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III. An invocation to Lord Hermes
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III. AN INVOCATION TO LORD HERMES
[Revised and restored text, R. 21. It is worked in with the preceding, but is of later date. ]
1. Come unto me, Lord Hermes, O thou of many names, who know’st the secrets hidden both beneath the poles [of heaven] and underneath the earth!
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2. Come unto me, Lord Hermes, thou benefactor, who doest good to all the world!
3. Give ear to me, [and] give me grace with all that are on earth; open for me the hands of all that give like thee; 1 [and] make them give me what their hands contain!
4. Even as Horus, 2 if e’er he called on thee, O greatest of all gods, in every trial, in every space, ’gainst gods, and men, and daimones, and things that live in water and on earth, —had grace and riches with gods, and men, and every living thing beneath the earth; —so let me, too, who call on thee! So give me grace, form, beauty!
6. Hear me, O Hermes, doer of good deeds, thou the inventor of [all] incantations, 3 speak me good words! 4
7. Hear me, O Hermes, for I have done all things [that I should do] for thy black dog-ape, 5 lord of the nether ones!
8. O, soften all [towards me], and give me might
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[and] form, 1 and let them give me gold, and silver [too], and food of every kind continually.
9. Preserve me evermore for the eternity from spells, deceits, and witchery of every kind, from evil tongues, from every check and every enmity of gods and men!
10. Give unto me grace, victory, success, and satisfaction!
11. For thou art I, and I am thou; thy Name is mine, and mine is thine; for that I am thy likeness. 2
12. Whatever shall befall me in this year, or month, or day, or hour, —it shall befall the Mighty God, whose symbol is upon the holy vessel’s prow. 3
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IV. AN INVOCATION TO THOTH AS LOGOS
[Revised text, R. 22. Leemans, op. cit., II. 103, 7; Dieterich, op. cit., 189. ]
1. Thee I invoke alone, thou who alone in all the world imposest order upon gods and men, 1 who dost transform thyself in holy forms, 2 making to be from things that are not, and from the things that are making the not to be.
2. O holy Thoth, 3 the true sight of whose face none of the gods endures!
3. Make me to be in every creature’s name 4—wolf, dog, [or] lion, fire, tree, [or] vulture, 5 wall, 6 [or] water, 7 or what thou will’st, for thou art able [so to do].
V. AN INVOCATION TO HERMES AS THE SPIRITUAL LIGHT
[Revised text R. 22, 23. Leemans, ibid., II. 87, 24; Dieterich, ibid., 176, 1. ]
1. Thee I invoke who hast created all, who dost transcend the whole, the self-begotten God, who seest all and hearest all, but who art seen by none.
2. For thou didst give the sun his glory and all might, the moon her increase and her decrease, and [unto both] their ordained course. Though thou didst not diminish aught the [powers of] darkness, the still
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more ancient [than the sun and moon], thou mad’st them equal [with it]. 1
3. For when thou didst shine forth, Cosmos came into being, and light appeared, and all things were dispensed through thee; wherefore they all are under thee.
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4. O thou, whose actual form none of the gods can see, who dost transform thyself into them all in visions [that men see], O thou Eternity of the eternity. 2
5. Thee I invoke, O Lord, that thy true form may manifest to me, for that I am in servitude below thy world, 3 slave to thy angel and unto thy fear. 4
6. Through thee the pole and earth are fixed.
7. Thee I invoke, O Lord, e’en as the gods whom thou hast made to shine, that they may have their power.
The above prayers afford us some striking examples of the popular Hellenistic form of the Hermes religion, 5
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in its theurgic phase. In it Hermes is regarded as the Mind 1 or Logos. The Mind is invoked to enter the mind and heart (I. 10). 2 With the shining out of the Mind, the Spiritual or Intelligible Light shines forth in the world and man (v. 3). The Mind is thus the guide of souls. 3 He is also identified with the Good Daimon (of whom Chnuphis or Horus are variants), with the Great Ocean, the Heaven-Space or Celestial Nile, the Great Green, the Light, the Æ on.
