Why The Greek God Hermes Is A Perfect Symbol For Neomasculinity

In an article titled 7 Core Principles To Help Reinvigorate Western Culture, I mentioned Greco-Roman culture as the main source of inspiration for current and future endeavors within the West, including both Christianity and the Hellenic past. I take it for granted that many agree upon this outlook, rather than Westerners looking at Vedic, Buddhist, Taoist or Islamic sources of inspiration.

In this regard there a number of gods and symbols that might be of particular significance for parts of the readership. Those who almost represent the essence of this websites’ spirit. For instance, if one takes the concept of neomasculinity as a starting point, one notices that elements such as game, self-improvement, ethics, entrepreneurship, and male virtue and development constitute important parts of it. That in turn can make one want to look for proper symbols within Western history.

One relevant such is the Greek god Hermes, which many likely only have a limited understanding of. In Antoine Faivre’s book The Eternal Hermes: From Greek God To Alchemical Magus (1995), and additional sources, a more nuanced and full description of this complex and multi-faceted divine figure emerges. I intend to look into some of these dimensions and point out which specific facets that are of particular relevance in this context.

The manifold functions of Hermes

As the fact site Greeks Gods and Goddesses tells us:

Hermes was one of the 12 Olympian Gods and was god of trade, thieves, travelers, sports, athletes, and border crossings, guide to the Underworld. He was the second youngest Olympian god and was the son of ZEUS and Maia, one of the seven Pleiades and daughter of the Titan Atlas.

As the god of boundaries and transitions, Hermes was known to be quick and cunning and had the ability to freely move between the mortal and divine worlds. It is this skill that made him a luck-bringing messenger to the gods and intercessor between mortals and the divine.

He is also the patron and protector of travelers, herdsmen, thieves, orators and wit, literature and poets, athletics and sports, invention and trade. In some myths Hermes is also depicted as a trickster where he would outwit the gods either for the good of humankind or for his own personal amusement and satisfaction.

Both Homer and Hesiod portrayed Hermes as the author of skilled or deceptive acts, and also as a benefactor of mortals.

In this regard one can think of neomasculine phenomena such as game, travel, physical nurturing, making money, upsetting politically correct people with hate facts and memes, as well as accumulating lots of knowledge. The Roman equivalent of Hermes is Mercury, associated with the merchant occupation, but as clearly showed above this is but one of many functions.

There are other facets of Hermes too, most notably Hermes Trismegistus, the proclaimed author of The Hermetica, the Greek-Egyptian sacred texts from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. These were translated into Latin in the late 15th century by Marsilio Ficino, compiled as the Corpus Hermeticum. This work has influenced many writers of the Perennial school of religious philosophy (Philosophia perennis) and similar branches of thought.

Carl Gustav Jung’s ideas of individuation and the collective unconscious have been influenced by Hermes’ transcendental function, and Julis Evola has written The Hermetic Tradition, a work which deals with the esoteric teachings of alchemy, different from both the archaic cults of Hermes/Mercury, Jung’s psychology, and primitive chemistry.

Typically one can divide Hermes into Hermes-Mercury (the Greek/Roman god) and Hermes Trismegistus, but it is not that simple as Faivre notes:

At this epoch, we have not only a euhemeristic process, but also a reverse euhemerism: Hermes Trismegistus is both the precipitation of Mercury into human history and the sublimation of history to Olympus. These fluctuations, or rather this twofold motion, favors a fluid genealogy and the presence of several Hermeses.

Additionally there are not only overlaps between and combinations of the two figures, since Hermes is associated not just with the Egyptian god Thoth but also the Islamic Idris and even Jesus or the archangel Michael:

It is no different in the Corpus Hermeticum, which presents Hermes sometimes as a god, sometimes as a sage, and at other times as a disciple of the Nous or Divine Intellect. According to the Arab tradition, his life is simultaneously physical and trans temporal, after the example of Elijah’s, and even in his body he manifests a state of eternity. Pierre Lory recalls that Idris/Hermes is said to have written poems, particularly odes, in Arabic, Hebrew, and Syriac; thus he rises “above sectarian divisions, transcends religious mysteries and chronological time,” and speaks “the languages of heaven, of earth, and of man in the integral state, namely Arabic.”

