10/28/2022 0 Comments Hermetic cross meaningThey should instead be understood as components of a single Hermetic worldview. Fowden (1993) has argued, however, that the two bodies of literature were not mutually exclusive. Festugiere argued that "philosophic Hermetism" and "occult Hermetism" had little to do with each other. Which scholars since Festugiere (1954) have distinguished as philosophical literature, credit Hermes Trismegistus with the revelation of a distinctive trend in late antique philosophy. The Egyptian god Thoth, whom the Greeks identified with Hermes and termed Trismegistus ("Thrice-Great"), was portrayed in the Hermetic literature as the divine founder of these occult practices. To the concerns of the oldest Hermetic literature with conjuring spirits and animating statues, writings of the Hellenistic era added Greco-Babylonian astrology and the then newly developed practice of alchemy (Fowden 1993:65-68). Hermetism had its origin in age-old practices of Egyptian magic. Marsilio Ficino translated a collection of Hellenistic Hermetic documents from Greek into Latin in the 1460s (Yates 1964), since which time the Corpus Hermeticum has been a mainstay of Western esotericism (Faivre 1995).įreemasonry's legend of Hermes gained new meaning when the Hermetic elements of Renaissance esotericism was grafted onto the craft, beginning around 1599 (Stevenson 1988:22,44,49). Scottish versions of the Old Charges of Freemasonry, whose earliest extant manuscripts date from around 1400, assert that geometry was founded before the Flood by Jabel son of Lamech, who inscribed the science on pillars of stone that survived the Flood and were rediscovered by "the great Hermarius," who taught the science to humanity (Stevenson 1988:19-22). The Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach, composed circa 1210, blended the quest of the Holy Grail with Hermetic esotericism (Kahane & Kahane 1965). Hermetism later made its way west, possiblythe question remains openas a living esoteric tradition. Prominent Muslim philosophersal-Kindi, al-Farabi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), and otherswere influenced by Hellenistic Hermetic writings (Genequand 1987-88 Affifi 1951). The earliest alchemists in the Islamicate included Hermetic authors who wrote under Arabicized pseudonyms: Balinas (Apollonius of Tyana) and Artefius (Orpheus) (Weisser 1980 Della Vida 1938). In Haran, Hermetism had been syncretized with late Neoplatonism prior to the rise of Islam (Green 1992:168). It persisted as a living tradition in the city of Haran in Syria as late as the tenth century, when its leading exponent, Thabit ibn Qurra (836-901), established a pagan Hermetic school in Baghdad (Affifi 1951:844 Merkur 1998:20-21).Ĭonjunctio oppositorum, from Nikolaus Mueller, Glauben, Wissen, und Kunst, (Mainz: 1822) Hermetism was a Hellenistic system of occultism that flourished in Egypt in the first centuries C.E. In this article, I will present my findings concerning a second such instance: the initiatory experiences of the Hermetists of late antiquity, which were legendary and perhaps historical forerunners of Western alchemical initiations. No doubt the topic will repay further research. One may point to shamanism (Merkur 1992) and Tibetan tantra (Hopkins 1977:191-2) but the gnostic tradition is the only instance in a Western culture that has been documented to date. However, the use of multiple techniques to induce more than one desired experience is comparatively rare. The literature occasionally suggests that a single technique of ecstasy, such as reciting a Hindu or Buddhist mantra, or the Muslim la illaha, or the Christian Jesus prayer, is able to induce several experiences en route to the desired experience of union. Comparably complex mystical initiations have rarely been documented in the general history of religion. In the Paracelsian tradition of spiritual alchemy, initiates sought four specific mystical experiences in a deliberate sequence in order to inculcate a particular doctrinal orientation to mystical practice and metaphysics. In some eras, the practices were more elaborate than they were in others. In Gnosis (Merkur 1991:56-73), I argued that the gnostic tradition that passed from late antique Gnosticism through Judaism and Islam, before it influenced Western esotericism, engaged throughout its history in practices of both mystical visions and unions.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |