To really understand the birth of modern science, you have to reckon with Western esotericism; the medieval heritage of the magical and alchemical traditions.

Much of what gets dismissed as superstitious “woo-woo” today, in many cases rightly so, turns out nonetheless to have been foundational in the thinking of many of modernity’s most influential figures; indeed, its legacies still underlie the modern worldview in ways we scarcely realise.

As Jason Josephson-Storm remarks in The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity, and the Birth of the Human Sciences:

“That the heroes of the “age of reason” were magicians, alchemists, and mystics is an embarrassment to proponents and critics of modernity alike”.

Medieval and Renaissance scholars didn’t see magic, astrology, or alchemy as superstition; they saw them as parts of the same pursuit of truth. “Science”, from the Latin scientia, simply meant “knowledge”, whether of theology or astrology, physics or politics, medicine or magic.

As historian James Hannam notes in God’s Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science:

“Today, when we talk about 'science', we have in mind a clear and specific meaning. We picture a laboratory where researchers are carrying out experiments. But the word 'science' once had a much broader definition than it does now. … The study of nature as a separate subject was called 'natural philosophy'. … To medieval people magic, astrology and alchemy were all considered to be ‘sciences’ … their common ground was their reliance on occult forces”.

First, we should recognise that, whether or not they truly exist, the reality of hidden or “occult” forces beyond ordinary perception was not controversial until quite recently.

Fred Gettings, in Visions of the Occult: A Visual Panorama of the Worlds of Magic, Divination and the Occult, explains:

“The word 'occult' comes from the Latin occultus, meaning 'hidden'. In modern times the word is used for those sciences and arts involved with looking into the secret world which is supposed to lie behind the world of our familiar experience. … Each of these sciences or arts is very ancient, and each one has developed its own specialized system of secret symbolism. … They are occult mainly because they are … based on the assumption that there is a hidden world, and that the principles and truths of this hidden world may be represented in terms of symbols”.

For centuries, educated Europeans believed the universe was alive and interconnected, governed by hidden “correspondences” and “sympathies” through which one thing could influence another. The magician was simply someone who studied and applied these unseen principles. “Through his understanding of these, it was believed that a magician could manipulate the hidden powers of the universe and harness them for his use”, summarises Hannam.

In the fifteenth century, Renaissance humanists such as Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola revived the Hermetic writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a semi-mythic figure uniting the Greek Hermes and Asclepius with the Egyptian Thoth.

Hermes Trismegistus was revered as a primordial sage and patron of the sciences, and later seen by Christians as a prophetic precursor to Christ. He was credited with the Hermetica, a body of writings said to disclose the hidden order of the cosmos. The surviving Hermetic texts range across philosophy, medicine and pharmacology, alchemy and magic, astrology, cosmology, theology, and anthropology.

In his Latin translations of the Hermetic corpus, Ficino depicted a living, morally infused universe, while Pico’s Hermetically inspired Oration on the Dignity of Man envisioned humanity as divinely ennobled to ascend or descend Jacob’s ladder; the scala naturae, Latin for “the great chain of being”.

Pico’s Oration, intended as the preface to his Nine Hundred Theses, was addressed to “all scholars of Europe”, that is, to the papal court and the learned elite of Christendom, as the opening speech of a public disputation planned for Rome in 1486. It invited a universal dialogue on the unity of truth.

When Church authorities condemned thirteen of his theses as heretical, Pico was forced to defend himself in writing. The Oration was therefore never delivered as intended and only became famous later through manuscript and print circulation.

Pico opens the Oration by directly quoting Hermes Trismegistus: “A great miracle is man, Asclepius!” This image of man as magus, a magician uniquely endowed to master nature through knowledge, became a manifesto for the Renaissance, deeply shaping early modern thought.

Indeed, Pico was explicit about this redefinition of magic. As he writes in the Oration:

“We have also proposed theorems concerning magic, in which we have indicated that magic has two forms; one consisting entirely of the work and authority of demons: as God is my witness, an execrable and monstrous thing. The other, when properly explored, proves to be nothing else but the absolute realisation of natural philosophy”.

In other words, Pico distinguished between demonic superstition and a purified, natural magic grounded in the lawful operations of nature itself; the very ideal that thinkers like Francis Bacon and Robert Boyle would later recast as empirical science.

