Hermes Trismegistus: Following the Hermetic Tradition

            Every culture on the planet has its legends concerning the creation of the world, and likewise all cultures have those who seek immortality. Indeed, the quest for knowledge and immortality is recorded as far back as the ancient Sumerian story of Gilgamesh. Even today we strive for answers about our beginnings, and our scientists struggle with our own mortality, searching to cure diseases and clone humans. In a strange twist, the Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures all become intertwined on these points in the figure of Hermes Trismegistus. Hermes is credited with being a great philosopher in all of these cultures and is said to have written many influential works. Speculation continues as to whether he existed as an individual, a collection of independent writers, or even at all, but the mythology surrounding him is prevalent in all three cultures. As scholars became interested in the Hermetic philosophy, it evolved into an organized religion. Today, it still remains as such and has influenced many great writers and world religions. .
             Hermes Trismegistus or "The Thrice-Greatest Hermes" is attributed with many writings, which are the basis of Hermetic philosophy today. Though it is not clear as to whether or not he was an actual person, most agree that there once was a sage named Hermes who developed the beginnings of these philosophies. To attribute all of the Hermetic writing to this individual, however, would be giving him the super-human status, deifying him in modern times as well as ancient. Most of the writings from the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans portray this sage as a god. There, the conflict between these accounts begins. It is possible that Hermes Trismegistus is actually a fusion of these three culture's individual gods: Thoth, Hermes, and Mercury. Several different authors likely wrote the Hermetic teachings, the "truths" told within them just local oral traditions and legends.