Archeology of the Term Hermetic & Hermetic Reading List

I had a question recently asking me what I meant when I said I practiced "Hermetic" magic?

Well, let's look at the dictionary definition, "(1) made airtight by fusion or sealing.; (2) not affected by outward influence or power; isolated; (3) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of occult science, especially alchemy; (4) of or pertaining to Hermes Trismegistus or the writings ascribed to him. Origin: 1630–40; Medieval Latin hermeticus of, pertaining to Hermes Trismegistus, equivalent to Latin Herme"

Ok, this actually lays things out really well! As we move from definition (1) up to definition (4) we go back in time from more contemporary definitions back to the original and all the definitions fit nicely together. So the original definition of Hermetic, which is what I mean when I say I practice Hermetic magic, means following the teaching attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, which are the philosophical Hermetica, in particular the Corpus Hermeticum as well as the technical Hermetica, which are practical texts of the Hermetic arts of alchemy, astrology and magic. The earliest written versions that we have of these teachings are circa 1st century AD, but likely are older.

Then as we go a bit further forward in time, to definition (3), hermetic has come to mean occult sciences in general, and specifically alchemy. This is the sense in which the 19th century Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn uses the term hermetic. Similarly, we can understand definition (2) how hermetic could come to be isolated, as the word occult means hidden. Finally, definition (1) the current usage, a hermetic or airtight seal, which comes from practical laboratory alchemy.

Very interesting! We have a complete archeology of the term hermetic. By following the etymology of the word, we can understand it more completely.

Now, of course, I use the oldest, most traditional definition, no surprise there! When I say I practice Hermetic magic, I don't mean I use airtight seals or that I am doing occult magic, I mean that I actually follow the Corpus Hermeticum and practical Hermetica, particularly as those sources were known and explained in Picatrix and by Renaissance mages like Cornelius Agrippa and Marcilio Ficino. Well, that and putting this magical practice within a Buddhist context! Here's an example of my Hermetic Zen Ritual

As a good general intro here is my Hermes Trismegistus page

I also have two Youtube videos on Hermeticism:

a History of Hermeticism

and Hermetic Gnosis

Here is a a reading list of authentic Hermetica:

I recommend Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum translated by Brian Copenhaver

I can also recommend two good secondary sources on Hermeticism:

the Egyptian Hermes by Garth Fowden

and the Secret History of Hermes Trismegistus by Florian Ebeling

We should also keep in mind that reading and just reading books makes one a dabbler and dilettante in Hermeticism or almost any other practical subject.

Alchemy, astrology and magic are the three Hermetic arts and by actually learning AND practicing traditional astrology and astrological magic, you are preparing yourself for the true Hermetic spiritual path. If you are serious about learning Hermeticism take one of my full courses in particular the full Astrological Magic Course

This includes a free copy of the most important book of Hermetic astrological magic, the Picatrix

Riffing within the Tradition

I got a very good question the other day about horary and in particular Lilly's famous Christian Astrology, from a student of mine and member of my discusssion group, Spiritus Mundi, Kiel Price.

Kiel asked, "Just a quick question, perhaps I'm missing something here. Page 305 of Christian Astrology says "The Lord of the Ascendant in the seventh, the Querent loveth best;". Yet page 317 of Christian Astrology seems to say the exact opposite. "...when the Lord of the Ascendant was in the seventh, the quesited loved best." If you could shed some light on this that would be great."

Ok, very good question! Let's back up a bit here. First, we are talking about marriage and relationship horaries here. These are pretty key for any practicing horary astrologer since I'd estimate about 75% of my horary clients are asking about relationships. Next, we are discussing emplacement. Lilly explains emplacement as follows:

"Lastly, things are sometimes perfected by the dwelling of Planets in houses, viz. when the Significator of the thing demanded is casually posited in the Ascendant; as if one demand if he shall obtain such a Place or Dignity, if then the Lord of the tenth be placed in the Ascendant, he shall obtain the Benefit, Office, Place or Honour desired:"

Christian Astrology page 126.

Basically emplacement is a way of connecting significators or in this case a significator with the affairs of a house. If the significator of the querent or quesited is in a particular house it indicates a connection between the two.

