THE LIFE TEACHINGS OF THOTH HERMES TRISMEGISTUS
Thunder rolled, lightning flashed, the veil of the Temple was rent from
top to bottom. The venerable initiator, in his robes of blue and gold, slowly
raised his jeweled wand and pointed with it into the darkness revealed by the
tearing of the silken curtain: "Behold the Light of Egypt! " The candidate, in
his plain white robe, gazed into the utter blackness framed by the two great
Lotus-headed columns between which the veil had hung. As he watched, a luminous
haze. Go to: Thoth
Hermes
SUPPOSITIONS CONCERNING THE IDENTITY OF HERMES
Iamblichus averred that Hermes was the author of twenty thousand books;
Manetho increased the number to more than thirty-six thousand (see James
Gardner)--figures which make it evident that a solitary individual, even though
he be overshadowed by divine prerogative, could scarcely have accomplished such
a monumental labor. Among the arts and sciences which it is affirmed Hermes
revealed to mankind were medicine, chemistry, law, architecture, astrology, music,
rhetoric, Magic, philosophy, geography, mathematics (especially geometry),
anatomy, and oratory. Orpheus was similarly acclaimed by the Greeks. Go to: Thoth
Hermes
HERMETIC FRAGMENTS
On the subject of the Hermetic books, James Campbell Brown, in his History
of Chemistry, has written: "Leaving the Chaldean and earliest Egyptian
periods, of which we have remains but no record, and from which no names of
either chemists or philosophers have come down to us, we now approach the
Historic Period, when books were written, not at first upon parchment or paper,
but upon papyrus. 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, and the Egyptian Thoth or Tuti, who was the moon-god,
and is represented in ancient paintings as ibis-headed with the disc and
crescent of the moon. The Egyptians regarded him as the god of wisdom, letters,
and the recording of time. Go to: Thoth
Hermes
THE BOOK OF THOTH
While Hermes still walked the earth with men, he entrusted to his chosen
successors the sacred Book of Thoth. This work contained the secret
processes by which the regeneration of humanity was to be accomplished and also
served as the key to his other writings. Nothing definite is known concerning
the contents of the Book of Thoth other than that its pages were covered
with strange hieroglyphic figures and symbols, which gave to those acquainted
with their use unlimited power over the spirits of the air and the subterranean
divinities. When certain areas of the brain are stimulated by the secret
processes of the Mysteries, the consciousness of man is extended and he is
permitted to behold the Immortals and enter into the presence of the superior
gods. The Book of Thoth described the method whereby this stimulation was
accomplished. In truth, therefore, it was the "Key to Immortality." Go to: Thoth
Hermes
POIMANDRES, THE VISION OF HERMES
The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus is one of the
earliest of the Hermetic writings now extant. While probably not in its original
form, having been remodeled during the first centuries of the Christian Era and
incorrectly translated since, this work undoubtedly contains many of the
original concepts of the Hermetic cultus. The Divine Pymander consists of
seventeen fragmentary writings gathered together and put forth as one work. The
second book of The Divine Pymander, called Poimandres, or The
Vision, is believed to describe the method by which the divine wisdom was
first revealed to Hermes. It was after Hermes had received this revelation that
he began his ministry, teaching to all who would listen the secrets of the
invisible universe as they had been unfolded to him. Go to: Thoth
Hermes