Diagrams from the “Philosophus Lecture” of the Golden Dawn. The numbered green text in the second image refers to each diagram.
“Whatever the etymological origin of the word ‘magic’ may be, the mage is the finder and founder of images. Magic consists in fathoming the great Imagination”.
Images and text from “Mage and Image: An Essay on Hermetic Mutation with Coloured Reconstructions of G. … D. … Wands and Sceptres“ by Steffi Grant (1963). Reprinted in “Hidden Lore: Hermetic Glyphs” by Kenneth and Steffi Grant (2006).
“Man is a microcosm, or a little world, because he is an extract from all the stars and planets of the whole firmament, from the earth and the elements; and so he is their quintessence.”
The astrological Mercury glyph is a circular planet with beneath the cross of matter, which is an expression of the word of God made flesh, crowned by a lunar crescent, tying him to the goddess.
Hermes Trismegistus is the syncretism of the Greek god Hermes of Mercury. In Hellenistic Egypt, the god Hermes was given as epithet the Greek name of Thoth Both Thoth and Hermes were gods of writing and of magic in their respective cultures. Thus the Greek god of interpretive communication was combined with the Egyptian god of wisdom as a patron of astrology and alchemy. In addition, both gods were psychopomps, guiding souls to the afterlife. Jung adds further, “When the alchemist speaks of Mercurius, on the face of it he means quicksilver (mercury), but inwardly he means the world-creating spirit concealed or imprisoned in matter. He is the play of colours in the division into the four elements. He is thus quite obviously a duality, but is named a unity in spite of the fact that his innumerable inner contradictions can dramatically fly apart into an equal number of disparate and apparently independent figures.
He is both material and spiritual. He is the process by which the lower and material is transformed into the higher and spiritual, and vice versa. He is the devil, a redeeming psychopomp, an evasive trickster, and God’s reflection in physical nature.
Hermes is a magician with a magic wand; mediator between human and divine affairs. He is “like a teacher mediating between the stone and the disciple.” To others the friend appears in the shape of Christ or Khidr or a visible or invisible guru, or some other personal guide or leader figure. Jung also warns that Hermes comes as the light of nature only to those who are mindful and vigilantly strive towards it, while for many the same light “turns into a perilous foolish fire, an illusion” and the psychopomp into a diabolical seducer.” Psychology and Alchemy Part 3, Chapter 3.1
In his incarnation as Hermes Trismegistus, he was the “creator of civilization, responsible for medicine, chemistry, writing, laws, art, astrology, music, magic, rhetoric, philosophy, geography, mathematics and much more,” –Gary Lachman
“Let the Mouth of the Divine Artist pronounce the Word of Magical Power in the Secret Tongue of the Wise. Permit Thy Tongue to succumb unto the Power of that Eldest Speech which comprehends & transcends the common languages of Spirits, Men & Beasts. Cling not unto the vulgar means of Converse which needs be understood by the Psyche of Thy Mortal Breed, but offer Thy Tongue unto the Ekstasis of Sorcery; let the Mystery of the Sabbat overwhelm Thy common sensibility & break the Seal of Reason that closeth Thy Mouth from the Utterance of Truth.”
“Whatever your situation, once you realize you are a magician, it will be impossible for you to remove the magick form any aspect of your existence. What you do for a living will no longer be just a job, it will be a magick job. Your hobbies will be magick, and your love life will be magick. Your likes, dislikes, fears, dreams, ambitions, and even shortcomings and vices will be magick. It’s all magick because you never stop being a magician.”
—
Lon Milo DuQuette, “Homemade Magick: The Musings & Mischief of a Do-It-Yourself Magus
may understand instantly that their souls, their lives, in every relation with every other human being and every circumstance, depend upon
MAGICK
and the right comprehension and right application thereof.
We know one thing only. Absolute existence, absolute motion, absolute direction, absolute simultaneity, absolute truth, all such ideas: they have not, and never can have, any real meaning.
“[High Magic] Is that which occurs when there is no impediment to the direct magical effect of will, no barrier to direct clairvoyance and prescience, and no separation between the magician and any form of rapport or consciousness he chooses to enter into. For most people the portals of High Magic are open at a few peak moments in a lifetime. As the magician progresses through his training the momentum he acquires will force open the gates to the miraculous more often. No procedures are given here for the five conjurations of High Magic. High Magic represents the point where technique gives way to intuitive genius and each must intuit the key to unleashing such powers for himself.”
— Peter J. Carroll, Liber Kaos (York Beach: Weiser Books, 1992), 160-161.
Occult Aspects 