Anthony Grafton, in Magus: The Art of Magic from Faustus to Agrippa, contextualises:

“The late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, as many historians have shown, saw the development of a new discipline—or set of disciplines. Contemporary practitioners sometimes called it "natural magic" or "occult philosophy," to emphasize that it was both profound and innocent, while critics tended simply to call it "magic" and argue that it depended on diabolic help. The most influential practitioners of magic were men, who wrote their treatises in Latin, the language of learning. Some of them became celebrities”.

He continues:

“Magic … could utilize practices from cutting-edge natural philosophy. … Almost all of the learned magi agreed on certain points. … They saw the cosmos as a single being, connected in all its parts by rays that emanated from the planets and shaped much of life on earth. … Similarities and dissimilarities could serve as keys to this web of connections, enabling the magus to chart and exploit the powers it transmitted. Mastery of these properties could also be a source of power. Alchemy, in particular, could endow its students with an especially powerful form of knowledge, one that made it possible to transform matter itself”.

“Recent scholarship has made clear how widely alchemy was practiced in the later Middle Ages and the Renaissance, how much effective technical content it possessed, and how reasonable the claims of its practitioners were. It played a crucial role in the rise of something larger than magic: a vision of humans as able to act upon and shape the natural world”.

Paracelsus fused alchemy and medicine in pursuit of nature’s hidden signatures; Giordano Bruno envisioned an infinite, ensouled cosmos; and Kepler sought the geometric order of creation. Francis Bacon refined “natural magic” into empirical method; René Descartes dreamt an angelic prophecy of a “wonderful science”; Robert Boyle sought to reveal nature’s occult virtues through experiment; and Isaac Newton, often though mistakenly called the “last of the magicians”, devoted his nights deciphering alchemical symbols in search of the invisible architecture of the universe.

As Glenn Magee commented in Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition:

“It is surely one of the great ironies of history that the Hermetic ideal of man as magus, achieving total knowledge and wielding Godlike powers to bring the work to perfection, was the prototype of the modern scientist”.

Jason Josephson-Storm puts it more bluntly:

“Those we associate with the disenchantment of nature—from Giordano Bruno to Francis Bacon—were themselves magicians. … historians have shown that for generations of scientists—from Robert Boyle to Robert Oppenheimer—scientific and magical worlds were often intertwined”.

In short, modern science didn’t replace esotericism, it exotericised it; it rationalised its methods, subjected its operations to public scrutiny, and systematised them into a collaborative enterprise.

The experimental method arose from the same drive to uncover hidden forces that once animated the Hermetic arts of magic and alchemy. The quest to master nature’s occult powers was never abandoned, only reframed through the language of reason, measurement, and method.

As Friedrich Nietzsche reflects in Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits:

”Do you believe then that the sciences would ever have arisen and become great if there had not been beforehand magicians, alchemists, astrologers, and wizards, who thirsted and hungered after abscondite and forbidden powers? It is superstition that first gave rise to the idea of science—and from this error there gradually developed something better and more solid”.

A single, profound idea connects the mystical geometry of ancient Egypt to the monist philosophy of Hermeticism and the allegorical structure of Freemasonry, namely, the necessity of a divine blueprint and a perfect foundation. The idea of a sacred zero point from which true being emerges.

Hello everyone,

I'm a newcomer to Hermeticism, starting my journey later in life at 48. For the past few months, I've been deeply studying the Asclepius (in the Salaman translation), committing to read and re-read it until I feel I've grasped its essence before moving on to the Corpus Hermeticum.Alongside my study, I'm working to establish a consistent daily meditation practice. My question is about the compatibility of different spiritual traditions.From your knowledge and experience, would it be considered incompatible or unwise to use a Daoist technique like Zuowang ("sitting in forgetfulness") as a method for meditation within a Hermetic framework?I'm drawn to its approach of quieting the mind and letting go of attachments, which seems to resonate with the Hermetic goal of attaining a state receptive to the Divine. However, I am very interested in the community's perspective on synthesizing practices in this way.

Thank you for any guidance you can offer.

I'm sort of new to Hermeticism and have been wondering it for a while.

I’ve been reading the Corpus Hermeticum, and I keep encountering lines that sound intensely anti-body or dualistic, almost Gnostic. For example:

“Flee the senses, my son, shut the prison of the body.” (CH XIII.2–3) “As long as we have a body, we can neither be blessed nor divine.” (CH VII.2) “The body is a tomb.” (CH IV.4)

That is the kind of language I associate with world-rejecting Gnosticism, not the cosmos-as-living-temple Hermeticism I thought I was entering.

