Hermetism

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Hermetism

religion

Also known as: Hermeticism

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June 29, 2026

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Hermetism is a religious and philosophical tradition based on writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic figure combining the Egyptian god Thoth and the Greek god Hermes. These works, written in Greek and Latin between the 1st and 3rd centuries CE, fall into two categories: "popular" Hermetism, focusing on astrology, alchemy, and magic, and "learned" Hermetism, dealing with theology and philosophy.12

Hermetic writings emerged from the Greco-Egyptian culture of the Roman period, reflecting a growing distrust of traditional rationalism and a blending of science and religion. The core idea is that the cosmos is a unified, interdependent system. Hermetism aimed for the deification or rebirth of individuals through knowledge of the divine, the world, and humanity, similar to Gnosticism. While influential, it's unlikely there was a distinct Hermetic community or church.12

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Hermetic writings
…into two main classes: “popular” Hermetism, which deals with astrology and the other occult sciences; and “learned” Hermetism, which is concerned with theology and philosophy. Both seem to have arisen in the complex Greco-Egyptian culture of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.
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…into two main classes: “popular” Hermetism, which deals with astrology and the other occult sciences; and “learned” Hermetism, which is concerned with theology and philosophy. Both seem to have arisen in the complex Greco-Egyptian culture of the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.
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alchemy
Modern alchemy
This spiritual alchemy, or Hermetism, as its practitioners often prefer to call it, was popularly associated with the supposititious Rosicrucian brotherhood, whose so-called Manifestoes (author unknown; popularly ascribed to the German theologian Johann Valentin Andreä) had appeared in Germany in the early 17th century and had attracted the favourable…
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This spiritual alchemy, or Hermetism, as its practitioners often prefer to call it, was popularly associated with the supposititious Rosicrucian brotherhood, whose so-called Manifestoes (author unknown; popularly ascribed to the German theologian Johann Valentin Andreä) had appeared in Germany in the early 17th century and had attracted the favourable…
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Carl Jung
Character of his psychotherapy
…fresh importance to the so-called Hermetic tradition. He conceived that the Christian religion was part of a historic process necessary for the development of consciousness, and he also thought that the heretical movements, starting with gnosticism and ending in alchemy, were manifestations of unconscious archetypal elements not adequately expressed in…
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…fresh importance to the so-called Hermetic tradition. He conceived that the Christian religion was part of a historic process necessary for the development of consciousness, and he also thought that the heretical movements, starting with gnosticism and ending in alchemy, were manifestations of unconscious archetypal elements not adequately expressed in…
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magic
Late medieval and early modern Europe
… explored the mystical traditions of Hermeticism, based on works of the legendary Alexandrian prophet of the 1st–3rd century Hermes Trismegistus. Although generally tolerated because their practices were perceived to be within the main Judaic and Christian Hermetic tradition, practitioners of alchemy were sometimes considered to be evil magicians who acquired…
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… explored the mystical traditions of Hermeticism, based on works of the legendary Alexandrian prophet of the 1st–3rd century Hermes Trismegistus. Although generally tolerated because their practices were perceived to be within the main Judaic and Christian Hermetic tradition, practitioners of alchemy were sometimes considered to be evil magicians who acquired…
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salvation
Nature
In gnosticism and Hermeticism—esoteric theosophical and mystical movements in the Greco-Roman world—and the teaching of St. Paul the Apostle, deliverance was sought primarily from the planetary powers that were believed to control human destiny in the sublunar world.
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In gnosticism and Hermeticism—esoteric theosophical and mystical movements in the Greco-Roman world—and the teaching of St. Paul the Apostle, deliverance was sought primarily from the planetary powers that were believed to control human destiny in the sublunar world.
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