Lecture Hermetic Spirituality and Altered states of Knowledge by Prof. dr. Wouter Hanegraaff

In this lecture, Wouter Hanegraaff will talk about his new book Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination: Altered States of Knowledge in Late Antiquity (Cambridge University Press 2022). The Hermetic literature has mostly been interpreted as philosophical treatises about theological topics, but Hanegraaff challenges this dominant narrative. He wants to demonstrate that, in fact, it was concerned with powerful experiential practices intended for healing the soul from mental delusion. The “Way of Hermes” involved radical alterations of consciousness in which practitioners claimed to perceive the true nature of reality behind the hallucinatory veil of appearances. Hanegraaff will explain how they went through a training regime that involved luminous visions, exorcism, spiritual rebirth, cosmic consciousness, and union with the divine beauty of universal goodness and truth. The final goal was to attain the salvational knowledge known as gnosis.
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[@TheModernHermeticist]

Wonderful lecture. Looking forward to reading the book.

[@mariusmarius4832]

Very much appreciate your insight and thoughts on this topic. Extremely insightful and well presented.

[@philipbaity7083]

This clears up quite a few troublesome issues! Thank uou!

[@retribution999]

Excellent work sir

[@sarahasleep7646]

Thank your so wonderful...so many questions you answered about the various translations of the Corpus over the years and centuries...my feeling too was that there was a very strong slant and built in prejudice towards the Christian view point...so I had many mixed feelings. You so helped me...I felt very alone in my questions about this great book .. but not so much anymore. Your wonderful Dr. Hanegraaff! Grateful

[@ruthlewis673]

This process of transformation is an all in all experience no amount of thinking about, talking about will move us a jot. As Jung said people will do anything other than look within. Perhaps because we all fear facing our Shadow or what was named, here, damonic. Marion Woodman’s “ Dancing in the flames” is a wonderful intro to facing, what in the end is what we most fear, ourselves.

[@smillstill]

I am curious if there a relationship in Hermeticism with the animism idea of there being a soul or spirit in all living and inanimate things (animals, plants, mountains, rivers, etc.) and a oneness between the metaphysical in all of these and humans. Also, perhaps, is there the idea of oneness like found somewhat in the Emerald Tablet in other Hermetic spirituality or are we all metaphysically separate beings in Hermeticism?

[@susanhill2655]

I wonder if the sung vowels sounded much like the ison in Byzantine chant, and the formulaic word before indicated which tonal scale was to be used…

[@Kshade92]

I absolutely love this talk but I'm just confused... why would the vowel chant be a descending scale, while the chart before it showed it ascending from the Moon UP to Saturn

[@PieterHanja]

Fantastic, i learned what i have been feeling.

[@Adrian-vk5xl]

Reverence and awe for what we inhabit is perfect and can only lead to love (agape)… “the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and people do not see it." ~ Gospel of Thomas

[@mariusmarius4832]

Definitely will be getting your book to read.

[@gregorypapadopoulos4200]

One of the best books of the year!!!

[@1330m]

지상의 인간은 필멸하는 신이요, 천상의 신은 불멸하는 인간이다 영혼의 완전한 하강으로 인한 영혼의 상승력 증폭 = 인간의 신인화

[@watermelonlalala]

Obviously, if he is musically trained and has he friends of the same ilk, they tried this formula of vowels and it did not work.

[@yaanno]

Fascinating talk, thank you for sharing. It would be interesting to hear a bit more on the influence of Hermeticism in the near east world like jewish and arabic and maybe other scholarship and spiritual traditions.

[@protagtom]

Some really good essays are on academia about that. I'll get you a few links

[@protagtom]

Arabic translations of some of hermetic texts was definitely a earlier development in hermeticism, being before the reanuissance period. The Arabic translations of some of the texts were some of the earliest to be translated from the original Greek or Coptic text in and around the 8th centary. Hermeticism had influence at the time from the late-middle platonist or now what we call now neoplationist, the initial corpus was in a finished state well before the forth century, and Hermes trismygistis could be an even earlier development dating before or around first century in southern memphis Egypt with their god Thoth.

[@gregorypapadopoulos4200]

ομοίως σε Θουκ., κ.λπ.· λέγεται για το πνεύμα, σκέψη, εξέταση, φιλοσοφικός στοχασμός, συλλογισμός, similarly in Thucydides, etc.; it is said of the spirit, thought, examination, philosophical contemplation, reasoning,

[@illygah]

50:00 "words cannot express..." the word is magic. I can send my words far using the text. But the further my text travels, the less of my actual voice it carries. Words express all. Not all words can be read. I was just thinking today: how lucky it feels to be able to hear Ginsberg read "Howl" to me as I read along with him. I get to feel the words more deeply because they're coming in two parts of my brain while synchronized. If what I see goes together with what I hear, my brain is processing signals harmonically; a self-hypnotic state. If only I could see him at the same time. I can't see him, but that's ok, there is a world of people to see and be seen by. Merry Christmas.

