Hermeticism is a philosophical movement with an esoteric nature.
It is based on the texts in the book Corpus Hermeticum, with the authorship attributed to the legendary Hermes Trismegistus, who is depicted as an ancient Egyptian sage and priest. He is considered a syncretism of the ancient Egyptian god Thoth and the ancient Greek god Hermes. These beliefs have also influenced Western European esoteric traditions.
According to the traditions of Hermeticism, this is a doctrine about higher natural laws, governed by the principles of causality and analogy. According to Hermeticists, by the power of the principle of analogy, causal relationships can be supplemented through magical influence on reality via the adept’s own desires in the secret teaching.
History
Hermes Trismegistus, from D. Stolcius von Stolcenbeerg: Viridarium chymicum, 1624
Followers of Hermeticism are mentioned as early as 830 AD, when Caliph Al-Mamun passed through the city of Harran and met people there called “Sabians.” They declared to the Muslim authorities that their prophet was Hermes Trismegistus and that the book they followed was Hermetica. In Western Europe, the main part of Corpus Hermeticum was translated from Greek in 1460 by Marsilio Ficino for the Medici library, although individual excerpts had been mentioned as early as the 4th century by the alchemist Zosimus.
Philosophy
Hermeticism uses various names for the supreme reality, such as God, Lord, Father, Mind (Nous), Creator, The All, The One, etc. Characteristic of the Hermetic view of divinity is that God is both everything and the creator of everything. Hermeticists also believe in prisca theologia, the doctrine that there exists one single pure theology (prisca theologia), which was given by God to man in antiquity and underpins all religions.
The Book 9
In Book 9 of Corpus Hermeticum, Hermes explains Treason (both reason and knowledge) gives rise to either good or evil, depending on whether a person receives their perceptions from God or from demons. God produces good, while demons produce evil. Among the evils produced by demons are: “adultery, murder, violence against one’s father, blasphemy, impiety, strangling, suicide from a cliff, and all other demonic actions.” This provides evidence that Hermeticism includes an understanding of ethics and morality. However, the word “good” is used very strictly. It is used only in reference to God. Only God (in the sense of reason, not in the sense of The All) is completely free from evil. Humans are hindered from being good because, having a body, they are consumed by their physical nature and do not know the Supreme Good.