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Hermes Trismegistus: Difference between revisions
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Hermes was known in ancient times as the great sage to whom is attributed sacred writings and alchemical and astrological works. Because of his learning and profound skill in the arts and sciences, the Egyptians gave him the name ''Trismegistus'', which means “thrice-great.” The title “thrice-great” also applies to his role as philosopher, priest and king. The ascended master '''Hermes Trismegistus''' is also known as the '''God Mercury'''. | Hermes was known in ancient times as the great sage to whom is attributed sacred writings and alchemical and astrological works. Because of his learning and profound skill in the arts and sciences, the Egyptians gave him the name ''Trismegistus'', which means “thrice-great.” The title “thrice-great” also applies to his role as philosopher, priest and king. The ascended master '''Hermes Trismegistus''' is also known as the '''God Mercury'''. | ||
Hermes walked the earth for tens of thousands of years. He was on [[Atlantis]], walked its streets, was in its temples and halls of learning and gave forth his teaching. He figures as the great archetype of the messenger of the gods. | Hermes walked the earth for tens of thousands of years. He was on [[Atlantis]], walked its streets, was in its temples and halls of learning and gave forth his teaching. He figures as the great archetype of the messenger of the gods. | ||
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<blockquote>A series of early Egyptian books is attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, who may have been a real savant, or may be a personification of a long succession of writers.... He is identified by some with the Greek god Hermes [equated with the Roman god Mercury] and the Egyptian [[Thoth]].... The Egyptians regarded him as the god of wisdom, letters, and the recording of time.<ref>James Campbell Brown, ''A History of Chemistry from the Earliest Times till the Present Day'' (London: J. & A. Churchill, 1913).</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>A series of early Egyptian books is attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, who may have been a real savant, or may be a personification of a long succession of writers.... He is identified by some with the Greek god Hermes [equated with the Roman god Mercury] and the Egyptian [[Thoth]].... The Egyptians regarded him as the god of wisdom, letters, and the recording of time.<ref>James Campbell Brown, ''A History of Chemistry from the Earliest Times till the Present Day'' (London: J. & A. Churchill, 1913).</ref></blockquote> | ||
== The historical record == | |||
Until the seventeenth century, Hermes was thought to have been a contemporary of [[Moses]]. His writings were considered by Christians to be almost as sacred as the Bible. Church Father Justin Martyr even went so far as to compare him to Jesus. The Greek Church Father Clement of Alexandria spoke of forty-two “Books of Thoth” dealing with priestly education, temple ritual, geography, astrology, guidance for kings, hymns to the gods and medicine. Regrettably, these were lost in the burning of the library at Alexandria. | |||
Scholars today tell us Hermes was an ancient Egyptian sage, or perhaps a succession of sages. They believe that a whole line of teachers or a priesthood may have written under the name ''Hermes''. The prevailing theory is that the Hermetic writings may span several centuries, dating as late as the first or second century <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>. | |||
According to an ancient Egyptian historian, Hermes wrote 36,525 books. His subjects included alchemy, astrology and theology. He was looked to as the custodian of wisdom and literature. In order to enlighten the people, Hermes had his instructions engraved in hieroglyphics upon tables or columns of stone throughout Egypt. | |||
Some have placed Hermes in the time period before [[the Flood]]. Archaeologist James Churchward traces Thoth back to the days of [[Atlantis]]. The Egyptians honored Thoth as the god of wisdom, learning and literature. They saw him as the inventor of all arts and sciences, including writing, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, theology, political economy, medicine, surgery, music and musical instruments. He was believed to be the scribe of the gods. | |||
Scholar Hargrave Jennings writes: | |||
<blockquote>Another Thoth, or Hermes, is said to have lived at a later period. He was equally celebrated with the former, and to him is particularly appropriated, by some, the name of Trismegistus. According to Manetho [an Egyptian priest and historian c. 300 b.c.], he [this second Thoth] translated from engraved tables of stone, which had been buried in the earth, the sacred characters of the first Hermes. He wrote the explanation of them in books, which were deposited in the Egyptian temples.<ref>Hargrave Jennings, ''The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus'' (San Diego, Calif.: Wizards Bookshelf, 1985), pp. iii, iv, v.</ref></blockquote> | |||
[[File:Trismegistos.jpg|thumb|Hermes Trismegistus, from ''Viridarium chymicum'', D. Stolcius von Stolcenbeerg (1624)]] | [[File:Trismegistos.jpg|thumb|Hermes Trismegistus, from ''Viridarium chymicum'', D. Stolcius von Stolcenbeerg (1624)]] | ||
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== The emerald tablet == | == The emerald tablet == | ||
