Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol.3.doc

Thrice-Greatest Hermes
 

Studies in Hellenistic Theosophyand Gnosis, Vol. 3

by

G. R. S. Mead

Being a Translation of the Extant Sermons and Fragments of the Trismegistic Literature, with Prolegomena, Commentaries, and Notes

London and Benares

The Theosophical Publishing Society

[1906]

[p. v]

Contents

I.       EXCERPTS BY STOBAEUS

EX. I. OF PIETY AND TRUE PHILOSOPHY <page 3>

      Commentary

<page 12>

EX. II. OF THE INEFFABILITY OF GOD <page 14>

      Commentary

<page 15>

EX. III. OF TRUTH <page 17>

      Commentary

<page 23>

EX. IV. GOD, NATURE AND THE GODS <page 24>

      Commentary

<page 25>

EX. V. OF MATTER <page 26>

EX. VI. OF TIME <page 28>

EX. VII. OF BODIES EVERLASTING AND BODIES PERISHABLE <page 30>

      Commentary

<page 33>

EX. VIII. OF ENERGY AND FEELING <page 34>

      Commentary

<page 43>

EX. IX. OF THE DECANS AND THE STARS <page 45>

      Commentary

<page 54>

EX. X. CONCERNING THE RULE OF PROVIDENCE, NECESSITY AND FATE <page 55>

      Commentary

<page 57>

EX. XI. OF JUSTICE <page 58>

      Commentary

<page 59>

EX. XII. OF PROVIDENCE AND FATE <page 60>

EX. XIII. OF THE WHOLE ECONOMY <page 61>

EX. XIV. OF SOUL, I. <page 63>

EX. XV. OF SOUL, II. <page 65>

      The Embryonic Stages of Incarnation

<page 68>

EX. XVI. OF SOUL, III. <page 72>

EX. XVII. OF SOUL, IV. <page 75>

EX. XVIII. OF SOUL, V. <page 77>

      Commentary

<page 79>

EX. XIX. OF SOUL, VI. <page 80>

      Commentary

<page 82>

EX. XX. THE POWER OF CHOICE <page 84>

      Commentary

<page 86>

EX. XXI. OF ISIS TO HORUS <page 87>

      Commentary

<page 87>

EX. XXII. AN APOPHTHEGM <page 88>

EX. XXIII. FROM "APHRODITE" <page 89>

      Commentary

<page 90>

EX. XXIV. A HYMN OF THE GODS <page 91>

      Commentary

<page 92>

EX. XXV. THE VIRGIN OF THE WORLD, I. <page 93>

EX. XXVI. THE VIRGIN OF THE WORLD, II. <page 125>

COMMENTARY

      Argument

<page 134>

      Sources?

<page 146>

      The Direct Voice and the Books of Hermes

<page 147>

      Kamephis and the Dark Mystery

<page 149>

      Kneph-Kamephis

<page 151>

      Hermes I. and Hermes II.

<page 152>

      The Black Rite

<page 155>

      Black Land

<page 158>

      The Pupil of the World's Eye

<page 159>

      The Son of the Virgin

<page 160>

      The Mystery of the Birth of Horus

<page 162>

      "Ishon"

<page 165>

      The Sixty Soul-Regions

<page 168>

      Plutarch's Yogin

<page 169>

      The Plain of Truth

<page 171>

      The Boundaries of the Numbers which Pre-exist in the Soul

<page 173>

      The Mysterious "Cylinder"

<page 175>

      The Eagle, Lion, Dragon and Dolphin

<page 180>

      Momus

<page 182>

      The Mystic Geography of Sacred Lands

<page 184>

EX. XXVII. FROM THE SERMON OF ISIS TO HORUS <page 188>

COMMENTARY

      Argument

<page 204>

      Title and Ordering

<page 206>

      The Books of Isis and Horus

<page 207>

      The Watery Sphere and Subtle Body

<page 209>

      The Habitat of Encarnate Souls

<page 210>

II. REFERENCES AND FRAGMENTS IN THE FATHERS

I. JUSTIN MARTYR