Tetelesmenoi Hermei

Hermes, simplistically known as the "Messenger of Gods" becomes more complex the more you delve into him, follow him around and learn from the wisdom of the messages he carries and dispatches. It is no wonder why this enigmatic and warm god became the one deity Karl Kerenyi was fondest of, in his life and journey.

The more I dig beyond the surface of the Messenger, the more in depth the road becomes. Among a few past Hellenistic forum discussions the question arouse as to why certain divinities seemed more popular than others, and in particular Hermes was one mentioned. But when it is of his divine nature in traveling from the world of man to that of gods, to the heavens and to the underworld it doesn't surprise me that more of us are responsive to his inquiries, noticing and welcoming him into our lives. I am still learning of all the titles Hermes carries, along with many areas he is keen with: pompos or diaktoros ("guide"), angelos ("messenger"), eriounios ("luck-bringer") akaketa ("benignant," "gracious," witness of a gentle death-god), enodios ("by the road") and hodios ("belonging to a journey"). An Etruscan inscription has turms aitas meaning "Hermes of Hades" as his chthonic aspect.

He is the god of travelers, of journeymen. But isn't our lives a journey in itself? Having a guide not only in the literal sense of the act, but in the allegorical as well would seem helpful. Inciting ideas, dreams and epiphanies - the trickster god taking and giving: to his amusement, to our bereavement. Hermes is hegetor oneiron ("ruler of dreams") and with his Caduceus his brings sleep and wakefulness to men. The offerings left on the roadside were called hermaion, but it was also the word for windfall, as things that are of accidental discovery for gain. The residue of the chaotic windfall, Kerenyi wrote, which is shaped to the meaning of the god.

"In every cosmos accident remains fundamental, a residue of the chaotic condition, and this is true also of the Hermetic cosmos."

Of the crossroads and of the night - polythropos ("gate-watcher"), nuktos opoetera ("nocturnal scout") and Kerenyi and Walter F. Otto both felt that they understood Hermes as the Greeks understood Night.

But the darkness of night which so sweetly
invites to slumber also bestows new vigilance
and illumination of the spirit. It makes
it more perceptive, more acute, more enter-
prising. Knowledge flares up, or descends like
a shooting star -- rare, precious, even magical
knowledge.

And so night, which can terrify the solitary
man and lead him astray, can also be his friend,
his helper, his counselor.
-- Otto

The image of Hermes started out as his namesake originates from, as a herm, a pile of stones at entrances of homes and roadways. This image was seen as a mediator, but also connected him to the home. Guiding souls (psychopompos) from the realms - paths, underworld, roads - back to the life and warmth of the home. Mediator of the between, night and of day, men and spirits, gods and mortals: propylaios ("before the gate"), pylaios ("the one at the entrance"), storphaios ("cunning," "versatile"), psithyristes ("whisperer") and hermeneus ("interpreter"). As a god I feel the closest to, one I keep in my thoughts daily and carry his symbols not only on my person but at work as well, I feel that I am part of tetelesmenoi hermei "initiated into the Mysteries of Hermes" as Kerenyi himself had inscribed onto his grave. However, I feel (that like all mysteries) much will remain enigmatic and will require a lifetime of contemplation in order to truly learn and comprehend the experience. Kerenyi quite well described it in his book:

The reality of Hermes world proves at least the presence of a standpoint from which it is revealed; more than that, it testifies to something active that is not merely revealing itself from that standpoint, but that is ever again suddenly present and drives the world to give concrete expression to the Hermetic works of art and illusion. The source of this experience and configuration of the world, which at the mention of Hermes' name breaks into the light of day (and broke forth also without mentioning his name, only less clearly), is Hermes himself. It must possess the complete Hermetic breadth, from the phallic to ... From here we are as yet unable to move on with any perspicacity, for on the basis of the classical tradition we have to complete the foregoing sentence with: ... to the guidance of souls, an activity that stretches beyond life. Here Hermes remained completely enigmatic to us.

Qui animas ducere et reducere solet ("the one who leads souls away and leads them back again")

Failure in mnemonics

I am one for having really bad memory. Now for some people this is a non-issue, but I'm an avid fan of books and history, and other tidbits of information deemed 'useless' - but it has come to a point where reading becomes a chore unless I actively use it immediately in some sort of activity. But isn't something new. For the minor stuff I suffer from the "tip of my tongue" moments, while there are people in my Facebook that I went to highschool with that I have no recollection of who they are. Worst of all, there are years of my childhood that I do not recall, including those I spent with my deceased father.

During prayers to Hermes I always highlight his aspect of helping one's memory--

Of various speech, whose aid in works we find, and in necessities to mortals kind:
Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere, be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear; Assist my works, conclude my life with peace, give graceful speech, and me memory's increase.

However, I guess one should directly seek assistance to the source, the Titan Mnemosyne.

