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The Eternal Hermes: From Greek God to Alchemical Magus

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I was disappointed to find that this is not a book-length study on Hermes. Instead, it is a collection of articles related by the fact that this same author has written broadly on the topic of Hermes. The collection was edited to reduce (but not eliminate) repetition of subject matter. Most unfortunately, the mythistorical progression implied in the subtitle ("From Greek God to Alchemical Magus") is only weakly developed. The articles are uneven in length, varying from 10-40 pages. They also vary in depth and quality. Chapter 1 ("Hermes in the Western Imagination") was good, and there are interesting tidbits throughout (for example, St. Augustine's hostile reaction to the Hermetica). But by the time we reach the last chapter ("The Inheritance of Alexandrian Hermeticism"), the discourse has been reduced to a kind of glorified historical bibliography. The 39 B/W plates are interesting. But the overall approach is curiously concerned with form over substance or experience. For example, we are told repeatedly (pp. 40, 60, 100) how Causabon proved in 1614 that the Hermetica could not be older than 2nd-3rd c. CE, yet we are not told exactly what philological trick he used to do that. Nor does our author speculate as to what impact that inference might actually have on a tradition that explictly refers its own origins to teachings in a meditative dream-state (Corpus Hermeticum I.1). As another example, we are explicitly told (p. 60) that the retelling of the myths of the Fall and reintegration, as well as the philosophical, practical and theurgical implications, are the task of Theosophy--and, by implication, are not part of the intent here. Overall, these pieces are not nearly so impoverished as Doniger-O'Flaherty's structuralist reduction of Vedic myth, but neither does it overflow with rich historical portraits like Frances Yates, nor is it nearly so sympathetic & interiorized as Mircea Eliade (to whom Faivre was compared). In short, if you had, like me, IMAGINED more, you will, like me, need to look elsewhere.

This small volume is a collection of Essays that the premier European scholar of Western Esoteric religious thought has published. The essays focus on what qualifies as Hermetic thought and esoteric thought. Faivre brings out the notion of the Hermes figure in history as a prophetic revealer of wisdom---and also a trickster and deceiver. This book includes art plates of representations of Hermes in different paintings and pictoral representations. He also addresses the Hermes figure in contemporary culture, such as in films like "Mad Max."

A good book for those intersted in Western Occultism, since Hermes and Hermeticism is the main sources in Western Culture for occult thought. Also read Copenhaver's "Hermetica" and Fowden's "The Egyptian Hermes" for a cross-disciplinary look at the figure of Hermes in ancient theosophy and in Greco-Egyptian religious culture.

Good translation---it's by Jocelyn Godwin, the premier American scholar of Western Esoteric thought. They are good friends, Godwin and Faivre--and I'm sure that the translation is faithful.

Among the primary mythic figures of European civilization, few are more ubiquitous than Hermes, the fascinating, mercurial messenger of the gods, eloquent revealer of hidden wisdom, and guardian of occult knowledge. Hermes has played a central role in the development of esotericism in the West.

Drawing upon many rare books and manuscripts, this highly illustrated work explores the question of where Hermes Trismegistus came from, how he came to be a patron of the esoteric traditions, and how the figure of Hermes has remained lively and inspiring to our own day.

Antoine Faivre is reputedly the most prominent scholar of esoterism to have appeared since Mircea Eliade. He is Director of Studies at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (Section des Sciences Religieuses, Sorbonne), University Professor of Germanic Studies at the University of Haute-Normandie, and director of the Cahiers de lHermétisme. All of that scholastic firepower notwithstanding, he delivers his message in a erudite yet free flowing prose style that does not suffer from many of the linguistic glitches translations of scholarly works often contain. Indeed, Faivre's elegant erudition, blended with a highly refined metaphysical sensibility, brings the great Hermes to life and allows this powerful psycho-spiritual character to speak once again (and perhaps even play a few much-needed tricks on us), which is appropriate as Hermes is both a prophetic revealer of wisdom---and also a trickster and deceiver. Both sides of his character are fully explored within this work.

This book is an impressive effort-both intellectually and visually. This slim volume stands as a compelling contribution in helping to answer the puzzling questions as to both the source and endurance of Hermes in his variety of shape-shifting guises.

A must read for anyone with serious interests in Western Occultism.

Esoteric traditions are, well, esoterically complex as a rule, and that goes especially for Hermes Trismegistus, the emblematic figure representing--even personifying--the Western Esoteric tradition in its long and convoluted history. Who is he? Good question. Perhaps he's indeed a highly complex amalgam of the Egyptian god Thoth, the classical gods Hermes and Mercury, a priest in Alexandrian Egypt, and a legendary human sage roughly contemporary with Moses--among other things. God or man, angel or devil, master alchemist or proto-pharmacist, culture hero or trickster? Depends on who you ask. For anyone interested in this subject, then, it's all too easy to get lost without some guideposts of some sort.

And that's exactly what Antoine Faivre provides in "The Eternal Hermes" here. It's an excellently helpful overview, road-map, or starter kit, if you will. A collection of six separate articles, it gives the curious reader a good solid grasp of the general outlines of Hermes Trismegistus in a sympathetically objective scholarly tone. Chapter one, "Hermes in the Western Imagination" traces in as much detail as possible under the circumstances the varying influences contributing to Hermes' composite character and differing perceptions and characterizations of him throughout history from antiquity to the present. Chapter two, "The Children of Hermes and the Science of Man" attempts to define this figure's distinguishing orientations and spiritual traits (and of the movements which recognize him as their guardian and inspiration). Chapter Three, "From Hermes-Mercury to Hermes Trismegistus: The Confluence of Myth and the Mythical" focuses more on Hermes' slippery nature somewhere between deity and pseudo-historical personage, with obscure half-states in between.

Chapter four, "Hermes's Presence in the City" then remarkably demonstrates how the figure of Hermes, perhaps under other names but recognizable nonetheless, can be identified and analyzed in works of modern culture, both literature and film--in this case, Gustav Meyrink's novel "The Green Face", Luis Bunuel's film "Los Olvivados", and the sci-fi action movie "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome". Places where one might not think to look at first, certainly. Chapter Five, "The Faces of Hermes Trismegistus" is a quick but illuminating survey of Hermes' iconography over time, as shown through 39 illustrations culled from any number of rare manuscripts and other cool sources. Finally Chapter Six, "The Inheritance of Alexandrian Hermetism: Historical and Bibliographical Landmarks" is perhaps the ultimate "further reading" list, lightly narrativized with commentary and infinitely helpful in creating order out of a chaos of sources.

Of course, if the book has one drawback, it's that, at under 200 pages, depth must be sacrificed to breadth. Faivre will often hint at what seem like mind-blowingly fascinating tales and legends only to seem pressed to move along without further ado. Furthermore, those for whom Hermeticism (or some related form of Western Esotericism) is a living spiritual path might find this book a bit dry and detached. Those coming at the subject with more academic and/or historical concerns in mind will be less distracted by this, naturally. Folks of either approach (and in-between) though will doubtlessly find this book to be enormously informative, and the manner in which it usefully lends a modicum of organization to what otherwise at first seems to be an impossibly confusing welter of stuff will facilitate further and deeper investigations according to one's own guiding lights.