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Hermes Trismegistus

Just who is Hermes Trismegistus? Was he a man, a prophet, a god? Put simply, Hermes Trismegistus is an archetypal figure -- the divine embodiment of all knowledge, science, and magic. He is Mercury to the Romans, Hermes to the Greeks, and Thoth to the Egyptians. His name means "Thrice-Greatest Hermes", and he was hailed as "Hermes the Great, Great, Great" and "Thoth who is Greater than Great".

Some believe Hermes-Thoth was a philosopher who lived in an age of forgotten antiquity. Others say that Hermes is the divine spirit of Knowledge which moves from age to age, passing through various incarnations of enlightened philosophers -- men such as Moses, Pythagoras, Apollonius of Tyana, and the great Eastern Masters. Some who have studied the Hermetic writings have concluded that the name Hermes, and the names of this students (Ammon, Asclepius, and Tat) were neither the names of gods nor men, but rather, served as titles of initiation, with "Hermes" being the highest, most exhausted degree of mastery. And, of course, one cannot overlook Hermes-Thoth, the god of science, magic, astrology, knowledge, healing, and the swift messenger of the gods who bridged the eternal, heavenly spheres with the earthly, mortal world.

Whether or not the Hermetic texts were written by a divine man or a prophet named Hermes, or if they were penned by various anonymous philosophers who were themselves divinely inspired by the god Hermes-Thoth, makes little difference. Trismegistus never claimed to be a god, but rather, taught that his mind aspired to reach the height enlightenment -- to loose the bonds of Necessity and break free from the chains of Cosmic Fate, thus ascending to the Divine World where mortal mind joins with the First Mind in the great Oneness of All. The spirit of Hermes exists in all ages and at all times, from the civilizations of lost antiquity, through the great philosophers both known and forgotten, all the way to our present day. Hermes lived not once, but in countless incarnations. As the messenger of the gods, and the god of knowledge, science, and magic, Hermes Thrice-Greatest embodies the highest state of human enlightenment.