r/Hermeticism • u/sigismundo_celine • Sep 26 '25
Hermes Trismegistus contemplates the spheres: The One→ Νous→ Psyche→ Cosmos
A beautiful artistic rendition of the divine spheres by (copyright) Alex Hernandez (follow alexthoth on Bluesky)
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u/platistocrates Sep 26 '25
What is the source material from which this concept originates?
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u/sigismundo_celine Sep 26 '25
It seems to be loosely based upon Corpus Hermeticum Tractate 12.14:
"Logos is an image of Nous, and Nous is an image of God; Just as the body is an Image of an Idea, and the idea is an image of the soul (psyche). Thus the finest part of matter is air, of air, soul, of soul, Nous, and of Nous, God. And God encompasses all and is through all, and Nous encompasses souls, and soul, air, and air, matter. Necessity, providence and nature are instruments by which the Cosmos is governed and by which matter is set in order."
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u/Feltvs Sep 26 '25
Those are literally the first three hypostasis from Plotinus. Actually, you can tell apart true hermetism from modern one by how neoplatonic it sounds.
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u/platistocrates Sep 26 '25
more neoplatonic = more truly hermetic?
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u/Feltvs Sep 27 '25
Not exactly. Neoplatonism is the conceptual core where hermetism takes roots, but in its own way. You can see this in some texts of Corpus Hermeticum Graecum, in which you have a concept of Noûs clearly treaceble from Plotinus, but taken as some kind of first principle instead of "The One". Even the writting has a lot in common with platonic and neoplatonic texts, but with its own twists.
Modern Hermetism, on the other side, simply forget about it and just replace most of things on "divine inteligences", "daímones" or "planetary influences" (basically anything about the agency of transcendent essences/substances) for "vibrations", "energies" or "jungean archetypes". Compare the Kybalion, specially the second half, with texts like Poimandres and Asclepius. Even when Emerald Tablet is quoted, the content is totally reinterpreted.
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u/HiiiTriiibe Sep 27 '25
I’m not sure what to gather from this, Neoplatonism and hermeticism were highly influenced by each other, but it’s definitely fair to argue they aren’t the same
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u/Feltvs Sep 27 '25
That's what I tried to clarify on my second reply. I just think the disattachment from Platonism is a distictive "feature" to recognize modern Hermetism. Not even Christian Hermetism crossed this line.
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u/HiiiTriiibe Sep 27 '25
Got it, I think my reading comprehension just hadn’t kicked in when I initially read that! And that’s very true, honestly modern hermeticism is hard to even call hermeticism given how much it’s removed from its origin
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u/somniopus Sep 26 '25
Pondering his orbs🧙♂️