In connection with the above invocations Reitzenstein gives the text of a very interesting ritual of lower theurgy, or rite of the sacred flame, which he characterises by the term “mystery of lychnomancy or lamp-magic. ” This is the lower side of such high vision as is referred to in “The Shepherd of Men” treatise and in the rite described in the following passage of the Pistis Sophia, 272, 373:
“Jesus said unto his disciples: Come unto me! And
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they came unto him. He turned to the four quarters of the world, and spake the Great Name over their heads, and blessed them, and breathed on their eyes.
“Jesus said unto them: Look, see what ye may see!
“And lifting up their eyes they saw a great Light, exceeding vast, which no dweller on earth could describe.
“He said to them again: Gaze into the Light, and see what ye may see!
“They said: We see fire and water, and wine and blood. ”
VI. THE MYSTIC RITE OF THE FLAME
[Revised text, R. 25-27. Wessely, op. cit., “Griechische zauberpapyrus von Paris und London” (Vienna, 1888), 68, 930 ff. ]
(a) Invocation to the Light 1
1. I invoke thee, O God, the living one, 2 who dost show forth thy splendour in the fire, thou unseen Father of the Light! 3 Pour forth thy strength; awake thy daimon, and come down into this fire; inspire it with [thy] holy spirit; show me thy might, and let the house of the almighty God, which is within this light, be opened for me! Let there be light, —
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[thy] breadth-depth-length-height-ray; 1 and let the Lord, the [God] within, shine forth!
(b) A Stronger Form to be used if the Flame dies down
2. I adjure thee, O Light, holy ray, breadth-depth-length-height-ray, by the holy names which I have uttered, 2 and am now about to speak. . . abide with me in this same hour, until I have besought thy God, and learnt about the things that I desire!
(c) The Theagogy or Invocation of the God proper
3. Thee I invoke, thou mightiest God and Master. . . thou who enlightenest all and pour’st thy rays by means of thine own power on all the world, O God of gods!
4. O Word (Logos) that orderest night and day, who guid’st the ship, 3 and hold’st the helm, thou dragon-slayer, 4 Good Holy Daimon. . . !
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5. To whom the East and West give praise as thou dost rise and set, thou who art blest by all the gods, angels, and daimones!
6. Come, show thyself to me, O God of gods. . . !
7. Enter, make manifest thyself to me, O Lord; for I invoke as the three apes invoke thee—who symbol-wise name forth thy holy Name.
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8. In thy ape-form 1 enter, appear to me, O Lord; for I name forth thy mightiest names!
9. O thou who hast thy throne about the height of cosmos, 2 and judgest all, encircled with the sphere of Surety and Truth! 3
10. Enter, appear to me, O Lord, for that I was before the fire and snow, and shall be after [them];
11. I am the one who has been born from heaven. 4
12. Enter, appear to me, O Lord of mighty names, whom all have in their hearts, 5 who dost burst open rocks, 6 and mak’st the names of gods to move!
13. Enter, appear to me, O Lord, who hast thy power and strength in tire, who hast thy throne within the seven poles. 7
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14. And on thy head a golden crown, and in thy hand a staff. . . 1 by which thou sendest forth the gods!
15. Enter, O Lord, and give me answer with thy holy voice, that I may clearly hear and truthfully about this thing!
(d) A Stronger Form of Adjuration if (c) fails
16. He doth enjoin thee, He the great living God, who is for the eternities of the eternities, the shaker and the thunderer, who doth create each soul and every birth. Enter, appear to me, O Lord, joyous, benignant, gentle, glorious, free from all wrath; for I adjure thee by the Lord [of all]!
(e) The Greeting when the Presence of the God is manifested
17. Hail Lord, O God of gods, thou benefactor. . . ! Hail to thy glories 2 ever more, O Lord!
(f) The Farewell to the God
18. I give thee thanks, O Lord. Depart, O Lord, to thine own heavens, thine own realms, and thine own
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course, preserving me in health, free from all harm, free from all fear of any ka, 1 free from all stripes, and all dismay, hearkening to me for all the days of [all] my life!
(g) The Farewell to the Flame
19. Depart, O holy ray; depart, O fair and holy light of highest God!
In connection with the above, we may also take the following ritual-prayer used in the consecration of an amulet ring.
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