One should note, though, that after the rise of Christianity, polemic literature has been written and directed towards the Greco-Roman pantheon. The supposedly malefic character of Hermes, such a libertine, liar and thief, has been emphasized by a number of prominent Christian thinkers, such as Sulpicus Severus and Lactantius.

During the Late Middle Ages and early Renaissance periods, Hermes became an important figure within written culture, such as the work of Giovanni Boccaccio, De genealogia Deorum Gentilium (1360-1374). In this regard Boccaccio linked Hermes/Mercury to the planet and its supposedly flexible nature. In the 17th and 18th century, Hermes/Mercury has been depicted numerous times in the visual arts across Europe, but has hold a less prominent role outside of those interested in the various local translations of the Corpus Hermeticum. Instead more interest was generally taken in Orpheus.

Interestingly, Hermes has also been linked to the Don Juan figure, especially the depiction of him chasing a nymph. This just further shows the versatility of Hermes, as well as the various re-interpretations of the Olympian.

Conclusion

Overall, Hermes is a fitting symbol for many of the good and constructive things that one holds dear and regard as important in current times. Those who control money, culture and can use athleticism, wit and cunning to get what they want are bond to be influential both in private and public.

It is also of some significance to repossess Hermes as a symbol after some have wanted to associate him with geeks and globalism, which shows how the de-construction of our past, if not complete separation from it, works within radical liberalism. It is true that some of the leading Romans considered him to be a symbol of the merchants, and not even particularly Roman (rather Celtic or Semitic), but commerce is indeed one part of the whole and there is no reason to give it up to the opposing team.

That is also the case with various occult and esoteric movements, even though it might be a palpable misrepresentation to view him as a dark god since he was Olympic and thus not even worthy of consideration for the sinister arts. With that said, not all branches of Western esotericism are dark and diabolical, and it is not even the Greco-Roman god that the esotericians are interested in, but rather a very specific facet of this dual figure. After all, Jesus has been represented as a symbol for everything from gay rights advocacy to extreme philanthropy and gnostic spirituality and there is not much to do about that.

Obviously a cult of the Greco-Roman god is not to be longed for. However, Hermes as a historical reference and symbol for many of the neomasculine ideas appear quite relevant. For those who seek deeper understanding, Faivre’s book and Aesop’s fables are good starting points.

Read More: On Becoming Immortal: The Life Of Heracles

120 thoughts on “Why The Greek God Hermes Is A Perfect Symbol For Neomasculinity”

  1. Ooh looking forward to this! Hermes. Ficino. The up and the down of things.

      1. There’s only one God of the Manosphere, and his name is… Billy D. Williams.

        1. Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !pb126d:
          On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
          !pb126:
          ➽➽
          ➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash416HomeHelloPay$97Hour ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★:::::!pb126l..,.

        2. Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !pb226d:
          On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
          !pb226:
          ➽➽
          ➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash516HomeApplePay$97Hour ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★:::::!pb226l..,….

        3. Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !pn169d:
          On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
          !pn169d:
          ➽➽
          ➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash459SportAskPay$97Hour ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★:::::!pn169l..,..

      1. Homo or rather androgynous was ArchAngel Gabriel. + he would have been the equivalent of mercury since he was a messenger.

        1. Supposedly the angels (including the archangels) allied with God/Yahweh were considered androgynous, because it was believed that they had never physically incarnated into human forms — so they didn’t experience the spiritual, psychological, and physical split into male and female.

        2. What little I know of ‘angel’ is that it derives from the Greek aggelos, which means messenger and is typically used explicitly for divine messengers. The Hebrew word is malak, which just means messenger without denoting it is any sort of spiritual messenger or prophet.
          As to their appearance, it’s complicated. Some are said to appear as men, some as burning humans with six wings (two to cover their feet, two to cover their faces, and two to fly), some with human bodies and four heads, and some perhaps undescribed in the Scriptures.

    1. What stops Muhammad being the ultimate alpha male? He led an army, started a revolution, had men look up to him, and fathers who threw their daughters to him. Like seriously, why not Muhammad? Because of current affairs?