Image by Lord Frederick Leighton

Orphic Hymn

The consort I invoke of Jove [Zeus] divine, source of the holy, sweetly-speaking Nine;
Free from th' oblivion of the fallen mind, by whom the soul with intellect is join'd:
Reason's increase, and thought to thee belong, all-powerful, pleasant, vigilant, and strong:
'Tis thine, to waken from lethargic rest all thoughts deposited within the breast;
And nought neglecting, vigorous to excite the mental eye from dark oblivion's night.
Come, blessed power, thy mystic's mem'ry wake to holy rites, and Lethe's fetters break.

Daughter of Ouranus, she was said to lay with Zeus for nine nights in order to create the Nine Muses. The Orphic tablet instructs us to forgo drinking from Lethe and instead drink from the lake of Mnemosyne.

Thou shalt find to the left of the House of Hades a Well-spring,
And by the side thereof standing a white cypress.
To this Well-spring approach not near.
But thou shalt find another by the Lake of Memory,
Cold water flowing forth, and there are Guardians before it.
Say: "I am a child of Earth and of Starry Heaven;
But my race is of Heaven (alone). This ye know yourselves.
And lo, I am parched with thirst and I perish. Give me quickly
The cold water flowing forth from the Lake of Memory."
And of themselves they will give thee to drink from the holy Well-spring, And thereafter among the other Heroes thou shalt have lordship. . . .
Prof. Gilbert Murray / Critical Appendix on the Orphic Tablets

Of course there are ways to strengthen memory, which I've tried (along with my attempts to kill insomnia - Hypnus, where are you?) along with suggestions of hypnotherapy. I'll try the former first.

Time as sacrifice

Sacrifice, for most pagans and polytheists, means something different when compared to what most people define it as. During the season of Lent, many of my Catholic coworkers let go of something during this time as required by their faith - most of them decided to give up things that were bad for them, like Diet Coke or coffee. I found that to be odd personally, for sacrifice means to "make holy, or sacred." I really don't view Coca Cola to be particularly spiritual, nor do I offer it as a libation, unless I discover that Hermes has a weird particular taste for it.

I have had to curb some habits in my life due to some large changes I had to do, and in regards to ritual and daily practice, I found myself doing less and less due to the lack of time, or just lack of convenience. Convenience being the key [bad] word. Looking in my life I found that I needed to learn to better manage the time I did have: saying I was tired, or I had no time meant I was more than likely spending it doing unimportant things with it when it didn't pertain to work or school. So I reformed myself. I sold my car a year ago in order to save for future out-of-state tuition and living costs for next year, so I've been taking public transportation or walking, to get to work, school and home. Living in southern California made this something to get used to, and it also meant that the hours became something I could not waste - they became invaluable. If I need to do something simple like go to the pharmacy or the bookstore, it meant rerouting my entire commute and scheduling ahead of time to avoid missing a bus. With the current financial crisis in California, many of the routes have been cut or removed. While I find time for work, school, volunteer work, leisure and exercise, I needed to make daily practice higher up in the scale regardless of how late or how early it was.

Today, as I walked home from the market with my green reusable bag full of peaches, bread, soup and Merlot wine, I couldn't help but think that this long walk back to my home was in part, not only preparation for my libation to Hermes, but in essence part of it. It is perhaps no different than those that would peregrinate, with offerings and prayers, to the temple of Hermes in Samos. Every step, every drop of perspiration and each thought full of love and anticipation.

We give much of our time, effort, intellect and sweat in order to reap rewards in the form of monetary currency, to obtain things that support and provide enjoyment in our lives. In the same vein, I find that using my time, effort, intellect and sweat in preparation, service and ritual to my gods to be itself another sacrifice to harvest the joys of life.

Blasphemous Blasphemy Laws

With a weird turn of events, it seems that Ireland has step back in time without the help of a DeLorean and its 1.21 gigawatts of power^[**] towards the medieval era - they have implemented Blasphemy Laws.

Blasphemy is defined as the usage of one or more gods or religious system to be used in a manner that is considered objectionable by its members. That in itself is extremely subjective and broad, and I think will bring more trouble than its worth in the courts in Ireland. I do not live in said country, I wondered what sort of freedom of speech laws they had:

Freedom of speech is protected by Article 40.6.1 of the Irish constitution. However the article qualifies this right, providing that it may not be used to undermine "public order or morality or the authority of the State". Furthermore, the constitution explicitly requires that the publication of "blasphemous, seditious, or indecent matter" be a criminal offence, leading the government to pass a new blasphemy law on 8th July, 2009. (wiki)

Under the Irish constitution, the state is obliged to have blasphemy laws. The bill going through the Dáil would amend the Defamation Act of 1961, which includes blasphemy as a crime. To abolish blasphemy laws, the government would have to hold a referendum to amend the constitution. (link)

According to Pharyngula it could cover the authority to seize blasphemous material from your home if they see it necessary. How is this morally and lawfully allowable? What is religiously blasphemous to someone may not be for me, or others. Is owning books by Anton Szandor LaVey and Richard Dawkins blasphemous to the Church? Of course! Yet does one not have the right to own them? "It also exempts works in which a “reasonable person” would find genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value." So they will obviously object to much of the metal music being sold and distributed within the country as they have very blasphemous art, themes and concerts, as seen by the likes of Gorgoroth, Cannibal Corpse and Impaled Nazarene.

