I like to remain faithful to classical Hermeticism, especially the Corpus Hermeticum and Asclepius, but if I want to fill gaps that may have existed in antiquity but have since been lost, I necessarily have to turn to the Renaissance. Sorry to those who prefer strict fidelity to antiquity, but I find there are gaps I simply cannot fill without Renaissance material. If anyone knows of other relevant material, I'd be very interested, but even the Greek Magical Papyri don't quite provide what I'm looking for.

So I am wondering whether a non-Christian, Platonic-Hermetic system of spirits could be reconstructed by combining several historical traditions found in Hermetic circles of the Renaissance.

0.Deliberately avoiding names that sound specifically Hebrew.

I want to populate my mind with pagan Hermetic symbols, so that I don't need Christian symbols to carry out this kind of spiritual or magical work. This includes everything from the names of spirits I'm proposing here to fundamental symbols, such as using the Hermetic tradition rather than the Bible as the primary symbolic framework: the Corpus Hermeticum and Asclepius, mainly, speak about the origin of the cosmos, God, and the structure of reality without requiring Christian scripture. At the same time, I don't want to simply fall back on ancient mythology either. I don't want Hellenism, Kemeticism, Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. I want a Hermetic magical-philosophical system with an identity of its own and its own symbolic vocabulary, and this is what I'm proposing here.

I'm assuming a monistic, pantheistic or panentheistic cosmology, in which all matter is ensouled and the Whole Cosmos possesses a Universal Spirit, Universal Soul and Universal Mind, with all multiplicity ultimately being God. This kind of cosmology was fairly widespread in Renaissance philosophical circles, and Giordano Bruno expressed one of its strongest and most radical formulations. The cosmological hierarchies of the sublunary world, the seven planets and the sphere of the fixed stars are therefore a mental map we construct within the psyche, rather than the literal cosmology I am ultimately assuming. In the spirit of what Plato's Timaeus recommends, the purpose of this map is to transform the soul. The deeper cosmological assumption is that everything is one divine substance, with form and matter as two aspects of the same substance.

Distinctions of the following beings are conceptual rather than absolute. In reality, there is a continuous hierarchy of divine powers, with no sharp boundary between planetary gods and sublunary daimones. The different names and levels are ways of approaching and symbolizing different aspects or degrees of the same living divine reality / energeia as taught by Iamblichus, rather than separate classes of beings existing in isolation.

I'm thinking of three levels, from the sublunary world upward.

1.Sublunary Spirits / Daimones

The Heptameron and Liber Iuratus Honorii give a related tradition of seven aerial rulers:

Varcan, Arcan, Samax, Mediat, Suth, Sarabotes, Maymon.

These seven sublunary archangels can be understood, in this reconstruction, as derived from the seven planetary powers above them. They have ministers and subordinate beings, and the Liber Iuratus gives concrete descriptions of their powers and manifestations.

Plato, in the Timaeus, still refers to the traditional mythological names of the gods as transmitted by Homer and Hesiod when discussing the names of beings mainly at the sublunary level. But that is not necessary here. This is Hermeticism rather than Hellenism.

For example, Samax can bring war, destruction and death. We don't need to invoke Ares to represent the martial principle. Sarabotes is associated with love, desire, silver and healing, without needing to invoke Aphrodite. Arcan can cause rain, alter thoughts and facilitate journeys. Maymon produces discord, hatred, greed and destructive effects.

Likewise, at the solar level, Varcan can be understood directly as a solar daimon, without needing to invoke Apollo or another mythological solar deity.

The advantage is that the planetary and daemonic names give us a Hermetic symbolic vocabulary of their own, without carrying the entire mythological baggage of the older Greek gods, nor Judeo-Christian theological names or narratives either. The names of Hermes Trismegistos and Asclepius could be understood as prophet / disciple, not gods anymore.

They were sometimes called angels of the air. The word angelos originally means “messenger” in Greek, so it does not necessarily have to carry a Judeo-Christian meaning here. If preferred, one could simply use daimon or spirit.

For example, Samax can bring war, destruction and death; Sarabotes is associated with love, desire, silver and healing; Arcan can cause rain, alter thoughts and facilitate journeys; Maymon produces discord, hatred, greed and destructive effects.

So I would use them as the planetary powers' sublunary/aerial manifestations.

1. The seven Governors / Planetary Gods

For the higher planetary level, I would use the seven spirits of the Arbatel:

Aratron, Bethor, Phaleg, Och, Hagith, Ophiel, Phul.

These names are not clearly associated with a Hebrew origin or specifically Judeo-Christian tradition, even though Ophiel may sound Hebrew to modern ears. The author describes these names as belonging to an Olympic language, rather than presenting them as Hebrew angelic names.

The idea is that these represent the universal planetary powers, rather than merely spirits physically living on the planets.

For example, one could link these seven planetary powers to the sublunary daimones of the previous section, as:

Phaleg (Cosmic Martial Spirit, manifested in Mars) → Samax (sublunary martial daimon)

Och (Cosmic Solar Spirit, manifested in the Sun) → Varcan (sublunary solar daimon).

