Quick Start to Studying Hermeticism

When it comes to studying Hermeticism, the basics are the fundamentals, and the fundamentals to Hermeticism lie in the classical texts; for that reason, we encourage one to at least familiarize themselves with the classical texts first.

For the cheap-and-quick start, we’d recommend getting these two texts first:

The Way of Hermes
  • Clement Salaman et al., “Way of Hermes” (contains the Corpus Hermeticum and the Definitions)
  • Clement Salaman, “Asclepius” (containing the Asclepius)

If you get these two books (both are pretty cheap but good-quality modern translations of three separate Hermetic texts between them), you’ll be well-placed to learning about Hermetic doctrine, practices, beliefs, and the like.

However, if you can, we’d also recommend getting:

  • Brian Copenhaver, “Hermetica” (Corpus Hermeticum and Asclepius)
  • M. David Litwa, “Hermetica II” (Stobaean Fragments and many other smaller texts)
  • A translation of the Nag Hammadi Codices, either the one edited by Meyer or by Robinson
  • Hans D. Betz, “The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation“
  • Marvin Meyer, “Ancient Christian Magic“

If you get all those, you’ll have high-quality translation(s) of all currently-extant classical Hermetic texts with a good few post-classical/medieval ones, complete with plenty of scholarly references, notes, introductions, and appendices for further research and contemplation.

For scholarly and secondary work, we’d recommend:

  • Garth Fowden, “The Egyptian Hermes“
  • Christian Bull, “The Tradition of Hermes Trismegistus“
  • Kevin van Bladel, “The Arabic Hermes“
  • R. van den Broek and C. v Heertum, “From Poimandres to Jacob Böhme“
  • Anything by Wouter J. Hanegraaff (you can find many of his and others’ papers on academia.edu for free), but especially “Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination“

Online course The Way of Hermes

Start today learning the timeless wisdom of Hermes Trismegistus. The Way of Hermes is a fundamental movement within Western spirituality. The online course offers a practical method of attaining the divine through the purification of the senses as well as the purification of the soul of material influences in order to become a free, immortal force of the divine.

Source: Hermetic House of Life Discord server recommended quickstart for Hermeticism created by Polyphanes and with permission used