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In the path known as hermetic philosophy or alchemy, Hermes as the main principle expresses the leading forces of the unconscious mind, and also an internal desire for Gnosis.
Gnosis (knowledge) according to the philosophical course of Hermeticism isn’t a continuous inflow of disconnected information like our modern era demands, but a path of esoteric tranformation, one aiming to dissolve the internal conflicts of the individual so the he/she can manage to commune and communicate the Universal Knowledge and form a new sense of unified identity and self. Hermeticism sees the external reality as the field of illusion or fraud, just like oriental philosophy does, but the goal in Hermeticism isn’t the withdrawal from this ephemeral plane of being, but a higher participation after a certain existential preparation and initiation.
Thoth, as the god of scripture and of the secret Egyptian mysteries, became one with the greek Hermes after a certain historical point. A new persona emerged this way, Hermes the Trismegistus, a magical deity and a higher element that has motivated and moved many adepts of esotericism, alchemists and artists througout the centuries…this new archetype also insists on the triune nature of divinity just like the christian trinity does, among others in various world traditions.
The Muse
Drawing of Mercury/Hermes by Henrik Goltzius, 1587.
