Thrice Great
Thrice Great
There are words that, captured by the wind, echo in our thoughts and accompany us throughout our lives. There are phrases insinuated by the stars, which incite us to unveil them and, with them, the cosmos. There are fifteen lines written on an emerald tablet that have emerged and reemerged in history, which have transformed the metal of the hearts of those who heard them into gold.
There was one who opened his mind, knew the Mind of the universe and the three parts of the philosophy of the world. He taught others how to write without ever having learned it, enunciated the depth of the world to those who only saw its surface, founded a science at a time when only superstition reigned.
King, physician, philosopher, alchemist, mage, god. Thoth, Hermes, Mercury, the thrice-great.
His physiognomy was lost in the dust of millennia, his identity was eroded by the shadows of history. By the time myths emerged, he himself was already a myth.
All that has come down to us is its tradition. The Hermetic Tradition, rediscovered at the beginning of the Christian era, was the cornerstone of what would later be called “Alchemy” and would become the grandmother of modern science.
He left behind forty-two books, which for millennia guided Egyptian society in its cults, art, astrology, religion and rituals. But as he said himself: “Every body can be dissolved, and everything that can be dissolved is corruptible”.
The fire that destroyed the Library of Alexandria also marked the end of many of these works. Only three hundred years later, the few remaining fragments were compiled into what was called the “Corpus Hermeticum”, a collection of seventeen books that deal with the nature of God, the essence of the universe, the constitution of man and the laws that govern life.
The narrative of his own spiritual awakening survives in the work entitled Pymander, in which Hermes describes his encounter with the Universal Mind.
My thoughts occupied with the nature of What Is, my understanding heightened, my bodily senses being exceptionally diminished, as when we are sleepy, (…) I beheld a being of immense stature and infinite greatness. He called me by name, and said: “What do you wish to see and hear?”
In a series of questions, Hermes received from Pymander the genesis of the cosmos and beings and the path by which man can be led back to the divine abode.
“Why is immortality denied by ignorance?
To the ignorant, the body is supreme and they are unable to perceive the immortality that exists within it. Knowing only the body, which is subject to death, they believe in death because they worship the substance that is the cause and reality of death.”
“How can a righteous person attain immortality?
The Father of all things consists of Life and Light, of which man is made. If, therefore, man learns and understands the nature of Life and Light, then he will pass into the eternity of Life and Light.”
His best-known message, his most famous and most striking words are those found in the Emerald Tablet. Fifteen lines summarizing his philosophy that have stood the test of time. Some say it is part of a letter that Aristotle sent to Alexander the Great. Others say that it was discovered by Apollonius of Tyana in a cave near Alexandria. Perhaps by Alexander himself. Or perhaps by Sarah, Abraham’s wife…
Whatever their origins may be, the words remain the same:
Truth without error, certain and true.
That which is above is like that which is below, just as that which is below is like that which is above. The great work comes from the One.
Just as all things came from the One, through one meditation, all things are one, through adaptation.
The father is the Sun, the mother is the Moon, the wind cradled it in its womb, the Earth nourished it.
The father of all works of wonder of the world is in this.
Its power is complete if converted into Earth.
Separate Earth from Fire, the subtle from the dense, gently, with great industry.
It ascends from Earth to heaven, and descends again to Earth with the power of both the superior and inferior things.
By this means you shall obtain the glory of the world.
And all darkness will flee from you.
This is all the strength of the strong: to overcome all subtle things, and penetrate all that is solid
By this means was the world created.
From this, great deeds shall come, whose means is hereby given.
This is why I am Hermes Trismegistus, in the possession of the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
That which has been said of the Solar Work is complete.
