Poimandres
Poimandres – one text from the Hermatica
Once when I had begun to think upon the things that exist and when my thoughts had soared high aloft, my bodily senses had been restrained by a kind of sleep which is not that of weariness or overindulgence in food.It seemed there came to me a Being of vast and boundless magnitude and who called me by name, saying, 'What do you yearn to hear and see, to learn and come to know by thought?'
'Who are you?' I asked. 'I am', he replied, 'Poimandres, the Mind (Nous) of the Sovereignty.' 'I would learn of the things that exist', I answered, 'and I wish to understand their nature and gain knowledge (gnosis) of Deity. These are the things I desire to hear.'
'I know what you wish', Poimandres said, 'for in truth I am with you everywhere. Keep in mind all that you would learn, and I will teach you.'...
'I know what you wish', Poimandres said, 'for in truth I am with you everywhere. Keep in mind all that you would learn, and I will teach you.'...
I beheld a boundless view: all was changed into a mild and joyous light, and I marvelled when I saw it. Eventually there came to be in one region a descending darkness, terrible and grim.
I saw the darkness become a watery substance unspeakably tossed about, giving forth smoke as from a fire. I heard it make an indescribable sound of lamentation, for it emitted an inarticulate cry.
But from the light there came forth sacred Speech which established itself upon the fluid substance. This Speech seemed to be the Voice of the light.
I saw the darkness become a watery substance unspeakably tossed about, giving forth smoke as from a fire. I heard it make an indescribable sound of lamentation, for it emitted an inarticulate cry.
But from the light there came forth sacred Speech which established itself upon the fluid substance. This Speech seemed to be the Voice of the light.
That light is I, Nous, the first god, who was before the watery substance appeared out of this darkness, and the Word which emanated from the light is the son of God...
Learn my meaning by looking at what is within yourself, for in you also Speech is son, and the mind is father of the Word. They are not separate from one another, for Life is the union of Word and Mind.
Learn my meaning by looking at what is within yourself, for in you also Speech is son, and the mind is father of the Word. They are not separate from one another, for Life is the union of Word and Mind.
If, being made of Light and Life, you learn to know that you are made of them, you will go back into Light and Life. . . . Let the man who has mind in him recognize himself.
And thereupon, having been stripped of all that was wrought upon him by the structure of the heavens, he ascends to the substance of the eighth sphere, being now possessed of his own proper power. . . . This is the Good, this is the consummation for those who have acquired gnosis.
That is real which is not sullied by matter, my son, nor limited by boundaries, that which has neither colour nor shape, which is without a vesture, is luminous, is apprehended by itself alone, changeless and unalterable, that which is good.
And thereupon, having been stripped of all that was wrought upon him by the structure of the heavens, he ascends to the substance of the eighth sphere, being now possessed of his own proper power. . . . This is the Good, this is the consummation for those who have acquired gnosis.
That is real which is not sullied by matter, my son, nor limited by boundaries, that which has neither colour nor shape, which is without a vesture, is luminous, is apprehended by itself alone, changeless and unalterable, that which is good.
Ignorance, my son, is one of the torments. The second is grief, the third is incontinence, followed by desire, injustice, covetousness, error, envy, fraud, anger, rashness and, the twelfth, malice.
This earthly tabernacle, my son, has been put together by the working of the zodiac, which produces manifold forms of one and the same thing to lead men astray. As the signs of which the zodiac consists are twelve in number, the forms produced by it, my son, fall into twelve divisions.
But at the same time they are inseparable, being united in their action; for the reckless vehemence of irrational impulse is indivisible. It is with good reason, then, that they all depart together, as I said before.
And it is also in accordance with reason that they are driven out by ten Powers, that is, by the Decad; for the Decad, my son, is the number by which soul is generated. Life and Light united are a Unit; and the number One is the source of the Decad.
But at the same time they are inseparable, being united in their action; for the reckless vehemence of irrational impulse is indivisible. It is with good reason, then, that they all depart together, as I said before.
And it is also in accordance with reason that they are driven out by ten Powers, that is, by the Decad; for the Decad, my son, is the number by which soul is generated. Life and Light united are a Unit; and the number One is the source of the Decad.
I see myself to be the All. I am in heaven and in earth, in water and in air. I am in beasts and plants. I am a babe in the womb, and one that is not yet conceived, and one that has been born. I am present everywhere.