The Hymns Of Hermes

These writings are attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, an ancient Egyptian sage, the founder of all arts and sciences, both mundane and spiritual. Rather than being an actual person, Hermes is the Egyptian personification of the "Gnostic Revealer." Hymns of Hermes examines Hermetic ecstatic hymns, which are songs of a poetic nature used to describe the Gnosis of Hermetic attainment—the ecstatic personal experience of the divine. The invaluable commentary from author G.R.S. Mead makes the hymns themselves comprehensible and relevant to modern seekers, removing the veil of the occult to reveal the secrets behind these verses. He also draws parallels between Gnostic and Hermetic thought, which were strikingly similar. For anyone interested in Gnostic thought and the formation of early Christian doctrine, it is hard to ignore the parallels in Hermetic teachings from the same era. In his introduction, Stephan A. Hoeller describes the role and influence of Hermetic thought on the early Church and Gnostics, its position in the history of Western thought, and its renaissance in Gnostic and Hermetic studies today. This little volume, which might well be called initiatory, is an excellent introduction to the Hermetic Gnosis.