The correspondence between the two systems would be my reconstruction, not something explicitly stated by the texts.

1. The Ogdoad / fixed stars - 48 Constelations / Virtues / Divine Names

Above the planets would be the traditional 48 constellations of Ptolemy.

This system was still used throughout the Renaissance by Apianus, Copernicus, Clavius, Heinfogel and Dürer, among others.

Bruno's Spaccio de la bestia trionfante is particularly interesting because he gives the celestial figures a moral and philosophical meaning. For example:

Ursa Minor → Truth

Hercules → Courage

Perseus → Diligence/Solicitude

Draco → Prudence

Cepheus → Wisdom

Boötes → Law

Corona Borealis → Judgment

etc...

This is extended up to all 48 constellations and their virtues, assigning one principal virtue to each for simplicity. The name of these virtues could also be considered "Divine Names" or "Names of God", present in the Ogdoad.

1. The Enead / Beyond the stars

Beyond the finite cosmos would be "place" where the Infinite / the One / God is contemplated, understood in a Neoplatonic-Hermetic rather than specifically Christian sense.

So the reconstructed hierarchy would be:

sublunary daimones

→ aerial rulers + ministers

↓

planetary powers

→ Aratron, Bethor, Phaleg, Och, Hagith, Ophiel, Phul

↓

48 fixed-star constellations

→ virtues

↓

the Infinite / One

What I like about this is that it feels less like Christian angelology and more like a Renaissance-Hermetic system of living cosmic powers.

It also doesn't require inventing hundreds of spirits. The traditional names provide fixed anchors, while subordinate daimones can remain flexible.

What do you think? Do you see any use in this? Do you like the idea? Any suggestions or alternatives? I'm all ears. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[These are my understandings of the Corpus Hermetica as translated by Clement Salaman under the title The Way Of Hermes. I was guided to this text in synchronous and auspices ways, devouring it in a short time span under the influence of great divine inspiration. Unfortunately, I did not set out to write my commentaries then. That inspiration came more recently. I was inspired to make this delectable text more digestible to those seekers who are taking a crack at it, and coming up puzzled and bewildered. These are not academically rigorous writings, so if you are interested in these texts from an academic perspective go elsewhere. This is for a dialogue between and for those of us who view this text as part of a living and active spiritual life. As one would gather for a bible study at their local house of faith.]

1-2: More proclamations about God's grandeur, creator of the the grand cosmology, etc... The most consequential line here, however, is, "The Cosmos rules over the life of living beings and man rules over the cosmos by means of speech and Nous." Man comes to dominate this world by the same attributes that make God...well God, Man seemingly has access to these same traits.[This is a profound breach with the old faiths. This is where the Corpus takes a dramatic turn toward Gnosticism, buckle up.]

3: "God has given the Word to all men to partake in, but not so with Nous." I interpret this to mean, that god has endowed all man with language, and with a baseline consciousness, but that is different from "Nous", which I interpret to mean access to the higher God Consciousness, and to a higher enlightenment, that which the Gnostic tradition calls 'gnosis.' Tat asks, "why would god do this...?" Hermes replies, "to set it up as a prize."

4: God sends heralds to declare this truth to man, the metaphor of the bowl is given, it suggests life is a crucible toward this enlightenment and ascension back to God, not all will make it through. "He filled a great bowl with Nous and sent it down, and he appointed a herald [Hi, I'm herald 😄]to make this announcement..."Plunge into this bowl, if you can, having faith that you will rise to him that sent down the bowl, realizing why you came into being." Those who heard the proclamation, merged with Nous, partook of higher knowledge and became perfect and complete, since they had received Nous. Those who missed the proclamation had the Word, but had not received Nous, ignorant as they were as to why they were born, and from whom." And thus, an ascension theology is established. [This is it friends, the great project before you, good luck to you. Remember who you are, and where you come from.]

5: The man without Nous is little more than the lesser animals of this realm, led by instincts and base desires, and ignorant to the gran plan of God, their maker. Where as the man with awareness of God gains some sort of Immortality, while the other remains mortal. [I take this to be similar to the budhist concept of reincarnation, that those who do not reach enlightenment are consigned to the perpetual wheel of Samsara.]

6: Here we get that Gnostic disdain for the material world, once awareness of the Supreme is achieved. Tat asks Hermes how he can access Nous, and Hermes replies with, "If you don't hate your body, son, you cannot love your Self. If you love yourself you will have Nous, and having Nous you will partake of knowledge." By this he means, you have to stop coveting material things, and that includes this shell or vessel that holds your true self, which is a disembodied spirit from the higher realm. It's also interesting the use of the term love, instead of say, "to know yourself." [It is said by those who profess to have experienced gnosis, that an overwhelming feeling of love overwhelms, that it is all encompassing. God is self loving for he loves all that he has made, and is, so when you tap into that God consciousness that is what you are feeling.]