Ok, so now when we are talking about a relationship, what does it mean when the significator of the querent is in the 7th house, the house of the quesited, the person the querent is asking if they will have a relationship with. Lilly at page 305 says that if the significator of the querent is in the 7th then the querent is more interested and wants the relationship more than the quesited. Conversely, Lilly at 305 says that if the significator of the quesited is in the Ascendant, the house of the querent, that the quesited wants the relationship more. Lilly goes on to say, and this is very interesting, that if the lord of the 7th, ie the significator of the quesited, is in the 7th, that this indicates that the quesited "is free from love, has little mind to Marriage..." ie is not interested in a relationship with the querent.

So it is rather perplexing that at page 317 Lilly says the exact opposite, ie, lord of the 7th in the Ascendant, the QUERENT wants the relationship the most and vice versa. However, the mystery is dispelled by the immediately previous phrase, "Contrary to all the rules of the Ancients, I (!!!!) have ever found..." and then Lilly states his backwards rule.

Very interesting! This gives us a very useful insight into how a traditional astrologer saw his sources and how they fit into the tradition. Much of Christian Astrology is taken right out of earlier traditional sources, in particular Guido Bonatti's Book of Astronomy. In fact, many of Lilly's marriage rules are word for word from Bonatti. Traditional astrologers, just like traditional scholars in general did not consider this plagiarism because they were less concerned with originality. They saw themselves as part of a long lineage and had no problem using ancient sources. Lilly is firmly within traditional astrology, but is not afraid to say, in particular circumstances, that he doesn't follow individual "ancient rules"

Now, my almost invariable tendency when Lilly does this and innovates is to stick with the older methods. In this case, I use the page 305 method, such that significator of the querent in the 7th, the querent wants the relationship more, etc. It is the older method, it makes more sense to me and most importantly in my wide experience as a professional horary astrologer, it works! Similarly with Lilly's use of the modified essential dignity system, I go with the older Dorothean triplicities, etc., etc.

Now I am not saying that Lilly was a bad astrologer, or that he was wrong to innovate. It certainly seems to have worked for him. None of these innovations were so radical as to take him outside traditional astrology unlike having the modern planets rule signs or making the 8th house the house of sex. Also Lilly's innovations are based on very wide experience, Lilly saw huge numbers of clients, in a two year period, for example, 1654-6, he saw over 4,000! Most importantly Lilly's basic philosophy was traditional, he was not a modern atheistic/materialist though those influences were growing during this period.

This wide experience and philosophical orientation are key, but ultimately staying within the tradition is the only way that one can claim the illustrious title of traditional astrologer. Even so, it is very important to be straightforward about what the basis for one's methods are. You should be able to quote a pre-1700 source or be honest about innovating. Nothing wrong with innovation so long as it is acknowledged.

Let's Get Traditional With Reception

A series of unfortunate events made the very useful technique of reception very confusing. First I really regret that the 17th century astrologers messed with it and tried to limit it to mutual reception, then some contemporary traditional astrologers further muddied the waters.

Let's start with the traditional definition from Bonatti, the classic medieval source,

"And it is said if a planet is joined with the lord of the sign in which it is or the lord of the exaltation of the same sign, or with the the lord the [term] or triplicity or face, either bodily or by aspect [they are in reception] However, this is true [only] if it is joined with the lord of the [sign] or exaltation, or with the lord of two of the lesser dignities, to wit with [a planet which is] the lord of the [term] and triplicity, or with lord of the [term] and face, or with the lord of the face and triplicity..."

Liber Astronomiae, Tr. III ch 13 (the corresponding passage can be found in the Dykes trans at 223)

In other words, you need two planets and (1) they are making an applying aspect and (2) at least one planet is in the other's sign or exaltation, or in the others triplicity plus term, triplicity plus face or face plus term.

Even though Lilly only defines reception in terms of mutual reception, ie two planets, both in each other's sign or exaltation, he actually uses the older definition in examples in Christian Astrology. I much prefer the term "generosity" which Ibn Ezra uses for two planets each being in each other's sign or exaltation without needing an aspect. Beginning of Wisdom, Epstein trans page 125.

