Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat · 4 of 5 · tr. G.R.S. Mead
Section 1d
<lacuna in text>, though this Sermon (Logos) on Rebirth, on which I did not comment - in order that we may not be calumniators of the All unto the multitude, to whom indeed God Himself doth will we should not.
14.
Tat: Tell me, O father: This Body which is made up of the Powers, is it at any time dissolved?
Hermes: Hush, [son]!
Speak not of things impossible, else wilt thou sin and thy Mind's eye be quenched.
The natural body which our sense perceives is far removed from this essential birth.
The first must be dissolved, the last can never be; the first must die, the last death cannot touch.
Dost thou not know thou hast been born a God, Son of the One, even as I myself?
15.
Tat: I would, O father, hear the Praise-giving with hymn which thou didst say thou heardest then when thou wert at the Eight [the Ogdoad] of Powers Hermes: Just as the Shepherd did foretell [I should], my son, [when I came to] the Eight.
Well dost thou haste to "strike thy tent" <i.e., be free from the physical body>, for thou hast been made pure.
The Shepherd, Mind of all masterhood, hath not passed on to me more than hath been written down, for full well did he know that I should of myself be able to learn all, and hear what I should wish, and see all things.
He left to me the making of fair things; wherefore the Powers within me.
e'en as they are in all, break into song.
16.
Tat: Father, I wish to hear; I long to know these things.
Hermes: Be still, my son; hear the Praise-giving now that keeps [the soul] in tune, Hymn of Re-birth - a hymn I would not have thought fit so readily to tell, had'st thou not reached the end of all.
Wherefore this is not taught, but is kept hid in silence.
Thus then, my son, stand in a place uncovered to the sky, facing the southern wind, about the sinking of the setting sun, and make thy worship; so in like manner too when he doth rise, with face to the east wind.
Now, son, be still!
The Secret Hymnody 17.
Let every nature of the World receive the utterance of my hymn!
Open thou Earth!
Let every bolt of the Abyss be drawn for me.
Stir not, ye Trees!
I am about to hymn creation's Lord, both All and One.
Ye Heavens open and ye Winds stay still; [and] let God's deathless Sphere receive my word (logos)!
For I will sing the praise of Him who founded all; who fixed the Earth, and hung up Heaven, and gave command that Ocean should afford sweet water [to the Earth], to both those parts that are inhabited and those that are not, for the support and use of every man; who made the Fire to shine for gods and men for every act.
Let us together all give praise to Him, sublime above the Heavens, of every nature Lord!
'Tis He who is the Eye of Mind; may He accept the praise of these my Powers!
18.
Ye powers that are within me, hymn the One and All; sing with my Will, Powers all that are within me!
O blessed Gnosis, by thee illumined, hymning through thee the Light that mond alone can see, I joy in Joy of Mind.
Sing with me praises all ye Powers!
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
[auto] Hermes explicitly instructs Tat to cease viewing things from the body's viewpoint and states the natural body must be dissolved while the essential birth remains.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The text states that 'Powers within me e'en as they are in all', reflecting cosmic structure in the individual.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
God is credited with fixing the Earth and commanding the Ocean for the support of every man.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The text mentions 'the One contains the Ten', suggesting a hierarchical containment of principles.
Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.
Instructions to stand in a specific place facing the wind and be still constitute meditative practice.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
[auto] Tat sees himself in Mind and Hermes notes the Powers within him match those in all things, defining the human as a mirror of the cosmos.
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
[auto] The text relies heavily on numerical symbolism, specifically the reciprocal relationship between the One and the Ten and the reference to the Eight Powers.
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
[auto] The passage centers on Tat seeing himself in Mind and Hermes reminding him he has been born a God, framing self-recognition as the path to liberation.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
The natural body is described as 'far removed from this essential birth', indicating a state of exile.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
[auto] The core message is that the human has been 'born a God' and participates in the divine nature.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The ritual hymn is intended to engage the 'Powers within me' and the cosmic Lord.