The Hermetic North Star

What the Hermetic Mastery Might Be, etc.

and wisdom, and through such [wisdom] to God Himself as the greatest wisdom; so the common rabble made actual gods out of them, and took the representation for the thing itself, and remained stuck there. The author argues that pagan gods were originally just alchemical symbols that uneducated people mistook for real deities.

It is furthermore the art of bringing forth a thing, as Hermes mentions in his Tablet Refers to the Tabula Smaragdina or Emerald Tablet, a brief, cryptic text highly revered by alchemists., with which one can perform, so to speak, miraculous things in the three realms three realms|The three kingdoms of nature: animal, vegetable, and mineral. of the world; and therefore the seekers are called students or children of Hermes children of Hermes|A traditional title for alchemical practitioners, or filii Hermetis., but the art itself, the Hermetic Mastery. Of which the wise have at all times made a secret, and for that reason it is also called the Great Secret; but besides the Great Secret, it is also named the Divine Art, the Royal Art, and the Philosopher's Stone. Why? I wish to discuss each of these briefly and specifically.

The term Great Secret, Great Secret original: "Mysterium magnum", reveals in part through its own name what it might be; however, one can quite reasonably call it the greatest secret, because on the whole earth, from the beginning of the world, nothing greater, nothing nobler, nothing more excellent or powerful is found, nor has been found, and until the end of the world will be found. This prompted the ancient wise men to say that God, besides the human soul, created nothing nobler; for just as the soul is immortal, so such