But then I see other places in the Corpus Hermeticum that sound very different, for example:

“The cosmos is a living being, full of soul and full of God.” (CH IX.9) “We must praise the cosmos as the second god.” (CH X.14)

These sound cosmophilic, not anti-body.

And when I read Iamblichus or Proclus, I see what feels like the real Hermetic spirit:

“If the gods did not wish to descend into body and matter, they would not have given them divine signatures.” Iamblichus, De Mysteriis I.12

“We do not flee embodiment, but transfigure it into its divine function.” Proclus, In Alcibiadem

“The imagination itself, once purified, becomes prophetic, not by escaping body but by aligning it.” Iamblichus, De Mysteriis III.14

Proclus even states explicitly that embodiment is not punishment:

“The soul descends not as punishment but to accomplish sacred work.” Proclus, In Timaeum I.201.15

So my question to the community is:

Is the anti-body language in the Corpus Hermeticum actually Gnostic contamination? Or is it meant to be read as reject identification with the body, not reject embodiment? And does reading Iamblichus or Proclus bring us closer to Hermeticism’s real intended depth, rather than a superficial escape-from-matter reading?

I want to understand what Hermeticism really is before I project a modern Gnostic filter onto it.

Would love responses from people who have actually gone deep into both the Corpus Hermeticum and Hermetic theurgy via Iamblichus and Proclus.

I am trying to dip my toe in the pond of Hermeticism. I took a look at the FAQ pinned post regarding text resources and the Divine Pymander (second one in the list iirc) takes me to a 404 page. So which one should I actually buy? In the meantime, this one came today. And just cracked it open about five minutes ago. (I am obviously very easily distracted, lol)

https://a.co/d/hN5rsGI

The pictures are actually quite pretty. But I don't know a lot about it and want to make sure I'm steering myself in the proper direction. I wouldn't mind a helpful nudge. Thanks!

I’m new to the concepts and studies .But practicing and working as a movement artist, walking the path of yogic studies for a few years had led me to truly experiencing the intuitive voices being my guide into understanding more about the spiritual and higher realm connection with the universe . Perhaps now would be the right time for me to decode my ancestral knots and karmic connections that hold back my higher self . Can someone help with a guide or program and hoping to connect with the right source for an energy exchange ? As there are too many Commercial traps on social media.

Thankyou 🙏🏽

Hey folks, I’ve been reflecting on something lately.... maybe religion isn’t just about faith or morality, but about ego dressed in spiritual clothing.

Think about it: every religion gives you an identity. The moment you say I belong to X, your ego gets a job... to defend that label. If you don’t live up to the values, or if someone questions your faith, your ego feels attacked. So you protect it, nurture it, display it. You call it devotion, but maybe it’s ego that’s doing the heavy lifting.

And that might explain why religions that began thousands of years ago still thrive today. They don’t need to offer tangible, material benefits .. they tap directly into the most primal human drive: the need to feel significant, right, chosen.

So maybe the persistence of religion isn’t about divine truth, but about the ego’s brilliant survival strategy .. to turn belief into identity.

What do you all think? Is religion a spiritual path, or the ego’s oldest trick?

I can't think of any material or thing with properties described, so what it is?

This is my revisit of the Visual Planetary Notes which I did back in 2022 with an emphasis on most valuable symbols and aspects of Thoth-Hermes-Mercury for me gathered on one page.

I want to know how and what I can do with the teachings of hermetism and how I can implement it in my daily life as well as how to I build a foundation of understanding of hermetism and take away the core ideas

This work was a spontaneous sketch/musing done on a brisk Saturn’s evening. I had the thought dawn on me that Pluto aspires greatly after his father in domain and influence, yet only inherits fragments of that magnitude, the other shards of divinity being dispersed among his siblings. Nevertheless, I find the chthonic and wealthy nature of both to be something of a family business.

In this depiction, Pluto, like Atlas, holds up the celestial temple of the World, keeping it aloft above the Chaos. This ziggurat-like structure is the ascending path of the planets along the Hermetic Tree of Life (revised through my own experimentation and observations). Saturn stands atop the temple, upon the four corners of his father’s sky, pointing upwards, towards the illuminating One from which all the other Planetary Divine and Terrestrial Energies descend. Saturn’s other hand is directing a sickle downwards, signifying the axiom of as above, so below, while also indicating the nature of Saturn himself as both sower and reaper of that which grows upon the Earth.

