High Magic is also known as hermetic magic because it is based on the hermetic arts and sciences. These are so-named because they are derived from the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus (thrice greatest Hermes), the many-named genius of magic who mediates between the macrocosm and the microcosm, heaven and earth, the divine and the individual. The Great Work is nothing less than achievement of godhood- union with the divine- using the three pillars of alchemy, magic, and astrology to do so.
The Egyptian Hermes
The ancient Egyptians knew Hermes as Thoth or Tehuti, the divine personification of wisdom. Portrayed as the Ibis-headed scribe of the gods, he was the inventor of Hieroglyphics and the patron of the Sacred Sciences of Geometry, Mathematics, Astronomy, Medicine, Magic, and Alchemy. Thoth exists at every level of being. He serves the gods, but he also preceded them. Inded, he brought them into being, for he is self-creating Arch-Magician. He has but to name a thing and it springs into life. He is the cosmic alchemist, the inner and outer teacher, the balancing point between all polarities.
The Greek Hermes
The Greeks identified Thoth with Hermes, the Divine Messenger, who mediates between heaven and earth below. He is the ambivalent god of the crossroads, being both guide and trickster and patron of both merchants and theives.
The Hermetica
Hermes Trismegistus is accredited with writing the Hermetica or Corpus Hermeticum. These texts were once believed to be ancient but in the seventeenth century it was established that they were written in Alexandria in the first three centuries of the Christian era. They may, however, have been elaborated from much earlier manuscripts. Some of these writings were translated by Arab Scholars from Greek and Coptic manuscripts and were introduced into Europe via the Moors of Iberia in the twelfth century.
The main body of writings, however, was not translated unti 1471, when Cosimo De Medici, the great patron of the Florentine Renaissance, instructed Marsilio Ficino to interrupt his translatios of Plato to translate into Latin a Greek set of the Hermetica that he had obtained from Byzantium. Cosimo was determined that he should read the legendary writings of Hermes before he died. Ficino did not let him down. The recent development of printing allowed for the Hermetica's swift dispension throughout Europe.
The Great Miracle
The impact of The Hermetica on Renaissance philosophy was enormous. Here was an ancient body of theological, magical, and medical writings of extraordinary beauty, intellectual power, and spiritual authority, in which Jew, Christian, and Muslim could find confirmations, amplifications, and refinements of their own sacred teachings.
In the Hermetica the creation myth becomes much richer, more detailed, and expressive allegory, an awesome alchemical process. Hermes describes man as "the great miracle,'' capable of achieving Godhood as an individual by transcending the stages of being that seperate him from the divine. Man is dignified as being truly made ''in the image of God,'' being the Mircocosm that reflects the Macrocosm. This is emphasized by Hermes' great dictum "as above, so below,'' with its correlate ''as within, so without.'' Everything in creation finds its reflection in man. He therefore has at his disposal all the tools he needs to achieve his Divine Destiny, should he choose to accept it.
The Wand of Hermes
The wand of Hermes, known as the caduceus, provides us with a master key to unlocking our divine potential and making magic. Derived from a Greek word meaning ''herald,'' the caduceus is a key message for humanitym borne by Hermes in his role as celestial herald. The caduceus consists of two serpents entwined around a central pillar or wand, usually surmounted by a pair of wings. The coupling snakes represent all the opposing principles at play in he manifest universe- male and female, light and dark, yin and yang. The central staff symbolizes the axis between heaven and earth, the micrcosm and the macrocosm. The wings represent transcendence or pure universal spirit.
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