Hermes Trismegistos, “Thrice Greatest Hermes,” is the Greek name for the Egyptian God Thoth. He is accredited as a great writer, and many works associate him with the skills of astrology, alchemy, spells, and medicine. The basic Hermetic perspective on the cosmos and human beings was very similar to what is known as the “gnostic” view. The Hermetic tradition saw the material world as corrupt and inferior. Additionally, humanity contains within itself an element from a higher level of existence to which people should strive to return (Rives 167). Thus, the idea of salvation for Hermetic worshipers was found in the ability to free their spirit from their material body. This separation was accomplished through the acquirement of certain knowledge that is hidden within the human spirit. If one learns the all-important fact that he is originally from life and life, he “shall advance to life once again” (Rives 179).
The dialogue between the divine Hermes and his student Tat in the Corpus Hermeticum elaborate in greater detail these points on the Hermetic conception of the human condition and salvation. In addition to confirming the condemned state of the material world, Hermes reveals to Tat that those who are born from God are also themselves God. Knowledge is not taught, but remembered whenever God wills it (65). Thus, for Hermetic worshipers the knowledge necessary for salvation and detachment from the physical cannot be imparted to them from an outside source; it must be found within them because it already exists hidden and silent within them. Hermes then instructs Tat to cleanse “himself from the torments of the material world which arise from the lack of reason” (67). There are twelve torments in total which Hermes addresses barriers towards salvation: Ignorance, sorrow, intemperance, lust, injustice, greed, deceit, envy, treachery, anger, recklessness, and malice. Each of these torments is overcome by ten powers of God that are imparted during the process of rebirth, with knowledge listed as the foremost power among the ten. After singing a hymn of thanks and praise for receiving the rebirth and salvation from the powers of God (70), Hermes gives Tat one final order. “And now that you have learnt this from me, keep silence about this miracle and reveal it to no one the tradition of rebirth, lest we be called betrayers” (71). This condition of secrecy is peculiar in light of the early statement made by Hermes that knowledge cannot be taught, but rather is only recalled according to God’s will. If the salvific knowledge can’t be taught, then Tat’s words should carry no consequence. Nevertheless, those who have been reborn must exercise the utmost secrecy.
Out of the various models of religious esoterica the Rives outlines in his chapter, the Hermetic tradition most obviously falls under the allure of salvation. This is best captured by a quote from Hermes, where he instructs Tat that “the visible body born of nature is far different from that of spiritual birth. For the one can be dissolved and the other cannot; the one is mortal and the other immortal. Do you not know that you have become divine and that you are a son of the One? So also am I” (68). The Hermetic tradition offers a means to not just merely continue on in the afterlife with a somewhat comfortable existence, as is the case with Isis worshipper Lucius (Rives 174). Instead, those who acquire the saving knowledge become immortal spirits, who eventually become like god (Rives 179). The Hermetic tradition seems to also fall under Rives model of religious intensification quite well. The imparting of the ten powers of God is an extremely intimate exchange. That the Corpus Hermeticum is in the format of a discussion also lends to prove how this tradition contained the advantage of an intense and personal religious experience.