Then to make things even more confusing some contemporary traditional astrologers starting saying that planets in mutual reception switched signs or places or something, what? I never understood what this was about and it is not supported by actual traditional sources.

So with regard to reception we have a big mess! Actually it is pretty straightforward. If you have two planets making an applying aspect and at least one is in the sign or exaltation or two minor dignities of the other, it makes the aspect go much more easily. A square with reception means problems that can be worked through, for example, and a trine with reception means smooth as silk! See Bonatti, Liber Astronomiae, Tr 6 Horary ch 2 Dykes trans page 362-4 for examples of this. If you don't have a copy of Bonatti's Horary Section of LA GET ONE! Here it is as an Amazon paperback Dykes has even put this out as an e-book.

They don't switch places, they don't increase in essential dignity, the interaction between them just goes so much more easily. For example, if Mercury is the ruler of the 7th applying to Jupiter, ruler of the 1st and Mercury is in Cancer and Jupiter in Aries, they are making a square with reception since Mercury is in the exaltation of Jupiter. However, Mercury is still peregrine and Jupiter, if this is a night chart, just dignified by triplicity, as the night ruler of fire signs. They aren't increased in essential dignity by reception, thus they aren't any stronger, but that argument they are about to have, maybe they can work through it.

Reception is a good example of where I part ways, even with Lilly, when that "modernizing" impulse kicks in. This was a problem even in the 17th century!

Fantasy versus Real Electional Astrology

I had question about how to do a house sale election since currently all planets are peregrine or afflicted.

Ok, here is where we get to real electional versus fantasy electional.

What's fantasy electional? When you stand back and lob shots at someone else's election, easy since NO ELECTION IS PERFECT! What's real electional? Having a real situation or real client that needs an election.

A client, or this personal situation, can't wait 50 years until everything aligns perfectly. In fact you generally not only have a specified date range, but also only certain days (eg Monday - Friday) and certain times of day (9 am - 5pm) are available. So we are going to have to tolerate some problems in the chart.

In this case, I know what you mean about peregrine planets. It's like making bricks without straw to have planets without essential dignity.

A Tip: Think about the Moon! She's fast moving, she's going to be exalted in Taurus or dignified by sign in Cancer twice a month. Can that be worked with? yes, no, maybe, see what's up.

Ok, so you've got nothing but peregrine planets, well in a pinch you can work with them. After all, while fantasy elections are about obtaining perfection or at least whining when it's not present, real elections are about at a minimum, avoiding the really #@$%! times. This is definitely worthwhile even if you can't get a great time.

1st house - 7th house elections, ie wedding, and sales in this case the 7th is the house of the buyer, are tough because the only possible planetary combinations are Moon-Saturn, Sun-Saturn, Mercury-Jupiter and Venus-Mars.

I think if you can't get the planets stronger than peregrine, then at least try to get a nice applying positive aspect of the 1st and 7th ruler.

Book Recommendation: Bonatti "On Horary"

Here's another of my semi-regular traditional astrology book recommendations,
Guido Bonatti's "On Horary"

The 13th century Italian astrologer Guido Bonatti wrote one of the most important books of traditional astrology, the Liber Astronomiae literally the Book of Astronomy. This was the standard reference text for medieval and Renaissance (i.e. traditional) astrologers. The famous English 17th century astrologer William Lilly quotes almost directly from Bonatti in his famous Christian Astrology and Bonatti keeps popping up in almost all English traditional astrology texts.

Originally written in Latin, finally this magisterial text of traditional astrology is available in English. Ben Dykes, the translator, has both a strong academic background (Ph.d in Philosophy) and is a practicing natal astrologer and graduate of Robert Zoller's excellent medieval natal astrology course. Dykes has done an excellent job of translating and commenting on the Liber Astronomiae.

While the complete Liber Astronomiae contains an introduction to the basics of astrology, plus horary, electional, natal and mundane treatises, it often circulated in the Middle Ages and Renaissance in smaller subject sections. This is Bonatt's horary section. Definitely well worth getting for all students of horary astrology! Bonatti gives an excellent introduction to horary astrology which uses the time of a question, rather than the time of a birth chart. Bonatti then gives very detailed instructions for determining questions for each of the 12 houses.

