Cover

By the same author

Les Vampires (Essai historique, critique et littéraire)
Paris: Le Terrain Vague, 1962

Kirchberger et l'Illuminisme du dix-huitième siècle
The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1966

Eckartshausen et la théosophie chrétienne
Paris: Klincksieck, 1969

L'Esotérisme au XVIIIè siècle en France et en Allemagne
Paris: Seghers-Laffont, 1973

Mystiques, théosophes et Illuminés au siècle des Lumières
Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1977

Les Contes de Grimm (Mythe et Initiation)
Paris: Les Lettres Modernes, 1978

Access to Western Esotericism
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994

The Golden Fleece and Alchemy
Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993

Philosophie de la Nature (Physique Sacrée—Théosophie)
Paris: Albin Michel, 1995

© 1995 by Antoine Faivre. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, with the exception of short excerpts used in reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Book and cover design by David Fideler.

Phanes Press publishes many fine books on the philosophical, spiritual, and cosmological traditions of the Western world. To receive a complete catalogue, please write:

Phanes Press, PO Box 6114, Grand Rapids, MI 49516, USA.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Faivre, Antoine, 1934-

The eternal Hermes : from Greek god to alchemical magus / Antoine Faivre ; translated by Joscelyn Godwin

p. cm.

Articles originally in French, published separately.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-933999-53-4 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-933999-52-6

(pbk. : alk. paper)

1. Hermes (Greek deity) 2. Hermes, Trismegistus. 3. Hermetism—History. 4. Alchemy—History. I. Title

BL920.M5F35 1995

135’ .4—dc20 95-3854

CIP

Printed on permanent, acid-free paper.

Printed in the United States of America.

Contents

Preface

Chapter One

Hermes in the Western Imagination

Introduction: The Greek Hermes

The Thrice-Greatest

The Arabic Idris and the Alchemical Mercury

The Metamorphoses of Hermes in the High Middle Ages

At the Dawn of the Renaissance

Hermes and the New Spirit of Humanism

Geoffroy Tory and Francois Rabelais

The Return of Trismegistus at the Renaissance

Faces of Hermes in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Hermesian Perspectives

Select Bibliography for Chapter One

Chapter Two

The Children of Hermes and the Science of Man

Hermetica and Modern Hermeticism

Hermes's Place Today

Select Bibliography for Chapter Two

Chapter Three

From Hermes-Mercury to Hermes Trismegistus: The Confluence of Myth and the Mythical

1. Thoth, Hermes, Trismegistus; or The Ancient Faces of Mercury

A. The Appearance of Trismegistus

B. Genealogies of the Triplex

C. Books and Seals of Hermes

2. Scenarios and Tablets, or Secrets of the Tomb of Hermes

A. Statues and Cities of Hermes

B. The Book of Crates and the Emerald Tablet

C. The Liber de Causis and other Scenarios

3. The Beacon of Hermes, or Avatars of the Tradition

A. Philosophia Perennis

B. Hermeticism and Esotericism

C. Resistances and Permanencies

Notes to Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Hermes's Presence in the City

Hermes the Architect, or Hermetistic Harmony

At the Crossroads of Amsterdam, or the Initiatic Message

Little-Eyes, or the Discreet Presence of Mercury

The Meeting of Two Hermeses in the City of Screaming Metal

Notes to Chapter Four

Chapter Five

The Faces of Hermes Trismegistus (Iconographic Documents)

Chapter Six

The Inheritance of Alexandrian Hermetism: Historical and Bibliographical Landmarks

1. The Middle Ages

A. References in the Church Fathers

B. Medieval Authors Mentioning Hermes

C Medieval Texts Influenced by Hermetism

2. Rediscovery at the Renaissance

A. The Point of Departure

B. English Puritanismi the Situation in Germany

C. Editions and Commentaries on the Corpus Hermeticum

D. Authors Whose Work is Marked by this Hermetism

3. Casaubon's “Revelation” and the Seventeenth Century

A. Isaac Casaubon

B. Authors Whose Work is Marked by this Hermetism

4. In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

A. General Remarks

B. German Works

C. Reawakening in England and the United States

5. Tradition and Erudition in the Twentieth Century

A. Persistence of Esoteric Exegesis

B. The Corpus Hermeticum and Academic Study

6. Studies of the Reception of Alexandrian Hermetism

A. Books

B. Selected Articles

Index of Names

PREFACE

The title of this collection encompasses two figures who are both distinct and complementary: Hermes-Mercuri us, the God with the caduceus, who belongs to Greek and Roman mythology, and Hermes Trismegistus, whose appearance can be traced back to the early Alexan dian epoch. Each of the six chapters stands on its own, having been published separately, and deals either with the God Hermes, or with Hermes Trismegistus—or with both. Given the similar inspiration running through all six essays, David Fideler and Joscelyn Godwin suggested that they might constitute an anthology endowed with some homogeneity. Therefore, for the purpose of the present edition, the articles in this volume have been for the most part corrected and enlarged, and their inevitable overlappings have been reduced. In their original version, they were published as follows:

Chapter 1: “Hermès,” in Dictionnaire des mythes littéraires, ed. Pierre Brunel (Paris: Editions du Rocher, 1988), pp. 705-732.

Chapter 2: “The Children of Hermes and the Science of Man,” published in English in Hermeticism in the Renaissance (Intellectual History and the Occult in Early Moder Europe), ed. Ingrid Merkel and Allen G. Debus (Washington: The Folger Shakespeare Library; London and Toronto: Associated Presses, 1988), pp.24-48. From Symposium held in March, 1982, at thelnstitute for Renaissance and Eighteenth Century Studies in the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C.

Chapter 3: “D'Hermès-Mercure à Hermès Trismégiste: au confluent du mythe et du mythique,” in Présence d'Hermès Trismégiste, ed. Antoine Faivre and Frédérick Tristan (Paris: Albin Michel, series “Cahiers de l'Hermétisme,” 1988). From Symposium held in July, 1985, in Cerisy-La-Salle on “The Myth and the Mythical.”

Chapter 4: “Présence d'Hermès dans la ville (Le Picatrix, Gustav Meyrink, Luis Bufñuel, George Miller),” in O Imaginário da Cidáde, ed. Yvette K. Centeno (Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Acardte, 1989), pp.337-349. From Symposium held in October, 1985, in Lisbon on “The Imaginary of the Town.”

Chapter 5: “Visages d'Hermès Trismégiste,” in Présence d'Hermès Trisrégiste [see above], pp.49-99.

Chapter 6: “La postérité de l'hermétisme alexandrin: rèperes historiques et bibliographiques,” in Présence d'Hermès Trisrégiste [see above], pp.13-23.

I offer my personal thanks to Joscelyn Godwin, not only for translating the entire volume, but also for enriching it with new references. My thanks also goes to David Fideler for his editorial counsel, and to Jean-Pierre Mahé for completing my information on some particular aspects of the Hermetica.

—ANTOINE FAIVRE