Alchemy & philosophy · 21 June 2026 · Charlotte Himsworth
Who Was Hermes Trismegistus?
The legendary “thrice-great” sage behind the Hermetic tradition.
Hermes Trismegistus, “thrice-great Hermes”, is a legendary figure who blends the Greek god Hermes with the Egyptian god Thoth, both associated with writing, wisdom and magic. Over centuries, many texts were attributed to him.
The Hermetica
The best-known writings, the Corpus Hermeticum, were composed in Greek in Roman Egypt in the first centuries CE. They explore the nature of God, the cosmos and the human soul.
A Renaissance rediscovery
In 1463 the scholar Marsilio Ficino translated the Corpus Hermeticum into Latin for Cosimo de’ Medici in Florence, and Hermetic ideas inspired generations of Renaissance thinkers. Scholars later showed the texts were not as ancient as once believed, but their influence on philosophy, alchemy and art was immense.
The Kybalion
The seven Hermetic principles we explore here come from The Kybalion (1908), a much later book that drew on this tradition in its own way.
A practice
Hermes was the messenger between worlds. Ask: “What message from my deeper self am I ready to hear today?”