      1. Muhammad is not a Western figure. The Arabs/Muslims can have him for themselves.

        1. Hermes is Western. That the god overlaps other traditions does not refute that fact.
          There is definitely room for moving outside of the Western cultural hemisphere for various reasons. Many of us are for example interested in East Asian and oriental cultures, such as Vedic scriptures, Buddhist, Taoist and Confucian ideas, as well as Chinese and Japanese authors, and like to travel to Asia among other places.
          But there are enough things to focus on in the West, which can be useful to form a trans-historic cultural identity. The Greco-Roman cultural matrix is one of the main sources of inspiration and historical references in this regard. I don’t think that Westerners necessarily have to be antagonistic towards other civilizations, including Islam, but one cannot have relativistic leftist and liberal ideas if one aims for something better than the current degeneracy.

        2. It’s interesting to note, and keeping all the political opinions aside, Muslims are flourishing in numbers thanks to them still believing in patriarchy and believing in conservative values – values that ROK keeps preaching. I wonder, if it weren’t for all the terrorism problems, whether Islam and Muslims would be more respected in the Western society.

        3. I have thought the same thing. Probably, yes, but it has not only to do with actual terrorism but with the dominant Wahhabism – an ideology so detrimental to free speech and thought and the more non-dogmatic Western spirit (although dogma is an ingredient in the West’s history as well). If Muslims mainly stayed in Muslim countries, were more open to commerce and other ideas, and did not embrace Jihad Westerners would be more open to Arabic/Muslim culture. Of course this is a complicated issue due to colonialism and so forth but it is definitely worth noting.
          As for Islam there has been a number of articles on that subject, for instance by Roosh. I myself has written about Dubai http://www.returnofkings.com/124558/everything-you-need-to-know-about-dubai and think that Morocco, Malaysia and to some extent Indonesia appear to be pretty decent Muslim countries as well.

        4. Well it depends on which country the Muslim is from. In the UAE, they are the richest. The ones who come from India and Pakistan tend to do well financially in the West. The Somalians on the other hand, cause chaos wherever they go. So do most African Migrants, regardless of religion.

    2. In the article, it does note that the figure of Hermes is inspirational for the ArchAngel, as well as Idris, the Islamic figure. The gods have many faces.

    3. I found this Biblical character named Gideon and his 300 men army the original and true 300 Spartans

    1. In battle he defeated his enemies by imbibing large amounts of Kratom.
      But after the battle, there was Kratom left behind and it was found by puny little betas. They would discover that it not only balanced their electrolytes, but made them gods among men – and hung so well they gave women unavoidable tingles.

      1. And when they sowed the Kratom into the soil, heark! the trees grew strong and alpha and overpowered the tiny, helpless saplings, and there is unrest in the forest, trouble with the trees, for the maples want more sunlight, but the oaks ignore their pleas.
        I might be confusing legends.

        1. That could explain the creation of the redwoods and sequoias…
          (also, nice tie-in to “The Trees” by Rush).

  2. Glad to see this kind of article. Quite a change from buzzfeed style “10 reasons to….” or “5 ways you can…..”

    1. I know! Neoplatonism and Hermes Trismegistus on RoK! Careful that a piece of sky doesn’t hit you on the head! Next up: numerology!

      1. That is a very shallow way of looking at things. The Greeks and Romans, the Patricians in particular, used the gods as symbols rather than literal beings and spoke about them in poetic and metaphorical terms. Can be compared to present days’ dumb-downed language and level of thought so common among contemporary Westerners.

  3. As someone who made thier area of study Hermenutics I have always been a big hermes fan (I also like the brand) for many of the reasons mentioned here. Bravo on this article.

  4. Wouldn’t the true neomasculine hero be Kratos from God of War? Get it, Kratos…Kratom…

  5. “That’s some crazy conspiracy shit, man.”
    U.S. company becomes first to offer implanted microchips to all employees:
    http://www.techrepublic.com/article/three-square-market-becomes-first-us-company-to-offer-implanted-microchips-to-all-employees/
    Minnesota Department of Education Approves Transgender Toolkit –
    “The 11-page toolkit includes guidelines for the use of proper pronouns and preferred names — suggesting that teachers stop using the term ‘boys and girls,’ and instead use ‘students’ and ‘scholars’…”
    http://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/minnesota-department-education-approves-transgender-toolkit-n785246

    1. Hermes ‘son’ by Aphrodite was Hermaphrodite. The hermaphrodite is a key figure in the western estoeric tradition and indeed hermaphrodite is formed through a chymical wedding with a nymph who lusts after him, and the rest is transgender history.

