Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)
The text is shown on its own: no facing layer is held for this issue.
10 hirtppoiat — or personified influences. See Plutarch, De Is. et
Os., xxxviii., liii., Iviii. ; and especially Pistis Sophia, where it
occurs over and over again. Compare also K. K., 1 ; Stob., p. 405,
17 (W.).
wealth, good blend [of nature],1 and good children, good fortune, and good burial. For thou art lord of life, —
7. Thou who art king of heavens and earth and all that dwell in them ;
8. Whose Righteousness is never put away ; whose Muses hymn thy glorious name ; whom the eight Wardens guard, — thou the possessor of the Truth 2 pure of all lie !
9. Thy Name and Spirit rest upon the good.3
10. O mayst thou come into my mind and heart for all the length of my life's days, and bring unto accomplishment all things my soul desires!
11. For thou art I, and I am thou.* Whate'er I speak, may it for ever be ; for that I have thy Name 5 to guard me in my heart.6
— referring apparently to the composition of "body" and "soul."
3 That is, the Pleroma or Mon (see vi. 9 below). Reitzenstein (p. 18) says rightly, as we have seen, that Egyptologists have long recognised that the God here identified with Agathodaimon was originally the Hermes or Thoth of Hermopolis Magna, Lord of the Eight Wardens (the Ogdoad), symbolised by apes, hymned by the Muses ( ? the Nine or Ennead), and spouse of Isis-Righteousness (cf. Plut., De Is. ei Os., iii.).
3 See 13 below.
4 Compare the extra-canonical logos : " I stood on a lofty mountain and saw a gigantic man, and another, a dwarf ; and I heard as it were a voice of thunder, and drew nigh for to hear ; and He spake unto me and said : I am thou, and thou art I ; and wheresoever thou mayest be I am there. In all am I scattered [that is, the Logos as seed or " members "], and whencesoever thou wiliest, thou gatherest Me ; and gathering Me, thou gatherest Thyself." (From the Gospel of Eve, quoted by Epiphanius, Haeres., xxvi. 3.) Of. n. 7.
6 In the Egyptian sense — that is, thy true "person" or "presence." See R. 17, n. 6, for many references to this fundamental concept of Egyptian religion.
6 <pv\a.>tri\piov — lit., as a phylactery or amulet. See R. 18, n. 8, for Egyptian origin of Jewish phylacteries.
12. Aud every serpent l roused shall have no power o'er me, nor shall I be opposed by any spirit, or daimonial power, or any plague, or any of the evils in the Unseen World ; 2 for that I have thy Name within my soul.
13. Thee I invoke ; come unto me, Good, altogether good, [come] to the good,3 — thou whom no magic can enchant, no magic can control,* who givest me good health, security,6 good store, good fame, victory, [and] strength, and cheerful countenance ! 6
14. Cast down the eyes of all who are against me, and give me grace on all my deeds ! 7
II. AN INVOCATION TO LORD HERMES
[Revised and restored text, stripped of later overworkings, R.
20, 21. Wessely (C.), Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der
Wissenschaften, "Neue griechische Zauberpapyri " (Vienna, 1893),
vol. xiii. p. 55 ; Kenyon (F. G.), Greek Papyri in the British
Museum (London, 1893), i. 116.]
1. Come unto me, Lord Hermes, even as into women's wombs [corne] babes ! 8
2. Come unto me, Lord Hermes, who dost collect the food of gods and men ! 9
3. Lord Hermes, come to me, and give me grace,
1 Spd£ — here the symbol of any hostile elemental force.
Compare K. K.,— Stob., 402, 22 (W.).
* KaO' "AtSov.
3 See 9 above.
4 afld.ffKa.VTOS, b.RaaKavTos.
6 orwTTjp/ai', or salvation.
6 See II. 2 below.
7 Compare with this prayer for the descent of the Mind into
the heart, the ascent of the man into the Mind of G. H., xiii.
(xiii.) 3.
8 This is an echo of spiritual rebirth or regeneration.
9 In its highest sense the heavenly food, or wisdom, the " supersubstantial bread," or " bread of life."
[and] food, [and] victory, [and] health and happiness, and cheerful countenance,1 beauty and powers in sight of all!
4. I know thy Name that shineth forth in heaven;
I know thy forms 2 as well ; I know thy tree ; 3 I know
thy wood 4 as well.
5. I know thee, Hermes, who thou art, and whence thou art, and what thy city is.
6. I know thy names in the Egyptian tongue,5 and thy true name as it is written on the holy tablet in the holy place at Hermes' city, where thou dost have thy birth.