Customer Reviews

Hermetica: The Ancient Greek and Latin Writings Which Contain Religious or Philosophic Teachings Ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus

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This is a pretty fascinating book, containing the works attributed to Hermes in English as well as the non-translated version, revealing one version on one page and the other version on the next page; Thus, when one reads the book, they find the non-translated version on one page and the English version on the other page, with footnotes and stuff to help out. Overall, a good book, and it gives some understanding of the thinking of the ancient Magickians and other Occultists. Worth getting, overall.

I am going to review this volume because I read every single English word of it, cover-to-cover. I admit that I didn't read the corresponding original language text, because my Latin was never all that good, and I have no Greek. I wish that I did, though. Just in English translation I can see where these teachings transport you to an entirely different sort of mind-set, an entirely different world.

Indeed, you will either come to develop a sort of intuitive understanding of the spiritual principles being discused here, or you will simple give up in disgust and dismiss it as meaningless and incomprehensible. Perhaps it is incomprehensible to modern sensibility, but it is far from meaningless. If you are familiar with Plato and Plotinus it will help. I also find that a familiarity with the concept of the Tao helps with understanding what is meant by Kosmos. I suppose that there could be esoteric teachings encoded and hidden in the original text, but personally I find the exoteric spiritual and metaphysical speculations to be quite interesting and valuable in their own right.

There was a reason that these teachings were preserved through so many centuries, while so much else was consigned to flames or left to rot....

This is a book to read. It survived the Ceasars, thank God. It must then be read for the sake of tradition. At least some have sought to maintain this long and lost tradition(s). We thank the Socrates Chrestus flourished somewhat, god bless Hellenism and the work of Alexander the Great.

I bought this book because Edgar Cayce had said that Christ in the form of a god named Hermes (together with Horus and Ra Ta) was involved with the construction of the mysterious Great Pyramid.

But maybe Cayce was referring to the 'first' Hermes (also called Thoth) I don't know.

The material in this book was written by the 'second' Hermes who was a philosopher I guess in Egypt about 2,000 years ago.

Since I don't speak Greek or Latin I could only understand about 65 percent of the information in this book.

This definitely had an effect on how much I really understood.

I enjoyed it however since I'm interested in philosophy. This book mentions Plato and Plato's writings a lot. Hermes was apparently influenced by Plato and Plato in turn studied in Egypt and held the wisdom of the Egyptians in 'high esteem' (as did Pythagorus).

So it fits in with my interest in philosophy and metaphysics.

This is not a scientific book. It tells why gods did things and what they did but it doesn't explain scientifically HOW they did them.

In that sense it's more of a metaphysical book.

To me Plato and those other guys were surrounded by a fog of confusion and ignorance anyway as far as their theories about nature.

This is volume 3 of a 4 part series and I have no plans of reading the other volumes at this time.

Jeff Marzano

Fulcanelli: Master Alchemist: Le Mystere des Cathedrales, Esoteric Intrepretation of the Hermetic Symbols of The Great Work (Le Mystere Des Cathedrales ... of the Hermetic Symbols of Great Work)

The Mystery of the Crystal Skulls: Unlocking the Secrets of the Past, Present, and Future

The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Reader's Edition)

The Giza Power Plant : Technologies of Ancient Egypt

Initiation

Initiation in the Great Pyramid (Astara's Library of Mystical Classics)

The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Reader's Edition)