,
but also a deep philosopher, obtaining his wisdom from God and heavenly things,
and not from man.
Francis Barrett, The Magus, page 150-1.
Does the Date of the Writing of the Corpus Hermeticum
Matter?
Matter?
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Medievel Trismegistus The
modern received "wisdom" with regard to Hermetic philosophy,
particularly as it was seen in the Renaissance is that while Renaissance
humanism, which hearkened back to classical Latin rhetoric and literature, was
historically rooted, Renaissance Hermeticism, "...the return to a pure
golden age of magic, was based on a radical error in dating." Francis
Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, (UChicago, 1964) at 1.
Thatmodern received "wisdom" with regard to Hermetic philosophy,
particularly as it was seen in the Renaissance is that while Renaissance
humanism, which hearkened back to classical Latin rhetoric and literature, was
historically rooted, Renaissance Hermeticism, "...the return to a pure
golden age of magic, was based on a radical error in dating." Francis
Yates, Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, (UChicago, 1964) at 1.
the traditional dating of the Corpus Hermeticum as contemporaneous with Moses
was in error had been discovered by Issac Casaubon in 1614 who noted various
anachronisms and established by the style and vocabulary that they were not
early Greek works. Yates, at 400. A date of the 2nd to 4th centuries A.D. is
now generally accepted as the date of the earliest known versions of the Corpus
Hermeticum. Casaubon's view that the Corpus Hermeticum was, "...made up
partly from the writings of Plato and the Platonists and partly from Christian
sacred books." [Yates at 400.] is also the currently scholarly opinion of
the origin of the Corpus. Finally since the Renaissance philosophers and mages
accepted the Corpus only because it was ancient and its antiquity
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