Contents
Hermes in the Western Imagination
Introduction: The Greek Hermes
The Arabic Idris and the Alchemical Mercury
The Metamorphoses of Hermes in the High Middle Ages
At the Dawn of the Renaissance
Hermes and the New Spirit of Humanism
Geoffroy Tory and Francois Rabelais
The Return of Trismegistus at the Renaissance
Faces of Hermes in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
Select Bibliography for Chapter One
The Children of Hermes and the Science of Man
Hermetica and Modern Hermeticism
Select Bibliography for Chapter Two
From Hermes-Mercury to Hermes Trismegistus: The Confluence of Myth and the Mythical
1. Thoth, Hermes, Trismegistus; or The Ancient Faces of Mercury
A. The Appearance of Trismegistus
2. Scenarios and Tablets, or Secrets of the Tomb of Hermes
A. Statues and Cities of Hermes
B. The Book of Crates and the Emerald Tablet
C. The Liber de Causis and other Scenarios
3. The Beacon of Hermes, or Avatars of the Tradition
B. Hermeticism and Esotericism
C. Resistances and Permanencies
Hermes the Architect, or Hermetistic Harmony
At the Crossroads of Amsterdam, or the Initiatic Message
Little-Eyes, or the Discreet Presence of Mercury
The Meeting of Two Hermeses in the City of Screaming Metal
The Faces of Hermes Trismegistus (Iconographic Documents)
The Inheritance of Alexandrian Hermetism: Historical and Bibliographical Landmarks
A. References in the Church Fathers
B. Medieval Authors Mentioning Hermes
C Medieval Texts Influenced by Hermetism
2. Rediscovery at the Renaissance
B. English Puritanismi the Situation in Germany
C. Editions and Commentaries on the Corpus Hermeticum
D. Authors Whose Work is Marked by this Hermetism
3. Casaubon's “Revelation” and the Seventeenth Century
B. Authors Whose Work is Marked by this Hermetism
4. In the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
C. Reawakening in England and the United States
5. Tradition and Erudition in the Twentieth Century
A. Persistence of Esoteric Exegesis
B. The Corpus Hermeticum and Academic Study