      1. Hmm. You learn something new every day.
        Glad I didn’t start the rant with, “OT, but…”

        1. The officials at the Minnesota Department of Education who approved this Transgender Toolkit are either useful idiots or they are themselves familiar with the hermetic / mercurial principles that could be seen as underlying such trends. I more inclined to think the former

        2. Camille Paglia wrote her most iconic work Sexual Personae about the significance of transgenderism creeping up in society.
          Probably the only book written by a feminist I will ever have on my reading list.

        3. It’s a great book, which I still have somewhere. I remember her talking a lot about androgyny but didn’t associate it with transgenderism or anything (which wasn’t really a thing back in the 90s when it came). She also introduced me to some nietzschean ideas like the conflict between the Apollonian (order etc) and the dionysian. Feminism reflects the latter in her opinion.

        1. I’ve evolved. I’m blaming the Maltese. I don’t trust them and their falcons

    2. The RFID stuff is out of control. Were tattoos the devil’s stepping stone to bio-chip acceptance? What starts in the private sector goes public, and it’ll go pandemically. First chip-debit cards, then chip hand injection. Mark of the beast, big-balled, out in the open, waiting to expose your religion so the fems and athiests can come at you.
      Speaking of which, Uncle Bob, I read a good chunk of “Earth not a Globe.” I’m convinced Parallax was onto something, but do you know what to make of the ANTARCTICA 24hr sun videos? They present a real hole in the thinking.

      1. I watched the 24-hour Antarctic sun video. As you can see via the screen caps below, taken from that film, the sun looks completely fake. The film looks like a composite of an actual film of a snowscape, along with a second film featuring a bad CGI configuration of the sun. It’s not even as good as the fake videos NASA makes using CGI.
        The glare of the sun appears constant throughout the 24-hour video; it never morphs or appears different, it always looks like a Christmas tree ornament-type star, with the same configuration, point to point, throughout the fake film.
        Video fakery has been used for at least five decades, to sell the people on the notion that huge planets and stars and such exist “out there in the vastness of space”, and the earth is a spinning ball. All of the “proof” the mindfuckers possess is comprised of fake videos and fake still shots only. And it’s pretty bad fakery at that. (NASA = Never a Straight Answer.)
        As you can see in the screen caps below, the “sun” has an identical configuration in all of the film’s frames, which is not possible based on sun glare as it is viewed through a camera lens across hours and hours of time-lapse photography. The image of the sun should morph at various points, and shimmer. But it doesn’t. It remains a constant shape. The configuration of the sun remains fixed, with identical points of glare, like a Christmas-tree ornament. If this film were on the level, as the sun’s rays bounced off the lens at different angles, during different times across the length of the film, the sun’s configuration and glare points would change continually. But they don’t.
        This is one of those subjects where a guy has to make up his own mind based on the evidence. The only “evidence” for a ball earth is NASA videos (other fake videos, like this one), and still-shot composites, and it’s all done using CGI. Hollywood does incredible fakery using CGI. And so does NASA. The two organizations are intimately related.
        You may have heard of Michael Rivero (What Really Happens website). He used to work for NASA. And Hollywood. He is a CGI special-effects guy. He’s a conspiracy guru, but oh boy, he rails against anybody who thinks NASA is fake, the moon landings are fake, etc. That’s because he’s a shill. And that’s pretty much the only types of people they hire at NASA – shills who specialize in Hollywood special effects. And all those guys do, is create CGI models of “outer space” and the attendant “ball planets”, in fake still shots and fake videos.
        I’d keep digging if I were you, but the still shots from the video below, show a fake ornamental sun with a constant configuration, which never morphs, and based on reflection off the lens alone, morphing would happen, and it would happen pretty rapidly and it would happen constantly, once the film was sped up for time-lapse purposes:
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/93bcee146c6aedd6875b5402d97ebdf8e048c05273ecf0a56d0d00e04c59d893.jpg
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/39b01ec5ba3ea2c6105055e18831d72b0d1f93476685493aedb65dc29293c2dd.jpg
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/113c700a1ff538788a9ba924a62f8aeb11898e3e784a583980c3579aa3761ba2.jpg
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/925cbbdcf94e50cf7bea058b6754a17481b110eecc281d2b7ac15238572b3338.jpg
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/320d371bf19d70a0a9c369a2316e93f60a371a90fc4160733b9ee26f06856b59.jpg

