View from the Big Hills

I thought I'd share one of my favourite sections of a dialogue from the Corpus Hermeticum. At times the Corpus is inpenetrable. At other times it blasts your consciousness with illumination and revelatory insight. The extract I've chosen is section XIII, verses 17 to 29. Over the years I've found that this beautiful work more than repaid the time invested in contemplation and meditation. It can provide a portal or gateway to the deeper aspects of the Ogdoadic and broader Hermetic Traditions. In this part we hear Tat (Thoth) asking the Hermes to retell the hymn he heard by the Powers (dunamis), praising the Godhead, whilst he was in the Ogdoad. In some ways this short passage is the ultimate culmination of the whole Corpus Hermeticum. Essentially it sums up the overarching theory of the Hermetic system generally while, at the same time, providing an intriguing glimpse at Hermetic praxis. The focus of the dialogue in the wider Hymnody is on the experien...

In the second century AD, a Morrocan writer called Lucius Apuleius wrote a wondrous tale of mystery, magic and myth. “The Golden Ass,” written in Latin, tells the story of a likeable hero Lucius who journeys through the Greek region of ancient Thessaly, a land of intrigue and witchcraft to this day.  My first magical teacher some twenty five years ago strongly recommended all aspirants to the Mysteries to read this little book to get an allegorical sense of that great regeneration which lies at the heart of initiation into High Magic and the Hermetic Arts. I have to admit to not being disappointed by following through with her advice for it is a story I have often returned to for inspiration. The pacey story follows the adventures of Lucius whose curiosity eventually leads him to being transformed into the form of an ass. In his new bestial form he finds himself incarcerated in a violent and lustful world of moral depravity, where he falls into the hands of brigands, ...