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The Hermetic Method

Ask, and it will be given you
seek, and you will find;
knock, and it will be opened to you. ~ Luke xi, 9

Hermetism differs from both religion and science, although it does not attempt to replace them. Unlike religion, which accepts things on faith, and unlike science, which is based on facts and theories, Hermetism seeks knowledge. Not knowledge of facts, no matter how mystical, sublime, or luminous, nor knowledge of articles of faith or scientific knowledge, but knowledge of the mysteries, a direct, unmediated, intuitive knowledge.

Hermetism is a way or a path, so it must be traversed. Reading another book or article, or following another guru, will not lead to Hermetic knowledge. Instead, spiritual practice is absolutely essential.

In Letter IV on the Emperor, Valentin Tomberg explains the essential prerequisite of spiritual exercises:
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Renaissance Mystics

There were 12 Renaissance mystics who continued the task of medieval Scholasticism, the alchemical task to convert the intellectualism of Scholasticism into the mystical experience of God. This completes the process of the stages of mysticism, gnosis, magic, and philosophy. In Meditations on the Tarot, we read about the essence of Scholasticism:
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Week 10: Lead us not into Temptation

Humanity is faced with three temptations, just as Jesus was tempted in the wilderness.

  1. Materialism, or the temptation to turn stones into bread. This is the understanding of the universe as Being, not the universe of the Good or Love. Dead matter somehow creates life and consciousness, not to mention spiritual experience. In popular films and TV shows, we see computerized robots turn into sentient beings.
  2. The desire to plunge into the subconscious as the source of spiritual life. This ignores all higher forces, the superconscious and divine revelation as the true source of religion.
  3. The denial of causality attributes events to chance or to random variation. This absolves human beings from the responsibility of their own future.

The chakras, or lotus flowers, lie at the foundation of the human being. Temptation is the wrong unfolding of the lotus flowers. Christ’s transfiguration illumines the chakras. The I AM sayings correspond to different chakra.

The Old Testament describes the six days of creation culminating in the Old Adam.

The New Testament begins with the description of the birth and growth of the new humanity, the New Adam.
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Week 9: Forgive Us our Trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

Meditation: The seven miracles in John’s gospel

These represent 7 stages of healing: the 7 stages of guilt and their forgiveness.

Creation and healing have to take place in reverse sequence: there, where the creation was completed, lies the starting point for the healing (i.e., restoring) effect. Accordingly, the prologue of the Gospel of St. John also gives the stages of Moses’ account of creation (light, life, man) in the reverse sequence: “In him (the Word) was life, and the life was the light of men” ~ John i1:4. The work of salvation takes place in reverse to that of the creation in so far as the last stage of the creation is the first of the work of salvation. (MotT)
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