[@johnnewton8017]

❤

[@watermelonlalala]

[@fernandesl]

So sad to see him rushing through his work as fast as he can, leaving important stuff out, just so he can spend half an hour on random questions. I mean, one guy didnt even ask anything he just want to speak in front of everyone, and Hanegraff just says "well, ok, interesting"

[@gregorypapadopoulos4200]

Νους στην Ερμητική σκέψη σημαίνει την ικανότητά μας του να έχουμε μια άμεση πρόσβαση ή εμπειρία του Συμπαντικού Φωτός. W.H.

[@retribution999]

Please be aware that the G in Gnostic is silent. Have you been able to put this teaching into practice? What results have you had?

[@bellezavudd]

Sounds like a very interesting book. Although I think much of this was known knowledge in Hermetica occult circles at least since the 1970s.

[@fernandesl]

but this guy is specifically trying to study HERMECTIC texts. Occultism is based on it but it takes so much other stuff in. Like the kybalion, or even the emerald tablet dont really have anything to do with hermes.

[@bellezavudd]

@@fernandesl Depends on how occult is defined. At its most basic it simply means hidden knowledge.

[@Goldfeathers7]

@@fernandeslwhile what you say about the Kybalion is true, to say that the emerald tablet has NOTHING to do with Hermes is wrong. Sure, it is not a part of the original collection of Hermetic tractates. But an examination of the 14 lines show a clear elucidation of an elemental and astrological mysticism, which is ever so present in the Hermetica. This means that whoever wrote it, was likely a genuine student of hermetic teachings, and wrote the book to expand upon the tradition. If I’m wrong, point out what in the emerald tablet is explicitly an opposition to anything in the hermetica. I genuinely want to know.

[@childofkhem1.618]

What a great talk!! How simple and elegant and intuitive this seems. I can see how religions are just gnosis/hermeticism with dogma!

[@bobbaer1]

This was amazing. Thank you very much.

[@k.arlanebel6732]

Hanegraff is clearly the most important and engaging scholar of Hermeticism we have. One thing I find particularly interesting in his new book is that though he says there is not a trace of Christianity in this particular Hermetic practice, the interpretation of this practice that Hanegraff arrives at is strikingly similar to his interpretation of the Christian theosophist Jakob Bohme. I can demonstrate this in detail. My point is not that I want to draw general conclusions from this, but rather that the fact of the similarity opens new doors for investigation in unexplored territories. I have nothing but deep respect for Hanegraff and no desire to impose anything on him. I would simply love to hear him speak on the meaning for him of these demonstrable similarities.

[@TobiasC-mg4zk]

When people use the term Christian they are usually referring to the Nicene/Chalcedonian trinitarian forms that precipitated out of Roman imperialism. I strongly suspect that before the Jesus movement was co-opted by the Roman Empire there were many ways of following Jesus. My best guess is that in antiquity prior to the Nicene council one could be initiated into Christian mysteries after a period of purification and join a sodality or Ecclesia while remaining actively involved in other mystery clubs such as Mithraic, Hermetic or Platonic/Stoic fraternities. I’m not pulling this supposition out of my backside. Synesius was made bishop of Libya and he was still actively involved in pagan philosophy and told the patriarch of Alexandria that he refused to leave his wife and refused to believe in dogmas like bodily resurrection and other “Christian” innovations.

[@Qu0thTheRaven]

1:23:23 beautiful ending

[@johnnewton8017]

I love him!

[@erbalumkan369]

Ancient Egypt did have mountains. Remember that the Sinai was part of ancient Egypt.

[@piercedbylight]

Usually the desert is what they referred to as "mountainous" (maybe "hilly" would be a better term) as it is physically a lot higher than the Nile Valley and in many place, Luxor or Abydos for example, the hills form a barrier that must be crossed to get to the desert.

[@wouterjhanegraaff1961]

@@piercedbylight Well, yes, this is how I meant it. It's also how Garth Fowden describes the situation.

[@watermelonlalala]

Get a copy of Thrice Greatest Hermes. Take a bar of soap and a pair of nail scissors and go through the text, cutting and scrubbing... ah! New Age Religion appears. What a surprise.