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Proem
AND the Spirit of Wisdom gave counsel, whose is the angel of the innermost sphere, the brightest of the sons of heaven.
2. Lord Adonai, who createst, remember the souls beneath Thine altar. 1
3. And put a firmament between them and Thee, to divide the upper from the nether, and the inner from the without.
4. And whereas there hath been but one, let there henceforth be twain, the form and the substance, the apparent and the real;
5. That they who are bound may remain in the outer element.
6. But to me Thou committest thine only begotten, who shall enter within the veil.
7. And God made a firmament in the midst of all being, and divided the spirit from the body.
8. And the firmament is the gate of the kingdom of heaven.
9. And God gave the keys thereof to the angel of the second sphere, whose spirit is the Spirit of Understanding.
10. He is Hermes, the mediator, for he mediates between the outer and the inner.
11. He is the transmuter and the healer, Raphael the physician of souls.
12. There is no riddle he shall not solve for thee, nor any solid he shall not melt, nor any wall he shall not pass through.
13. Many are his states and his aspects; his weight is as lead, he runneth like water, he is light as the mist of dawn.
14. Yet he is as a rock between earth and heaven, and the Lord God shall build his Church thereon;[F]
15. As a city upon a mountain of stone, whose windows look forth on either side.
16. And upon the left are the kingdoms of the world and the shapes of illusion; and upon the right are the heights of heaven and the kingdom of spirit.
17. And to him are committed the keys of the invisible, and of the Holy of Holies within the veil.
18. Whatsoever soul he shall bind, shall be bound in the outer and the nether.
19. And whatsoever soul he shall loose, shall be loosed in the inner and the upper.
20. He shutteth and no man openeth; he setteth free and none shall bind again.
21. And his number is the number of twain; he is the angel of the twofold states. 1
22. And the waters below and above the firmament, are the evening and the morning of the second day.[G]
Hymn to Hermes 2
1. As a moving light between heaven and earth; as a white cloud assuming many shapes;
2. He descends and rises, he guides and illumines, he transmutes himself from small to great, from bright to shadowy, from the opaque image to the diaphanous mist.
3. Star of the East conducting the Magi: cloud from whose midst the holy voice speaketh: by day a pillar of vapour, by night a shining flame.
4. I behold thee, Hermes, Son of God, slayer of Argus,[H] archangel, who bearest the rod of knowledge, by which all things in heaven or on earth are measured.
5. Double serpents entwine it, because as serpents they must be wise who desire God.'
6. And upon thy feet are living wings, bearing thee fearless through space and over the abyss of darkness; because they must be without dread to dare the void and. the deep, who desire to attain and to achieve.
7. Upon thy side thou wearest a sword of a single stone, two-edged, whose temper resisteth all things.
8. For they who would slay or save must be armed with a strong and perfect will, defying and penetrating with no uncertain force.
9. This is Herpe, the sword which destroyeth demons; by whose aid the hero overcometh, and the saviour is able to deliver.
10. Except thou bind it upon thy thigh thou shalt be overborne, and blades of mortal making shall prevail against thee.
11. Nor is this all thine equipment, Son of God; the covering of darkness is upon thine head, and none is able to strike thee.
12. This is the magic hat, brought from Hades, the region of silence, where they are who speak not.
13. He who bears the world on his shoulders shall give it to thee, lest the world fall on thee, and thou be ground into powder.[J]
14. For he who has perfect wisdom and knowledge, he whose steps are without fear, and whose will is single and all-pervading;
15. Even he must also know how to keep the divine secret, and not to expose the holy mysteries of God to the senses of the wicked.
16. Keep a bridle upon thy lips, and, cover thy head in the day of battle.
17. These are the four excellent things,--the rod, the wings, the sword, and the hat.
18. Knowledge, which thou must gain with labour: the spirit of holy boldness, which cometh by faith in God; a mighty will, and a complete discretion.
19. He who discovers 1 the holy mysteries is lost.
20. Go thy way in silence, and see thou tell no man.
An Exhortation of Hermes to his Neophytes 1
I. He whose adversaries fight with weapons of steel, must himself be armed in like manner, if he would not be ignominiously slain or save himself by flight.
2. And not only so, but forasmuch as his adversaries may be many, while he is only one; it is even necessary that the steel he carries be of purer temper and of more subtle point and contrivance than theirs.
3. 1, Hermes, would arm you with such, that bearing a blade with a double edge, ye may be able to withstand in the evil hour.
4. For it is written that the tree of life is guarded by a sword which turneth every way.
5. Therefore I would have you armed both with a perfect philosophy and with the power of the divine life.
6. And first the knowledge; that you and they who hear you may know the reason of the faith which is in you.
7. But knowledge cannot prevail alone, and ye are not yet perfected.
8. When the fulness of the time shall come, I will add unto you the power of the divine life.
9. It is the life of contemplation, of fasting, of obedience, and of resistance.
10. And afterwards the chrism, the power, and the glory. But these are not yet.
11. Meanwhile remain together and perfect your philosophy.
12. Boast not, and be not lifted up; for all things are God's, and ye are in God, and God in you.
13. But when the word shall come to you, be ready to obey.
14. There is but one way to power, and it is the way of obedience.
15. Call no man your master or king upon the earth, lest ye forsake the spirit for the form and become idolaters. 2
16. He who is indeed spiritual, and transformed into the divine image, desires a spiritual king.
17. Purify your bodies, and eat no dead thing that has looked with living eyes upon the light of Heaven.
18. For the eye is the symbol of brotherhood among you. Sight is the mystical sense.
19. Let no man take the life of his brother to feed withal his own.
20. But slay only such as are evil; in the name of the Lord.
21. They are miserably deceived who expect eternal life, and restrain not their hands from blood and death.
22. They are miserably deceived who look for wives from on high, and have not yet attained their manhood.
23. Despise not the gift of knowledge; and make not spiritual eunuchs of yourselves.
24. For Adam -was first formed, then Eve.
25. Ye are twain, the man with the woman, 1 and she with him, neither man nor woman, but one creature.
26. And the kingdom of God is within you.[K]
149:1 "Souls in so early a stage of their evolution as to have not yet attained the consciousness of their Spiritual nature, and to be, therefore, still in bondage to the lower elements." E. M.
150:1 The state, that is, wherein the spirit and soul are all, and there is no admixture of matter (Lecture by E. M. on "The Creative Week and Its Four Generations "). S. H. H.
150:2 Received under Illumination occuring in sleep, in the night of September 25, 1878, at Paris, and written down on waking (see Life of Anna Kingsford, vol. i, pp. 277, 278; vol. ii, p. 291).
151:1 I.e. uncovers, or discloses, to profane eyes. E. M.
152:1 Received, September 1878 (see Life of Anna Kingsford, vol. i, pp. 273, 274 and See p. 280).
152:2 At this point the seeress was shown a garland of fig-leaves, the symbol of Hermes. For its meaning see pp. 25-27 and 155. E. M.