p. ix

Contents

I. CORPUS HERMETICUM

CORP. HERM. I.

PŒMANDRES, THE SHEPHERD OF MEN	3-20
Commentary—
Of Vision and Apocalypsis	20
The Great and Little Man	23
The Presence	24
The Vision of Creation	25
The Descent of the Logos	27
The Revelation of the Pleroma	28
The Second Emanation	33
The Descent of Man	34
The First Men	37
“Increase and Multiply”	38
Love	39
The Way of Deathlessness	39
The Ascent of the Soul	41
The Eighth Sphere	42
The Three “Bodies” of the Buddha	44
The Preaching of the Gnosis	47
A Hymn of Praise and Prayer for the Gnosis	49
The Name “Poimandres”	50
The Good Shepherd	52
CORP. HERM. (II.)
THE GENERAL SERMON	58
CORP. HERM. II. (III.)
TO ASCLEPIUS	59-68
Commentary—
“An Introduction to the Gnosis of the Nature of All Things”	68
Space is a Plenum	70
The Spouse of Deity	71
God is Cause that Spirit is	71
He who is without a Wife is Half a Man	73
CORP. HERM. III. (IV.)
THE SACRED SERMON	75-77
Commentary—
Text and Title	78
The Trinity	78
From the System of the Nicolaïtans	79
The “Books of the Chaldæans”	81
The “Flood”	83
CORP. HERM. IV. (V.)
THE CUP OR MONAD	85-91
Commentary—
The Title	92
The Baptism of the Mind	93
The Holy Grail	94
The “Hating of the Body”	95
The Gnosis and its Blessings	97
The Ancient Path	98
CORP. HERM. V. (VI.)
THOUGH UNMANIFEST GOD IS MOST MANIFEST	99-106
Commentary—
The Title	106
Māyā	106
The Higher Pantheism or Panmonism	108
Hymn to All-God	108
CORP. HERM. VI. (VII.)
IN GOD ALONE IS GOOD AND ELSEWHERE NOWHERE	110-114
Commentary—
The Title	115
Dualism?	115
God the Pleroma of Good	117
CORP. HERM. VII. (VIII.)
THE GREATEST ILL AMONG MEN IS IGNORANCE OF GOD	120-121
Commentary—
A Preaching	122
The Probable Completion of an Oxyrhynchus Logion	122
CORP. HERM. VIII. (IX.)
THAT NO ONE OF EXISTING THINGS DOTH PERISH, BUT MEN IN ERROR SPEAK OF THEIR CHANGES AS DESTRUCTIONS AND AS DEATHS	124-127
Commentary—
The Cosmos as “Second God”	127
The Law of Apokatastasis	128
CORP. HERM. IX. (X.)
ON THOUGHT AND SENSE	129-136
Commentary—
Title and Ordering	136
“Sense-and-Thought”	137
“Those in Gnosis”	137
The True Gnostic	138
The Goal of the Gnosis	139
The Possibility of Knowing God	140
CORP. HERM. X. (XI.)
THE KEY	141-158
Commentary—
The Consummation of the “General Sermons”	159
The Will of God	160
Of Gnosis and Ecstasis	161
Of Apotheosis	163
The Metamorphoses of the Soul	163
The Ladder of Being	165
Concerning Transmigration	166
Gnosis the Virtue of the Soul	167
The Vehicles of the Soul	167
The Dual Soul	169
“He who Stands”	170
The Olympian Path	171
“When Mind becomes a Daimon”	171
The “Scourge” of the Christ	173
The Dispensation of the Universe	173
CORP. HERM. XI. (XII.)
MIND UNTO HERMES	175-189
Commentary—
Title and Form	190
The Æon-Lore	191
The Root of Form	193
“Become all Things”	194
The Good’s own Path	196
Concerning India	197
CORP. HERM. XII. (XIII.)
ABOUT THE COMMON MIND	199-212
Commentary—
The Sayings of the Good Daimon	213
Hermes and Basilides	215
The Sermons on Fate	217
Materiality and Corporality are Energies of God	218
CORP. HERM. XIII. (XIV.)
THE SECRET SERMON ON THE MOUNTAIN	219-233
THE SECRET HYMNODY	230-232
Commentary—
Concerning the Title	234
The Term “Apocryphon”	234
The Three Stages of Probation	236
The Mount of Initiation	238
The Birth from Above	239
The Virgin-Birth	240
The Race of the Logos	241
The Self-taught	242
The New Creation	243
The Way of Birth in God	244
Of the Ten and the Twelve	245
The Dawn of Cosmic Consciousness	249
The Vow of Silence	250
Of the Ogdoad	251
A Hymn for Morning and for Evening Prayer	252
A Theurgic Praise-Giving	253
“Through the Word”	255
CORP. HERM. XIV. (XV.)
A LETTER TO ASCLEPIUS	257-263
Commentary—
Asclepius and Tat	263
Compare with “Mind unto Hermes”	265
The Good Husbandman	265
CORP. HERM. (XVI.)
THE DEFINITIONS OF ASCLEPIUS UNTO KING AMMON	266-276
Commentary—
The Title	277
A Tradition Concerning the Trismegistic Literature	278
A Speculation as to Date	281
The Delineation of the Sun	282
Concerning the Daimones	282
CORP. HERM. (XVII.)
OF ASCLEPIUS TO THE KING	285-286
Commentary—
On the Adoration of Images	286
CORP. HERM. (XVIII.)
THE ENCOMIUM OF KINGS	288-298
Commentary—
The Apology of a Pœmandrist	298
Speculation as to Date	299
The Story of the, Pythic Grasshopper	300
The True King	302
The Fellow-Rulers of the Height	302
II. THE PERFECT SERMON; OR THE ASCLEPIUS	307-390
Commentary—
The Title	390
The Old Latin Translation and the Greek Original	391
Of the Writer and the Persons of the Dialogue	393
The Doctrine of the Will of God	395
Concerning Spirit and the All-Sense	396
The Prophetic Utterances	398
The Proscription of the Worship of the Gods	399
The Last Hope of the Religion of the Mind	401