An Extract from the full reading of The Asclepius, The Perfect Discourse of Hermes Trismegistus, translated by Clement Salaman. Available soon on the Violet Flame Store.
Translation
Teacher and disciples
[1] ‘It is God, yes, God, who has led you to me, 0 Asclepius, so that you can take part in a divine discourse. This discourse will be such that through its love and reverence for God it will rightly seem to have more divine power than any I have previously spoken, or rather than any that have been inspired in me by the divine spirit. If you show yourself able to understand it your whole mind will be completely filled with all that is good, that is if there are many good things and not one only in which all are held. Indeed, one can see that these alternatives are consistent with each other; either all things are of one, or they are one. The two propositions are so linked that it is impossible to separate one from the other. But this you will find out if you attend carefully to the coming discourse. But now, Asclepius, you must move forward a little. Call Tat to come and join us.’
At Tat’s entry Asclepius suggested that Hammon also be present. Trismegistus said, ‘No ill-will prevents Hammon from joining us, for I well remember that many of my writings have been dedicated to him, just as many discourses on natural philosophy and countless public discourses have been dedicated to my most loving and beloved son Tat. But on this treatise I shall inscribe your name. Call no one except Hammon lest a conversation worthy of such reverence and on such a profound subject be profaned by the arrival and presence of many people. For it is the mark of an irreligious mind to bring to the notice of a crowd of people a discourse that is totally filled with the whole majesty of the divine spirit.’
When Hammon had entered the sanctuary, and the fervour of the four men and the presence of God had filled this holy place, in due silence the minds and hearts of all hung upon the lips of Hermes, and divine love began to speak:
The One and the All
[2] ‘0 Asclepius, every human soul is immortal, but the nature of their immortality is not the same, for souls differ according to conduct and time.’
‘Why, 0 Trismegistus? Is not every soul of one quality?’
‘0 Asclepius, how quickly you have broken from the just restraint of reason! For did I not say that all things are one and the one is all, since all these things were in the creator before he created them? Rightly is he said to be all, whose limbs are all things. And so, throughout this discourse, take care to be mindful of him who alone is all, or who is the creator of all. Everything comes from heaven into earth, into water, into air. Only fire, which is borne upwards, is life-giving. What moves downward serves it. Yet what moves down from on high is full of generative power; what moves upward gives nourishment. Only earth of all the elements remains within itself and is the receiver of every kind of form, and what it receives it returns.
‘This therefore is the all, as you remember; it is the essence of the all and it is the all. The soul and the cosmos being embraced by Nature are set in movement by her with such diversity of quality, evident in all images, that countless forms are known to exist by the contrast of their qualities. Yet these forms are also united so that all things appear as one whole and from the one.
Cosmos, nature and the elements
[3] ‘The elements, then, by which the whole cosmos has been formed are four: fire, water, earth, air. The cosmos is one, the soul is one, God is one.
‘Now be entirely present, as far as your mind and ability are capable. For the knowledge of God is to be attained by a godlike concentration of consciousness. Such knowledge comes like a rushing river tumbling in flux from above to the depths beneath. By its headlong rush it outruns any effort we make as hearers, or even as teachers.
‘Now heaven, the manifest god, directs all bodies, whose increase and decrease the sun and moon determine. But heaven and the soul itself, along with all that is in the cosmos are in turn governed by Him who has created them: this is God.
‘From all the heavenly bodies just referred to, of which the same God is the ruler, continual influences are borne through¬ out the cosmos and throughout all ensouled classes and individual forms, because this is the nature of the cosmos. The cosmos has been prepared by God as a receptacle for forms of all kinds. Nature, then, impresses forms on matter by means of the four elements, and leads all things to heaven so that they will be pleasing in the sight of God.
Archetypes and individual forms
[4] ‘All beings dependent on the world above are divided into individual forms, as I am going to explain. The forms of all beings conform to their archetypes so that the archetype is the whole; the individual is a part of the archetype. Thus the archetype of gods will create from itself forms of gods;
The Asclepius - The Perfect Discourse