All traditional horary astrologers need a copy of both Lilly's Christian Astrology and Bonatti's Liber Astronomiae. With the complete hardcover edition out of print, I am glad the paperback edition of Bonatti "On Horary" is so easily available! You can order Guido Bonatti's "On Horary" on Amazon.

Fixed Stars: Heliacal Rising vs. Ecliptic Mapping

After the recent Cetus talisman election I had an interesting e-mail asking me if it wouldn't be better to use the "actual" rising of the star on the physical horizon for fixed star talisman elections. Let's call this physical rising.

Physical rising, therefore requires different software than is used for standard astrological charts. All standard astrological charts, traditional and modern are a 2 dimensional representation of the 3 dimensional sphere of the Heavens, primarily mapped along the Ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun against the fixed stars. The Ecliptic is the path of the Sun and planets through the 12 signs of the Zodiac. Since stars are distributed throughout the whole sphere of the Heavens and not just on the Ecliptic/Zodiac you'd need special astronomical software that could tell you when, at your location, the star rose above the horizon.

The physical rising is related to a very old astronomical/astrological phenomenon, the heliacal rising. Ok, what's heliacal rising? Check out Wikipedia and Skyscript

Basically this is a solar cycle and thus seasonal. The Sun orbits through the Ecliptic and conjoins the star, then once the Sun moves far enough away from the star, you can finally see it rising in the morning. So basically heliacal rising is a particular type of physical rising.

Heliacal rising was certain used as an astronomical omen and for calendrical purposes, for example the ancient Egyptians used the heliacal rising of Sirius to time the Nile's annual flooding. However, this is not how traditional astrologers used fixed stars. Instead they mapped the fixed stars to the Ecliptic. If the star is close to the Ecliptic, then its position doesn't change much relative to its position in the sphere of the Heavens. The farther away it is from the Ecliptic, however, the more its relative position changes when mapped to the Ecliptic. However, as the relative position of the star changed due to precession of the Equinoxes, approximately 1 degree every 72 years, traditional astrologers would adjust the Zodiacal longitude of the star's position.

Ok, so now we can get a better idea of what we are talking about. Certainly looking at the heliacal rising of a star is something that has a long history, but it is not the standard way that fixed stars were used in traditional astrology. The physical rising, without heliacal rising, wasn't used by traditional astrologer either. Instead traditional astrologers mapped the fixed star to a point in the Zodiac/Ecliptic and then used that location in the Zodiac as the location of the star. For example for fixed star talismans, Agrippa says, "When any star ascends fortunately, with the fortunate aspect or conjunction of the Moon, We must take a stone, and herb that is under that star, and make a ring of that metal that is suitable to this star and fasten the stone, putting the herb, or root under it; Not omitting the inscriptions of images, names and characters, also the proper suffumigations..." Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Bk. I, Chapter 47.

Now, you could certainly make talismans at the heliacal or physical rising of a star, but this would not be traditional astrology. The natural response for the modern is "wouldn't it BETTER to use the ACTUAL PHYSICAL rising of the star?" I've all capped two different segments of the response so I can deal with them separately. First, the modern automatically assumes that what is material and observable is the most significant. This is basically the same atheistic/materialist view that pushes for the constellational Zodiac. The unconscious assumption is that astrology works through some sort of material or energetic cause, ie magnetism, gravity, super strings, etc., because that's all the possible causes that there are. We therefore look to the material world, "actual reality" as our highest test for truth and the nature of things. The problem here is that there is no material or energetic cause for astrology, and therefore if that's the only possible cause, then astrology is impossible. Certainly most scientists would agree with that. So it doesn't make much sense to be an astrologer who operates on the automatic assumption that physical/energetic causality is paramount.

When the traditional astrology maps fixed stars to the Zodiac, they use the fixed stars as sensitive points along the Zodiac. They discover an additional and useful patterning. The scientist might say that this patterning is arbitrary, just as astronomers may claim that constellations are arbitrary since their patterning is only apparent from Earth. But again, this is a modern view, seeing patterning as either caused by physical laws/causality or simply an arbitrary imposition by humans.