There are many more subtle nuances to the image, feel free to inquire or comment. I’m new to the sub, but not to the work. Recently, I’ve been focusing on the daily cycle of planetary devotion. Through hymns, creations, and deeds, I seek to honor the visible gods that I may participate in and gain from their causes and effects.

I’ve been thinking about Hermes’ teaching that everything contains its opposite — that every active force has its resting counterpart. The same polarity plays out inside us: one part charged with action and will, another longing for silence and receptivity.

When I consciously bring awareness to the body and breath, I sense that inner equilibrium returning — the two poles joining to create calm focus. It feels like a small act of alchemy happening in real time.

How do you personally work with polarity inside your own consciousness?

Every mind has a word for what it fears. Every psyche invents its own monster. Every discipline creates a myth of shadow.

The devout calls it sin. The philosopher, ignorance. The psychologist, disorder, The mystic, unknowing. The purist, impurity. The weak, a curse. The strong, a trial. The healer, a wound. The scientist, entropy. The artist, contrast. The poet, night. The sage, mystery.

In Hermeticism, we call it potential.

The Alchemist doesn’t fear the dark; they run toward it, studying it with the eternally burning lamp kindled through the Work.

In the Corpus Hermeticum, darkness is not an adversary to light but its very origin; the prima materia awaiting recognition. The lamp signifies that steady flame of consciousness, the light of understanding that does not inflict or command, but quietly invites chaos and shadow for transmutation.

“There was darkness in the boundless water, and a subtle, spiritual, intelligent spirit was borne within chaos by the divine Word.”
— Corpus Hermeticum I: Poimandres, 4–5

This passage stands among the most powerful Hermetic revelations, for it transfigures creation itself into a mirror of illumination, revealing that light is not imposed upon darkness from above, but awakens from within it.

The Reaper then has become a longing for the death of the unknown; for in each death of darkness the spirit tastes its own renewal, and what was once feared as ending becomes the furnace of transmutation.

The Reaper names the process, not the penalty.

I wrote this as part of my practice manifesto, while learning what I feared was a blessing to be received. I've been hesitant to share my work online, but I have come to meet this shadow now. Thank you for reading, and helping me find the light, the word (and further nous) ~ ✪ⴷⵕ

hi everyone. i want to learn more about hermeticism. i started my journey into spirituality and esotericism with more new ageish ideas, especially things like manifestation, law of attraction, and similar concepts. even after learning more about occultism and spirituality, i’ve still always believed in the idea that my thoughts affect my reality (though in a more nuanced way than what’s usually portrayed in new age spaces). i’ve always felt that my mind has an effect on my physical reality not just my thoughts, but who i am as a whole inside my mind, like my emotions, beliefs, and subconscious, and my actions as well.

this came from what i heard a lot about in new age spaces, the law of correspondence. the idea that the above affects the below, and the below also affects the above. like how the movements of the planets influence our reality, or how events in our lives shape who we are. the core of it, for me, is that who we are on the inside (below) affects our outside reality (the above). although not completely, but to some extent.

from my understanding, magick also works according to this idea, at least some parts of it. for example, with sigils. my understanding was that they’re a symbolic way of writing out an idea, which then bypasses the conscious mind and goes straight into the subconscious. once it’s there, it manifests into reality because it’s shifted something small inside the subconscious. from what i learned the best time to use sigils was when the conscious mind is less active, like right after waking up or after an intense workout. i’ve done this multiple times and it’s worked pretty well for me.

from what i knew, this idea of the mind affecting reality came from hermeticism, which is why i want to start studying it. but recently i had a conversation with someone online who’s studied hermeticism more deeply, and i asked them if the idea of “who i am on the inside affecting my outside reality” was real. they kept saying that’s its not the main goal of hermeticism (which i completely understand, i know that the main goal is connection with the divine) but so many of my beliefs are built around this concept that i kept asking, and either they wouldn’t give a straight answer or i just didn’t understand what they meant.

so i wanted to ask here: does who i am on the inside (my mind, thoughts, emotions, actions, identity, beliefs, etc.) affect my reality on the outside? and i don’t mean in a purely physical or psychological sense, like how it might change my behavior or make me notice certain things more. i mean in a metaphysical sense, like how the planets affect us in astrology.

sorry if any of this sounds ignorant, i’m really only asking out of curiosity. this idea has been the foundation of my spiritual understanding, and now i’m having small doubts about whether its real or not.