The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) · 72 of 530
The Life and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistus-e
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.
The Vision is the most: famous of all the Hermetic fragments, and contains an exposition of Hermetic cosmogony and the secret sciences of the Egyptians regarding the culture and unfoldment of the human soul.
For some time it was erroneously called "The Genesis of Enoch," but that mistake has now been rectified.
At hand while preparing the following interpretation of the symbolic philosophy concealed within The Vision of Hermes the present author has had these reference works: The Divine Pymander of Hermes Mercurius Trismegistus (London, 1650), translated out of the Arabic and Greek by Dr.
Everard; Hermetica (Oxford, 1924), edited by Walter Scott; Hermes, The Mysteries of Egypt (Philadelphia, 1925), by Edouard Schure; and the Thrice-Greatest Hermes (London, 1906), by G.
R.
S.
Mead.
To the material contained in the above volumes he has added commentaries based upon the esoteric philosophy of the ancient Egyptians, together with amplifications derived partly from other Hermetic fragments and partly from the secret arcanum of the Hermetic sciences.
For the sake of clarity, the narrative form has been chosen in preference to the original dialogic style, and obsolete words have given place to those in current use.
Hermes, while wandering in a rocky and desolate place, gave himself over to meditation and prayer.
Following the secret instructions of the Temple, he gradually freed his higher consciousness from the bondage of his bodily senses; and, thus released, his divine nature revealed to him the mysteries of the transcendental spheres.
He beheld a figure, terrible and awe-inspiring.
It was the Great Dragon, with wings stretching across the sky and light streaming in all directions from its body.
(The Mysteries taught that the Universal Life was personified as a dragon.) The Great Dragon called Hermes by name, and asked him why he thus meditated upon the World Mystery.
Terrified by the spectacle, Hermes prostrated himself before the Dragon, beseeching it to reveal its identity.
The great creature answered that it was Poimandres , the Mind of the Universe , the Creative Intelligence, and the Absolute Emperor of all.
(Schure identifies Poimandres as the god Osiris.) Hermes then besought Poimandres to disclose the nature of the universe and the constitution of the gods.
The Dragon acquiesced, bidding Trismegistus hold its image in his mind.
Immediately the form of Poimandres changed.
Where it had stood there was a glorious and pulsating Radiance.
This Light was the spiritual nature of the Great Dragon itself.
Hermes was "raised" into the midst of this Divine Effulgence and the universe of material things faded from his consciousness.
Presently a great darkness descended and, expanding, swallowed up the Light.
Everything was troubled.
About Hermes swirled a mysterious watery substance which gave forth a smokelike vapor.
The air was filled with inarticulate moanings and sighings which seemed to come from the Light swallowed up in the darkness.
His mind told Hermes that the Light was the form of the spiritual universe and that the swirling darkness which had engulfed it represented material substance.
THOTH, THE IBIS-HEADED.
From Wilkinson's Manners & Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Body As Obstacleanthropology
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
The text states that Hermes freed his higher consciousness from the bondage of his bodily senses to reveal divine mysteries.
All passages →Cosmic Dualismtheology
Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.
The narrative contrasts the Light (spiritual universe) with the swirling darkness (material substance).
All passages →Divine Lighttheology
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The passage centrally describes a Radiance, Light, and Effulgence that Hermes is raised into, representing the spiritual nature of the universe.
All passages →Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The text emphasizes the direct revelation of divine wisdom and secrets to Hermes through meditation and vision rather than external teaching.
All passages →Meditationpraxis
Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.
The passage explicitly details Hermes' practice of meditation and prayer that led to the revelation of divine mysteries.
All passages →Related passages · 9 parallels
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Shared concept: Divine Light — The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation. (derived)
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Shared concept: Gnosis Direct Knowledge — Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone. (derived)
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Shared concept: Meditation — Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting. (derived)
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Shared concept: Body As Obstacle — The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return. (derived)
hinduism|Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III|Sutra 3
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Shared concept: Meditation — Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting. (derived)