      2. I watched the 24-hour Antarctic sun video. As you can see via the image composite below, taken from that film, the sun looks completely fake. The film looks like a composite of an actual film of a snowscape, along with a second overlay film featuring a bad CGI configuration of the sun. It’s not even as good as the fake videos NASA makes using CGI. The visage of the sun appears constant throughout the 24-hour video; it never morphs or appears different, it always looks like a Christmas tree ornament-type star, with the same configuration, point to point, throughout the film.
        Video fakery has been used for at least five decades, to sell the people on the notion that huge planets and stars and such exist “out there in the vastness of space”, and the earth is a spinning ball. All of the “proof” the mindfuckers possess is comprised of fake videos and fake still shots only. And it’s pretty bad fakery at that. (NASA = Never a Straight Answer.)
        This is one of those subjects where a guy has to make up his own mind based on the evidence. The only “evidence” for a ball earth is NASA videos (other fake videos, like this one), and still-shot composites, and it’s all done using CGI. Hollywood does incredible fakery using CGI. And so does NASA. The two organizations are intimately related.
        You may have heard of Michael Rivero (What Really Happens website). He used to work for NASA. And Hollywood. He is a CGI special-effects guy. He’s a conspiracy guru, but oh boy, he rails against anybody who thinks NASA is fake, the moon landings are fake, etc. That’s because he’s a shill. And that’s pretty much the only types of people they hire at NASA – shills who specialize in Hollywood special effects. And all those guys do, is create CGI models of “outer space” and the attendant “ball planets”, in fake still shots and fake videos.
        Below you will see a composite of five still shots taken from the film, across a period of six seconds of time-lapse videography, where the sun’s position moves from being viewed to the West, to being viewed to the South. So this is a period of roughly four to five hours of time-lapse video, based on the direction titles on the film (the sun moving from West to South). During that entire time, the sun NEVER changes its configuration, it never looks any different, it always looks like the exact same, fake, Christmas-tree ornament. This in itself proves the video is Hollywood/NASA trickery, as with the sun being in different positions in the sky during this time, the reflection off the lens should make the sun’s glare morph and change and shimmer. But it doesn’t do this, as you will see (click to enlarge) –
        https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/db666278f8bb4a1c931ad5c84a9f6c4e8072c1204e20e446edcb6ff44822b2ba.jpg

        1. I haven’t heard of Micael Rivero, but I caught a few Math Powerland vids last night, and while I’m unsure ablut Powerland, his comments about Antarctica are true: you can not go there to verify this video, just like you can not go to space to verify the authenticity of satellites or their photos. The fact that the south is guarded casts serious doubts. When I looked up Scott base (from the wrist watch 24 hr vid) on Google Earth it’s there. This no more convinced me of the veracity of the video than concerned me with how many secrets Google could protect, maybe not even knowingly on lower echelons.
          Yeah, I thought the sun glare would be more choppy with this over-time composite. These guys get off on leaving faults, I think. I think the reason is to sift out the non-believers, so the tools will spit the script at us, or just to fuck with us. How many people, even close friends and family, have flipped their shit when I challenge the narrative!

        2. Family will flip their shit, for sure. They get so indoctrinated they cannot override the programming. They would rather die than have that happen. It’s weird, as you said, about Antarctica and points south. Why the secrecy. Because they don’t want people to find out the truth. It’s a fascinating topic. It took me a couple of weeks before I fully saw the truth. I actually started investigating it, because I thought flat-earth believers were insane, and I could prove the earth was round in a matter of minutes. Nope. Turned out I was the one who was nuts/programmed/insane. The harder I dug, the more I saw it was a scam. Ah well. It’s all lessons, isn’t it.

        3. My mother’s new husband told me I just wanted to be contrary about everything. I had an argument for every point he made. He told me he didn’t want to debate with crazy men, because they’ll always have you beat for experience. Then he refused to talk more on it. I’ve had friends turn on me. Flat Earth has reminded me about what I learned during my divorce. Everyone you’ve ever loved has a limit, a point at which they will forsake you. That’s why you’ve got to be a self made man. I’m preaching to the converted, though, right? Aw well, this post can carry on in the annals of the ROK comments pantheon for future generations and posterity. Glad I’m not the only one who didn’t see the truth all at once, man.