Hermes Trismegistus has been referred to as the father of [[alchemy]]. According to one legend, a slab of emerald found in his tomb had inscribed upon it Hermes’ precepts for making gold. This emerald tablet contained the familiar Hermetic axiom: “What is below is like that which is above. And what is above is like that which is below.”<ref> | Hermes Trismegistus has been referred to as the father of [[alchemy]]. According to one legend, a slab of emerald found in his tomb had inscribed upon it Hermes’ precepts for making gold. This emerald tablet contained the familiar Hermetic axiom: “What is below is like that which is above. And what is above is like that which is below.”<ref>Ibid., p. x.</ref> | ||
One ancient author who claimed to have seen the stone said that it was an emerald on which the characters were represented in bas-relief, not engraved. The material had once been in a fluid state like melted glass and had been cast in a mold, and it had been given the hardness of a genuine emerald by alchemical means. | One ancient author who claimed to have seen the stone said that it was an emerald on which the characters were represented in bas-relief, not engraved. The material had once been in a fluid state like melted glass and had been cast in a mold, and it had been given the hardness of a genuine emerald by alchemical means. | ||
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<blockquote>... neglect not the heart; and call the sacred fire to melt and transmute daily all hardness of heart, spiritual neglect and records of death surrounding the sun center of your own heart chakra. Let us be diligent to expand the heart, for out of it are the issues of life.<ref>Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, “The Emerald Tablet of the Heart,” {{POWref|24|73|, August 1981}}</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>... neglect not the heart; and call the sacred fire to melt and transmute daily all hardness of heart, spiritual neglect and records of death surrounding the sun center of your own heart chakra. Let us be diligent to expand the heart, for out of it are the issues of life.<ref>Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus, “The Emerald Tablet of the Heart,” {{POWref|24|73|, August 1981}}</ref></blockquote> | ||
== The Hermetic tradition == | |||
The Hermetic tradition teaches that it is through mystical experience that man attains liberation. Scholar Sidney Spencer writes: | |||
<blockquote>The Hermetic mystic sees his unity with all beings. The purgation and illumination of the soul which he attains brings him the consciousness of universal fellowship, and it is his task to do good to all.<ref>Sidney Spencer, ''Mysticism in Religion'' (London: Allen & Unwin, 1966), p. 147.</ref></blockquote> | |||
In the ''Mahatma Letters'' the [[Kuthumi|Master K.H.]] praises Hermetic philosophy: | |||
<blockquote>Hermetic Philosophy suits every creed and philosophy and clashes with none. It is the boundless ocean of Truth, the central point whither flows and wherein meet every river, whether its source be in the East, West, North, or South. As the course of the river depends upon the nature of its basin, so the channel for the communication of Knowledge must conform itself to surrounding circumstances. The Egyptian Hierophant, the Chaldean Mage, the Arhat, and the Rishi, were bound in days of yore on the same voyage of discovery and ultimately arrived at the same goal though by different tracks.<ref>''The Mahatma Letters to A. P. Sinnett'', compiled by A. T. Barker (Theosophical University Press, 1926), letter 85.</ref></blockquote> | |||
According to scholar Walter Scott, some of the Hermetic texts may have been written down by the pupils of Ammonius Saccas, a renowned third-century Alexandrian teacher and one of the founders of the Neoplatonic movement. He was a teacher of [[Origen]]. [[Helena P. Blavatsky|Helena Blavatsky]] considered that the most important goal of the Theosophical Society was to revive the work of Ammonius Saccas. Blavatsky wrote: | |||
<blockquote>It was Ammonius who first taught that every religion was based on one and the same truth; which is the wisdom found in the Books of Thoth (Hermes Trismegistus), from which books Pythagoras and Plato had learned all their philosophy.<ref>H. P. Blavatsky, ''Isis Unveiled'' (Wheaton, IL: Theosophical Publishing House, 1972), vol. 1, p. 444.</ref></blockquote> | |||
Today, less than twenty sermons and some additional fragments of Hermes’ teachings remain. In 1945 three Hermetic tracts were discovered at Nag Hammadi, thus indicating a link between the Gnostic and Hermetic schools. The Gnostics, who flourished in the second century <small>A</small>.<small>D</small>., believed that the most important element in the soul’s spiritual quest was gnosis—a Greek word meaning “knowledge.” We see this same principle reflected in the Hermetic teachings. Scholar Giovanni Filoramo says: | |||
<blockquote>The Hermes texts were written in the form of gentle scholarly dialogues in which Hermes teaches a closed group of disciples. They are imbued with an irrepressible desire for knowledge of God. Their ideological structure is an attitude of genuine, deep devotion as the way to knowledge of oneself and of God.<ref>Giovanni Filoramo, ''History of Gnosticism''.</ref></blockquote> | |||
== The lineage of the planet Mercury == | == The lineage of the planet Mercury == | ||