greek · religious

Corpus Hermeticum — Poimandres, the Vision of Hermes

c. 100–300 CE (text); attributed to antiquity · Roman Imperial Period (1st–3rd century CE) · Egypt (Alexandria)

Poimandres — Book I: The Vision

1It chanced once on a time my mind was meditating on the things that are,
2my thought was raised to a great height, the senses of my body being held back—
3just as men who are weighed down with sleep from too much eating,
4or from fatigue of body.
5Methought a Being more than vast, in size beyond all bounds,
6called out my name and saith: What wouldst thou hear and see,
7and what hast thou in mind to learn and know?
8And I do say: Who art thou?
9He saith: I am Man-Shepherd, Mind of all-masterhood;
10I know what thou desirest and I'm with thee everywhere.

The Vision of Light and Darkness

11And straightway all things changed in aspect before me,
12and were opened out in a moment. And I beheld a boundless view;
13all was changed into Light—a mild and joyous Light;
14and I marvelled when I saw it.
15And in a little while there had come to be in one part a downward-lying Darkness,
16terrible and grim, coiling in sinuous folds,
17so that methought it like unto a snake.
18And then that Darkness changed into some sort of a Moist Nature,
19tossed about beyond all power of words,
20belching out smoke as from a fire, and groaning forth a wailing sound that beggars all description.
21And after that an outcry inarticulate came forth from it,
22as though it were a Voice of Fire.

The Word Goes Forth

23Thereon out of the Light there came a Holy Word, which took its stand upon the Moist Nature;
24and methought this Word was mightier than the voice of fire, being tempered with the sweetness of it.
25And Mind the Father of all—He who is Life and Light—gave birth to Man,
26a Being like to Himself.
27And He took delight in Man, as being His own offspring;
28for Man was very goodly to look on, bearing the likeness of his Father.
29With good reason did God take delight in Man;
30for 'twas God's very self whose image was in him.

The Descent of Man

31And Man had full power over all the mortal world and over the irrational creation.
32But Man, peering into the Sphere of the Seven Governors,
33fell in love with her.
34And Nature, seeing the fairness of the Form of God,
35smiled with insatiate love of Man,
36showing the reflection of that most beautiful Form in the water,
37and its shadow on the earth.
38And he seeing the form like to himself existing in her,
39in her water, loved it and willed to live in it;
40and with the will came act, and so he vivified the form devoid of reason.
41And Nature took the object of her love and wound herself completely round him,
42and they were intermingled, for they were lovers.
43And this is why beyond all creatures on the earth man is twofold—
44mortal because of body, immortal because of the real Man.
45For though he is immortal, and has power over all things,
46he suffers mortal things, subject to Fate.

The Path of Return

47Now mark how great is the mystery!
48When the soul of man quitteth the earthly tabernacle of the body,
49it departeth first to the First Sphere, and therein puts off its mortal covering.
50Thereafter, having passed through the Celestial Spheres,
51it returns to its own true nature.
52Blessed is he who is thus initiated into knowledge.
53O peoples, earth-born folk, ye who have surrendered yourselves to drunkenness and sleep
54and ignorance of God, be sober now, cease from your surfeit,
55cease to be glamoured by irrational sleep!
56Why, O earth-born folk, have ye surrendered yourselves unto Death,
57while ye have power to partake of immortality?
58Repent, ye who have walked with Error and made fellowship with Ignorance;
59depart from the dark light, forsake Corruption's teaching, and partake of Immortality.

The Prayer of Thanksgiving

60Holy is God, the Father of all!
61Holy is God, whose counsel is performed by His own Powers!
62Holy is God, that willeth to be known and is known by His own!
63Holy art Thou who by Thy Word hast constituted all things!
64Holy art Thou of whom all Nature hath been made an Image!
65Holy art Thou whom Nature hath not formed!
66Holy art Thou who art stronger than all power!
67Holy art Thou who art mightier than all excellence!
68Holy art Thou who surpassest all praise!
69Accept these holy offerings of speech from a heart and soul that strain towards Thee,
70O Thou Unutterable, Ineffable, to be addressed by silence!

notes

The Corpus Hermeticum is a collection of seventeen Greek texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus ("Thrice-Greatest Hermes"), a legendary figure identified with both the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. The texts were probably composed in Egypt between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE, though they claim a far greater antiquity. They had enormous influence on Renaissance and later Western esoteric traditions. Poimandres (Book I) is the most celebrated text in the corpus. Poimandres ("Man-Shepherd" or "Shepherd of Men") reveals to Hermes a cosmogonic vision: the creation of the world, the dual nature of Man (mortal and immortal), and the soul's path of return through the planetary spheres. Translation: G.R.S. Mead, "Thrice-Greatest Hermes: Studies in Hellenistic Theosophy and Gnosis," 3 vols., London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1906. Public domain.

currently held: Various manuscripts; Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence

CosmologyHermeticAfterlifeEsotericGnosisCreation

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