        4. It just keeps going, my man. The accumulation of knowledge goes on and on and it never stops. Because there is more to know than any one person can come close to knowing in one lifetime. I’ve faced the same things you have faced – ridicule, contempt. See, if people look at the evidence against their arguments, and they find out it’s true, they can’t live with that. It would destroy their entire belief system. So instead of doing the smart thing, and saying, “I don’t agree with you but I don’t know everything – why do you think the way you think?” they just shut their brains down and attack the messenger as programmed. I gave up on trying to wake people up (in the real world) years ago. People can’t stop being machines, until they realize they are machines. And we are dealing with machines, when you boil it all down. All they can come up with is “You’re crazy,” because they have no evidence to back up their beliefs (it doesn’t exist) and they never considered the evidence on the other side of the fence, prior to making up their minds. Thus, their minds were made up for them. So fuck the machines. Let ’em rust. It just isn’t their time to wake up…

        5. You’re right. In the mean time, it’s one more thing I have to ‘keep to myself.’ As if I needed another one of those. Society is set in their way, backwards set in their way.

        6. Society clings to “Everybody knows that” as their argument. Pretty weak. But they were programmed to do that, so…whadderyagonnado.(shrugs).

        7. Keep an eye open for chances to disseminate (for lack of better terminology) the inconvenient truth.

  6. Ερμής τρισμέγιστος ο Ερμηνευτής!
    Hermes the thrice-great the giver of meaning!
    The god of trade and knowledge there are the books of the Hermetics in which he was confused with the god of wisdom of ancient Egypt Thoth! For anyone interested in esoterics this is a must read… the first tome if I remember correctly is better than the second…. or the opposite!

  7. Profoundly interesting article, and subject matter. The western estoeric tradition is a fascinating one. How compatible it is with christianity for instance is another thing. Ficino, Reuchlin, Mirandola etc all thought it was compatible, and indeed thought it might be the key to christianity, just as Dr John Dee thought he might commune with angels rather than demons. I am extremely interested in christian cabala, but as with the old testament fixation that followed on the reformation and the later puritan revolution (in england) it is not without a certain danger of distraction and deviation.
    The perennial philosophy may be just what it styles itself as, or it perhaps it really does partake of the deeper structure of things. As Mr Adams says we really should not deprive ourselves of the kind of knowledge available here, although it is necessary perhaps to be fortify oneself beforehand: the western esoteric tradition is an old and noble one, but it’s also a hill full of deep rabbit holes. The kabbalah may lead one in some interesting directions, as the likes of Cornelius Agrippa seems to have discovered (allowing for the false attribution of some works associated with his name). One should of course be mindful of eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, yet the consequence of not doing so in a responsible manner may invite more peril than seeking to stay as pure as a virgin: it should be clear by now that we are no longer resident in the garden of eden, and I cannot see the point in pretending otherwise.
    Also it is worth studying some of the principles outlined above carefully. Hermes is the God of boundaries it seems, and adept at moving between worlds. That might be an interesting skill to have, and there are some who have put such skills to very good use

  8. Good article Mr Adams. Always love to see well-written pieces talking about how mythological concepts can be related to our present-day lives.
    The only thing I’d strike if I had written this swell piece is the dis-comparison between (in this case) Hellenic myths/gods & some of those found further East. In particular in India, as much of their mythology is descended from the same place that the Europeans was. After all, there’s a good reason they call them Indo-European cultures.
    Case in point, Hermes staff, aka the Caduceus. Everybody’s seen it but there’s a link below. Often you see it at the hospital or a doctor’s office, it’s commonly associated with health & medicine in European cultures. But it’s a very important symbol in Hinduism & Buddhism too, as the 2 spiraling serpents represent the kundalini (serpent power) rising up thru the body of an attuned person, and each place the snakes cross represent the 7 chakras in the body. I know just the word chakra comes off as faggotry, and it should bc you typically only hear new age fagets using it. But it shouldn’t. They’re really interesting & well worth studying – so long as you study them from legit sources & not some patchouli stinking yoga twat at the local community center.
    https://i.stack.imgur.com/uZULw.jpg
    Anyway, yeah. Good piece. Hope somebody catches this & decides to expand their parameters.