Interesting, comments made by a local Catholic church in England in regards of a tree stump that resembles the Virgin Mary as "superstition" go by unnoticed

Local Parish Priest Fr Willie Russell said on Radio station Limerick Live 95FM yesterday that people should not worship the tree. "There's nothing there... it's just a tree ... you can't worship a tree."

With PZ Myers commenting "I hope the Irish druids are going to be rightfully upset at this horribly offensive slur against their faith." Could the local Druids file a suit against Mr. Russell?

Or is this just a case where blasphemy laws are only applied to the Christian groups, whilst not applying to others because of the edict in the Ten Commandments? Some are trying to figure out what is covered under these laws and what isn't, since obviously it is so goddamn (oops!) subjective. Graham Linehan in an interview asked that justice minister Dermot Ahern, who introduced the bill, should be challenged to define what he meant by blasphemy.

"This is insanity. Please, Mr Ahern, define the things we can't say, please! Can we say, 'Jesus is gay'? Or can we ask, 'Is God in a biscuit?' Could he tell us what it means? It is just insanity. After all, there are things contained in the holy books of one religion that are blasphemy to another religion. The logic behind this comes from Alice in Wonderland." He said the Irish blasphemy law was part of a trend in the west where freedom of expression was being attacked "to placate the craziest people on earth".

While paganism and polytheism is a relatively small slice of the religion pie, we have obviously received many smears and attacks in the past as being nothing more than a silly sect or belief system by the detractors. In the last election term Islam was widely maligned, and Jerome Corsi decided to use his position to ridicule more with his comment: "May Islam join the garbage heap of worthless religions we have grown beyond. Any believers of Hermes out there?"

Why yes, Mr. Corsi, I do.

It's hard to say that we would pass such outdated laws, but I hope we don't see the puritans in this country decide to follow suit like what progressive countries like Britain has done in installing Sharia Law alongside Ireland's brilliant Blasphemy Law.

To all the Irish, make sure you delete all the copies of Raptor Jesus or any LOLJesus you may have on your harddrive.

Faces of the Gods

In some studies, Odin is aligned with Hermes. While I feel that Mercury/Hermes could be the same deity, Odin is more tricky for me, no pun intended. If we go by the etymology and reasoning behind the days of the week, we see that the latin form of Mercury's name falls into what we know as Wednesday, or as in Spanish, Miercoles. Wednesday comes from Wōdnesdæg, meaning day of Woden, or Odin. This is of course, as far as I can go in regards to finding any similarity. Odin has been marked as Hermes due to their roles as retrieving the dead. Now, how can I assimilate Hermes, a god of trickery, thieves and divination to the God of the Slain, the Allfather who received hanged men as a sacrifice, the God who Sacrificed his Eye at the Well of Mimir for enlightenment? Though in Book of Lies, they attribute their similarities as well as being Gods of Communication and Speed, and this source strengthens it course due to their origin of their name stemming from wind. I find that Hermes and Enki retain as well many characteristics of Loki, due to their mischief and trickery.

 

This is something that I will definitely explore further. I've always felt a deep connection with Odin, with deep respect and fear of said personality while at the current moment I find myself fostering a close relationship with Hermes, however the feelings seem completely different than those I hold for the Allfather. While I hold that all Gods can change their respective shapes for us to experience them, Odin is widely known to the shapechanger of the pantheon (next to Loki), I have not found this to be the same for Hermes.

Following I have found that some equate Ereshkigal with Hekate, and while Ereshkigal is the Goddess of the Underworld, her Greek equivalent would be Persephone due to similarities of their stories and not Hekate. Ereshkigal represents the seasons and was abducted and taken into the Underwrold to where she was made queen, unwillingly. One of the most beautiful statues represents this in regards to Persephone's abduction by Hades, by Bernini.

The following work of art is titled "The Rape of Proserpina" and we should note that the root of the word rape means "seize, carry off by force, abduct."
Hekate is not an original Olympian as Hesiod writes that she is the daughter of two Titans and relics of her have been found in Phrygia (modern day Turkey) and Mycenea. However, some sources claim that she is the daughter of Demeter (one and two).

To end, the easiest one for me: the goddesses of love, sex, fertility and war Freyja, Inanna, Ishtar, Astarte, Aphrodite, Venus. Perhaps not the latter, as all the information regarding pre-Graeco influence of Venus at the moment seems very sparse. Many of these goddesses have war-attributes, and Aphrodite is no exception: one of her epithets was Aphrodite Areia, the warlike. A surname of Aphrodite, when represented in full armor like Ares, as was the case at Sparta. (Paus. iii. 17. § 5.)

Inanna, Astarte and Ishtar are all Queens of Heaven, while Aphrodite Ourania carries the same title.