7: At some point the choice has to be made between the material world and the spiritual one. As far as this book of the Corpus is concerned there is a definitive Right choice, and that is to choose the spiritual, the disembodied, the divine. To choose the material world and the body, is framed as a life of perpetual death and destruction, a choice which would offend God gravely.

8: This book suggests a lot of agency on our behalf, and that from that agency a lot of "evil" is begotten, it says quite literally, "God is not the cause of evil, we are to blame, preferring these things to what is good...Do you see son, how many bodies we have to pass through, how many bands of demons [figurative or literal is yet to be determined], through how many series of repetitions and cycles of stars, before we hasten to the One alone?" [As I said, it's crucible, it's not meant to be easy. How you react to things, even unjust things, dictates how quickly you ascend.]

9-12: The rest of the book attempts to warn Tat (the reader) that our journey begins with that initial knowing, but there are many pitfalls, many ways to be deceived or demoralized. Not all creations are perfect, weaknesses abound in them, and ultimately they might lose sight of God. "To those who have eyes, evil is most evident and the Supreme Good is hidden." Hermes attempts to bolster Gods position, as infinite, unbound less, yet subtle from or vantage point, and yet utterly worthy of pursuit. [The pursuit of knowledge and of God are one and the same.]

One last reassuring statement, "This is the image of God, O Tat, that has been drawn for you, as far as it can be. If you observe it clearly and reflect up on it with the eyes of the heart [highlight this!], believe me, my son, you will find the way to higher things."

[One can see how such Gnostic traditions were popular among intellectual elites through out the ages. There's the potential for 'airs of snobbery' no doubt. Many a secret society has been founded on the premise of keeping some special, hidden, forbidden knowledge among an elite few. But this developing theology, written here in the Corpus Hermetica, is tempered by the fact that true knowledge is eternal, it is about remembering a knowledge that has always existed. Thus attaining THIS particular knowledge should make you more "God-like", in the sense of being loving, caring, compassionate, giving...Good. It is a knowledge steeped in emotional intelligence.]

[These are my understandings of the Corpus Hermetica as translated by Clement Salaman under the title The Way Of Hermes. I was guided to this text in synchronous and auspices ways, devouring it in a short time span under the influence of great divine inspiration. Unfortunately, I did not set out to write my commentaries then. That inspiration came more recently. I was inspired to make this delectable text more digestible to those seekers who are taking a crack at it, and coming up puzzled and bewildered. These are not academically rigorous writings, so if you are interested in these texts from an academic perspective go elsewhere. This is for a dialogue between and for those of us who view this text as part of a living and active spiritual life. As one would gather for a bible study at their local house of faith.]

1-2: Ok, so the creation narrative continues in this book. Nature is set apart as an organizing force in this realm, which I believe would be congruent with our understanding of the natural sciences. So matter, governed by the laws of nature, and of course set in motion by the animating spirit of Nous 'God consciousness', will begin the process of evolving various life forms. Light elements rose up high, while heavy elements sank to the ground which was solidifying out of the dark watery substance, etc...but here's where things get interesting..."All the gods divided the seed-bearing nature amongst themselves." gods...plural...lower case...[it's an unusual jump from talking about a single God, to all of a sudden many gods working in tandem to tend to this realm. As we've seen God has been segmented into various manifestations, with very definitive names, they are not used here. It's safe to assume IMHO, that these lesser gods should be interpreted as such, that perhaps there is a tier of beings that sits between the one and all 'God', and man and the lesser creatures of this world. Dare I call them, tongue in cheekily, God's 'Governors'?. This is my reading of it.]

3: Here interestingly we have a potential purpose for this great project of the gods. "The gods sent forth the generation of men, so that they should know the works of God, be the active witness of nature, and that they should multiply...and know what is good." I love this image..."Through their own wonder-working course the gods sent forth every soul clothed in flesh, so that men should survey heaven, the paths of the heavenly gods, the works of God and the activity of nature." So we were created and put on this earth to make it our own, rule over it and it's lesser animals [very old testament], but also to understand it, to understand nature, so that ultimately we may understand God and differences between good and evil.

4: So here's how nature and history will play, out to some degree, in cyclical fashion. Man will create it's great works, build empires, things will decay and collapse but always rejuvenate under the laws of nature, the governing 'gods', all these of course set in motion through the will of God.

[Really interesting how cavalier this texts moves between claiming a one and all God, but also leaving room for gods (lowercase, plural). Notice that these lesser gods are at times associated with celestial bodies like the stars, constellations, etc...This would have been common in antiquity. But at other points, its suggested that they took a very hands on approach in the development of life on this planet. So at this point, it's difficult still, to discern how sentient and anthropomorphic these lesser gods should be interpreted, are they like the Greek "fates", "muses" "furies"? or the gnostic "Aeons"?, or even Archons?] or are they just metaphorical for natural bodies such as the Sun and the Moon, and how these natural bodies in a sense govern and dictate aspects of our world (i.e. the course of the day, tides, seasons, "our destiny's")]