    1. By the way if you want to read about the kundalini & chakras from a LEGIT source, here is what Joseph Campbell wrote about them in his book The Mythic Image.
      It is not an accident that the caduceus is a symbol of good health & vitality.
      http://www.sittingowl.com/24.htm
      (It’s linked on a faggy looking site but this is the Campbell transcription)

    2. It’s all fascinating, but arguably it’s also goddess worship. Here’s an extract that compares (and equates) the eastern and kabbalistic viewpoints:
      Lilith and Shekina
      As described in the article of Lilith, Shekina is thought to be by the Kabbalists the female element of God. Likewise, Lilith might be said to be the female element of Samael, the Devil. Thus these two spiritual elements are the Shakti of God and the Devil. In the quaternion marriage one sees that God and Shekina are above while Samael and Lilith are below. Later, some claim following the destruction of the Jewish temple, Shekina departed from God to join Samael and Lilith replaced her. All of these elements were thus proven to be spiritual. Also, Samael and Lilith were considered cosmic elements, equivalent to the sun and moon.
      Since Lilith joined God when Shekina left for God would have been without any creative power, then Lilith is rightfully a primordial creative force existing before time. Therefore Lilith might be thought of as a creative force that has existed forever baring the legend that Adam was initially created androgynously, Lilith being his female part. The Hebrews discredited her but Lilith was necessary for natural creation for she is and supplied Shakti energy.
      Her energy has been known and studied by mystics for thousands of years which also is known as Kundalini, psycho-spiritual, energy. Kundalini energy is energy of the consciousness, and resides within the sleeping body, and is aroused either through spiritual discipline or spontaneously to bring new states of consciousness, including mystical illumination. Kundalini is Sanskrit for “snake” or “serpent power,” so-called because it is believed to lie like a serpent in the root chakra at the base of the spine. Such a description would appropriately apply to Lilith as well who many consider as being the snake Samael in Eden with Eve.
      Returning to the Gnostic idea that the Serpent helped and not hindered Eve in Eden, one sees that Lilith is a powerful mythological figure. She is the creative force and mover of life on earth. She was portrayed as evil by the Hebrew Kabbalists who passionately wanted to separate the natural from the spiritual. This was their reason for trying to destroy the Goddess religion of nature. Since Lilith is the symbol of the Goddess’ sexual she was one of their chief targets, if not their prime one. Those tending to think in orthodox terms will only see her as evil, but others, even though seeing her as uncleanliness or filth, will recognize her as the renegade, the rebel, the one leading them onto different paths perhaps to their own personal freedom. No one is certain how Adam and Eve would have ended up if they had stayed in the Garden of Eden, but when they were thrown out they soon became adults, builders of the world for humanity.
      Since Samael and Lilith represent the sun and moon as comic elements Lilith is the friend of the magician, also being the mother on the first magician, Cain of gnosis. She helps the magician perform his tasks by making opposites available to him. Through her the magician has access to both the spiritual and natural worlds to transform them as he wishes, gibing him true natural powers. A.G.H.”
      https://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/l/lilith_and_shekina.html

      1. Wow man, thanks. That’s a lot to unpack & I’ll be able to dig into that as I drift on to dreamland tonight. I take it you are not a fan of what you’ve typed there…and that’s cool, I don’t like to disrespect anybody’s beliefs unless they’re dangerous like so much of Islam…but I don’t mind the ideas, myself. I don’t “worship” anyone or anything, so to speak…I just look at the metaphors & try to understand how & what it meant to ppl back then & if it can help me understand my own life or the world in more depth today. Regardless, cheers, that’s some really good deep stuff to dig on.

        1. You’re most welcome. I’m all trying to understand things, and you can only do that if you engage with ideas rather than rejecting them out of hand. I am certainly somewhat cautious about those ideas, and perhaps sceptical too, but I think the main thing is to know what it is you are encountering. I don’t have any personal experience with Kundalini awakening but there appears to be a process involved, and that process according to some accounts appears to involve if you like yielding yourself – a loss of control – in exchange for what one might supposedly receive – mystical insight, awakening etc.

    3. Thanks. As with the links to Hermaphroditis, the tradition of hermeneutics that Hipponax (μητροκοίτης) mentioned, and similar gods in Hindu and other traditions, there are of course much more to be added. I focused mostly on the Western tradition and the links to neomasculine ideas.
      Hermes staff is found in the pretty cool video game Devil May Cry.

  9. TBH I think Zeus would be a better symbol of neomasculinity. Zeus is the ultimate patriarch, a wise, noble, just, powerful king, a strong warrior and a successful man with women. He has fathered many heroes with multiple beautiful women and he embodies the key four traits of masculinity: strength, courage, mastery, and honor.