Traditional astrology is based on a Neo-Platonic/Hermetic worldview that included the spiritual, that saw the spiritual as underlying the material and as the ultimate cause. Patterning was not arbitrary but an example of the spiritual connection of all things. See Spiritual Hermeticism.

Ok, second point, can we describe one method as "better" than another? The modern view again is that there is an objective reality out there, separate from the observer, that can be accurately determined and is true for all. This dovetails nicely with the egoic desire to be right and to assert the superiority of MY view. Clearly what I see, feel and believe is correct or I would not be seeing, feeling or believing it. Furthermore, what I personally see, feel and believe is right for me, is therefore right for everyone. Put that way, it does seem rather pompous, but it's how our ego unconsciously pushes us 24/7. The obverse is the wishy-washy, co-dependent, total relativist. "Whatever you think is true is true for you"

Is it possible to chart a third course? My sense is that there are many possible worldviews, thus many possible realities. Some work well, some not so well. This is from The Magician's Companion by Bill Whitcomb, page 12,

I Law of Worldviews:

"The world we perceive is actually a mixture of the nominal world (the Tao, the objective reality that is unknowable but which underlies all that we think we know) and ourselves (the subjective). Changing your worldview does not change the eternal, real world, but it does change the world you perceive. That is, changing your worldview makes real changes in the world which is real to us. (see VII: Law of Reflections) Because there are an infinite number of ways to perceive the world, there are also an infinite number of worlds we may assemble without awareness. The true underlying reality is unknowable to us as long as we retain our worldview of separateness and self. You can become one with the universe but you cannot step back and observe it, because you are in it. You cannot observe a phenomenon without altering it by your mode of perception. There is no such thing as an independent observer. You participate in creating the world by perceiving it."

If your worldview is massively out of touch with the Tao, this is quite problematic, you are going to be confused, often surprised and unsuccessful, much of the time. But there are many "paths with heart" as Carlos Castaneda puts it. The key is finding one that fits you.

So I'm not going to say that the traditional astrological method of using fixed stars is the only way to fly, it certainly worked for our illustrious predecessors and it works well for me.

Well Founded Confidence and Trust

I had a poster ask if you should elect a time for buying incense. Ok, certainly you could elect a time for buying incense, but elections take time and effort to locate and then you may be stuck getting up at 3:32 am to log on and make the purchase. Is it worth it? That's one practical issue.

Next practical issue: since most non-expert elections are going to be something like, "buy incense on a waxing Moon" one is fooling oneself thinking this makes much difference. I mean 50% of everything you do is on a waxing Moon, and obviously there are widely different results for all the activities done with Moon waxing, so there must be more to it than that. This slides into superstition.

And it's easy to get superstitious as a magic user/astrologer/etc,. Ok, what exactly does superstitious mean: "an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural" Now, I need to know what "abject" means, " Extremely bad, unpleasant" Ok, so basically getting too scared, too freaked out. And that's understandable, magic and astrology are pretty new to most people and our society is either afraid of them due to Judeo-Christian programming or dismissive due to atheistic materialism. So it's hard to know if you are making a mistake.

Here's what I do, in practical terms I save the elections for important events, or when they really are necessary, like for actually making astrological talismans. Otherwise, I try to go forward in well founded confidence and trust. Buying incense is an ancillary activity, as far as I'm concerned, so I wouldn't elect it.

You can get in tune with the flow and cycles of the Cosmos with astrology, no doubt, but also by intuition and sensitivity. One example I like is the Balinese and feng shui. This web page says that because of their cultural spiritual and artistic sensitivity the traditional Balinese are able to site and create buildings according to feng shui, but do it naturally and intuitively as well. I'm not an expert on Bali or feng shui, so I don't know if this article is giving a complete picture, but I like the overall thrust here.

On the other hand, I don't want to say, "do what comes naturally" right from the get go, because that's like giving someone a guitar who has never played and saying "go to it" They are going to make a godawful racket, not music. First you need to immerse yourself in the subject, learn the rules and then you can improvise, within the tradition. As I said, forward in well founded confidence and trust!