Beauty, the sign of union

Let’s celebrate the conjunction, in today’s heaven of our solar System (from an heliocentric point of view), between Mercury, the divine Artist, Lord of Harmony and Beauty, and Jupiter, Lord of Love and Wisdom, by paying homage to Hermes Trismegistus, a sublime figure who, though confused between history and legend, was able to give humanity the true sign of union.

HERMES MERCURIUS TRISMEGISTUS
from Historia Deorum Fatidicorum

Master of all arts and sciences. perfect in all crafts, Ruler of the Three Worlds, Scribe of the Gods, and Keeper of the Books of Life, Thoth Hermes Trismegistus–the Three Times Greatest, the “First Intelligencer”–was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as the embodiment of the Universal Mind. While in all probability there actually existed a great sage and educator by the name of Hermes, it is impossible to extricate the historical man from the mass of legendary accounts which attempt to identify him with the Cosmic Principle of Thought. (Manly P. Hall – The Secret Teaching of all ages)

Iamblichus averred that Hermes was the author of twenty thousand books; Manetho increased the number to more than thirty-six thousand (see James Gardner) – figures which make it evident that a solitary individual, even though he be overshadowed by divine prerogative, could scarcely have accomplished such a monumental labor. Among the arts and sciences which it is affirmed Hermes revealed to mankind were medicine, chemistry, law, art, astrology, music, rhetoric, Magic, philosophy, geography, mathematics (especially geometry), anatomy, and oratory. Orpheus was similarly acclaimed by the Greeks. (Manly P. Hall – The Secret Teaching of all ages)

Investigators believe that it was Hermes who was known to the Jews as “Enoch”, called by Kenealy the “Second Messenger of God”. Hermes was accepted into the mythology of the Greeks, later becoming the Mercury of the Latins. He was revered through the form of the planet Mercury because this body is nearest to the sun: Hermes of all creatures was nearest to God, and became known as the Messenger of the Gods. In the Egyptian drawings of him, Thoth carries a waxen writing tablet and serves as the recorder during the weighing of the souls of the dead in the judgment Hall of Osiris – a ritual of great significance. Hermes is of first importance to Masonic scholars, because he was the author of the Masonic initiatory rituals, which were borrowed from the Mysteries established by Hermes. Nearly all of the Masonic symbols are Hermetic in character. Pythagoras studied mathematics with the Egyptians and from them gained his knowledge of the symbolic geometric solids. Hermes is also revered for his reformation of the calendar system. He increased the year from 360 to 365 days, thus establishing a precedent which still prevails. The appellation “Thrice Greatest” was given to Hermes because he was considered the greatest of all philosophers, the greatest of all priests, and the greatest of all kings. (Manly P. Hall – The Secret Teaching of all ages)

Hermeticism is the teaching of Hermes Trismegistus, the thrice-greatest, the one whom tradition recognises as the true master of theory and practice.

Only the perfect correspondence between the developed theory and the experimental phase can generate the Art, which ensures success. The Source of health and wealth, the basis of well-being in this life, is the object of the hermetic Art. (Augusto Pancaldi – Alchimia pratica) [Practical Achemy, only available in Italian]

The Emerald Table of Hermes

The oldest and most revered of all the alchemical formulæ is the sacred Emerald Tablet of Hermes. Authorities do not agree as to the genuineness of this Table, some declaring it to be a post-Christian fraud, but there is much evidence that, regardless of its author, the Table is of great antiquity. While the symbol of the Emerald Table is of special Masonic import – relating as it does to the personality of CHiram (Hiram) [The name Hermes derives from “Herm”, a form of CHiram, the personified universal life principle, generally represented by fire. (Bryant’s Mythology)], it is first and fundamentally an alchemical formula, relating both to the alchemy of the base metals and the divine alchemy of human regeneration (spiritual alchemy, editor’s note). (Manly P. Hall – The Secret Teaching of all ages)

Gérard Encausse, known by the psedudonym Papus, wrote in the Glossary in his Methodical Treatise on Occult Science about the Emerald Table:

«The synthesis of Egyptian Wisdom is said to have been etched into certain propositions by Hermes Trismegistus [Esoteric name for the University of Egypt. Hence the considerable number of works attributed to this collective author. The works of Hermes. It is like saying the works of the Institute] on an emerald tablet.

Since then, by extension, the name Emerald Tablet has been given to the propositions themselves, propositions that are found at the beginning of all treatises on alchemy.

The Emerald Table begins with the famous esoteric axiom:

As above so below, to accomplish the miracles of the One.»

Tabula Smaragdina Hermetis

True it is, without falsehood, certain and most true.

That which is above is like that which is below,

and that which is below is like that which is above,

to accomplish the miracles of one thing.

And as all things were by contemplation of one,

so all things arose from this one thing by a single act of adaptation.

The father thereof is the Sun, the mother the Moon.

The wind carried it in its womb, the earth is the nurse thereof.

It is the father of all works of wonder throughout the whole world.

The power thereof is perfect.

If it be cast on to earth, it will separate the element of earth from that of fire, the subtle from the gross.

With great sagacity it doth ascend gently from earth to heaven. Again it doth descend to earth, and uniteth in itself the force from things superior and things inferior.

Thus thou wilt possess the glory of the brightness of the whole world, and all obscurity will fly far from thee.

This thing is the strong fortitude of all strength, for it overcometh every subtle thing and doth penetrate every solid substance.

Thus was this world created.

Hence will there be marvellous adaptations achieved, of which the manner is this.

For this reason I am called Hermes Trismegistus, because I hold three parts of the wisdom of the whole world.

That which I had to say about the operation of Sol [the Sun] is completed.

 

The miracle of Beauty
in the adornment of our daily lives will exalt mankind.

Raise high your light.

Illumine the beauties of My Temple.

Teach the Joy of Beauty.

Teach the Happiness of Wisdom.

Teach the Bliss of Love.

Teach the Glory of Unity with God.

I will grant you the power and fleetness of Mercury…

(Agni Yoga Series, Leaves of Morya’s Garden I – The Call § 45)