  10. For your consideration the book of Thoth was said to be brilliantly lit by the light which came forth from the book. Sound like particular pieces of technology to you?
    And now listen closely to this ancient text, and think of today.

    1. Taking this into more detail, you would need 52:31 min
      The Seven Hermetic Principles – Mark Passi

  11. Best way to be a real man is emulate the aspects of a famously homosexual culture. Makes sense.

    1. The Greeks and Romans were predominantly heterosexual. Typical fallacy to leap from the particular (or peculiar) to the general or universal.

      1. First the article with the Japanese guy and now this. What is it with all these people talking about homosexuality? It’s almost like they are trying to tell us something about themselves…

        1. The problem with the current state of liberal culture is that the left will pervert and twist anything to suit their agenda, so even when something is not related to homosexuality they will attempt any angle to associate anything with being gay, homo or any degenerate term to bring it down and make it conform to their useless loser mindset, first the “old gods” are made of as Pagan and stupid fairy tales, now Christianity gets the same treatment.
          Most people spewing this kind of drivel has probably never properly read or studied anything noteworthy thus the imbecilic comments on subjects they know noting about. Getting your information from questionable sources leads to questionable thinking and reasoning.

      2. And they practiced sexual pederasty. That’s not really normal behavior, is it.

        1. We all know that, but that is not the point. The point is that Greeks and Romans were predominantly heterosexual, just like Buddhism and Christianity are predominantly heterosexual although (clandestine) pedophilia or pederasty have occured among monks and priests. Men of status could couple with boys, girls (over 13), slaves and women and be more or less polygamous. https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/37221/1/James_Gentry_thesis.pdf
          As I see it, these things show the downside of a too patriarchic, oligarchic and hierarchic society. Many with money and/or power can do too much with repercussions. We should rather seek a synthesis between the best of the traditional and the modern and throw away all the garbage, including pederasty. We get there by laws, individual rights, ethics and a culture which looks down upon that.

    1. No. Hermes is a male god. Hermaphroditus was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. Regardless, we don’t need any transgender symbolism here. What we need, however, is a powerful male symbol for self-improvement, game, athleticism, entreprenurship, wit, knowledge and travel.

      1. What the neo masculine collective needs wont change the fact Hermes has been consistently depicted not as “transgender” but as hermaphrodite (intersex, if you will)

  12. Yes, yes, yes. Hermes is great and all BUT let’s not forget Ares was actually the one fucking Afrodite while Hermes was left wishing to be in Ares’ place.

    1. Hermes was a player who realized that one cannot turn a hoe (hetai’ra) into housewive. He was chasing some nymph in the meantime.

  13. While the author clearly shows a love and knowledge for mythology, I fear he has cherry picked certain qualities of Hermes while leaving out many of the God’s core features that the community of RoK would find less than appealing. Much like the rest of the Greek/Roman pantheon, Hermes had a number of male mortal lovers, and his son, Hermaphroditus, was the literal origin myth for transgender people, or as they were once known, Hermaphrodites. Hermes and Aphrodite, the parents of Hermaphroditus, promised their son that anyone who wished to change their sex could do so by bathing in the pool of Salmacis, effectively demonstrating their approval of Hermaphroditus and anyone else like him.
    No Greek god is perfect. They were all flawed, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we cannot learn from them. A bisexual god with a trans son doesn’t sound like someone anyone on RoK would want to emulate, and yet this article exists and many men have already read it and probably agreed. I do not expect to shake anyone’s fundamental beliefs about right and wrong, but I put forth that if one can learn from Hermes, it is worth trying to learn from and understand LGBT people in the present day as well.

    1. Read Plato’s interpretation of the Hermaphroditus myth, or Julius Evola’s in Eros and the mysteries of love. It is more about a complete spiritual human, beyond biological sexes, than to cherish transgenderism. The greco-roman culture should come with an understanding of the flaws, but there is no reason to make them a person throw the hetero baby out with the bathwater.

  14. Be careful:
    Hermes -> Hermes tristmagistus -> Thoth (emerald tablets) -> inspiration for rosicrucians -> inspiration for baconian New Atlantis -> inspiration for other occult elites of NWO (atheism, feminism, anti male, race war, open borders, sexual degeneracy, depopulation, anti Christian) -> anti christ system

Comments are closed.