Ποιμάνδρης, Ἄνοδος & the Renaissance unto ἡ Θεός

On the Numinous Pymander

The Ποιμάνδρης or The Numinous Pymander—the first tractate of the Corpus Hermeticum—serves as an introductory dialogue that lays out the foundational themes of Hermetic thought. The most famous of the Hermetic texts, it is a revelatory account by Hermes Trismegistus of a vision of the creation of the universe and the φύσις and wyrd of humanity.

It is also within this, the very first tractate of the Corpus Hermeticum, that we are introduced to the very quintessence of the Sevenfold Way and the πρᾶξις of Πάθει Μάθος. Within this text we come to understand the very architecture of Hermetic cosmology through Poimandres—the Mind of Sovereignty—who knows what you want and are with you everywhere. We grasp the complex φύσις available to each Shepherd of Men: a being of dual nature, possessing both a mortal, material frame and an immortal spark of the Numinous intellect, descended from the Acausal. This understanding illuminates our wyrd, our potential destiny—our True Will—which is not fixed fate but involves the profound possibility of the soul’s return to its celestial origins among the Stars.

This journey back is mapped out as the Sevenfold Way, detailing the soul’s ἄνοδος through the seven planetary spheres. We learn that as the soul traverses these realms, it must consciously shed the lower influences and vices acquired during its initial descent, purifying itself—layer by layer.

Crucially, this ascent is not merely a passive process but demands active engagement—the πρᾶξις of Πάθει Μάθος. True understanding, or γνῶσις, arises from direct experience, often involving the trials and tribulations inherent in embodied existence. It is through suffering, striving, and mindful practice that the individual learns, transforms their φύσις, and evolves from being subject to fate towards consciously aligning with the divine will. The ultimate revelation presented in The Numinous Ποιμάνδρης is the potential for the awakened soul to achieve gnosis, recognize its inherent acausal charge, and attain reunification with ἡ Θεός from which it originated.

Pymander and the Γένεσις of a New Αἰών

While some Hermetic concepts circulated during the Middle Ages—often via Arabic translations and associations with magic or astrology—the collection of Greek philosophical treatises now known as the Corpus Hermeticum was largely unknown in the Latin West. Its reintroduction marked a pivotal moment for the Renaissance—an historical period significantly paved by the Byzantine philosopher Georgios Gemistos Plethon (c. 1355–1452/54).

During the Council of Florence (1438–1439), convened in an attempt to reconcile the Eastern and Western Churches, Plethon delivered influential lectures and a treatise contrasting Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. Regrettably, he passionately advocated for the superiority of Plato, whose works had admittedly been overshadowed by Aristotle in the West for centuries. Plethon's arguments, emphasizing Plato as a source of profound ancient wisdom, deeply impressed the Florentine humanists. Crucially, his enthusiasm ignited the interest of Cosimo de’ Medici, inspiring him with the project to establish a Platonic Academy in Florence. Plethon, who privately—and much less regrettably over here at the Temple of the Stars—favored a return to Hellenic paganism mixed with other ancient wisdom traditions, over Christianity. He championed the idea of a prisca theologia—an original, pure numinous wisdom from antiquity.

Gemistos Plethon

This intellectual environment, cultivated by Plethon’s influence and Cosimo’s resulting patronage, set the stage for the Corpus Hermeticum's reception. In 1462, after Plethon had returned to Greece (and likely passed away) a Greek manuscript containing the first fourteen (14) tractates arrived in Florence—brought from Macedonia by the monk Leonardo of Pistoia). Meanwhile, the prominent scholar Marsilio Ficino was deeply involved in the immense task of translating Plato’s dialogues for his influential patron Cosimo de’ Medici. Recognizing the immense perceived significance of the Hermetic texts, Cosimo issued a striking command: Ficino was to halt his work on Plato and prioritise the translation of these writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.

This decision was fueled by the prevailing belief in a prisca theologia—an ancient, pristine wisdom tradition—of which Hermes was considered the ultimate fountainhead, even more ancient and authoritative than Plato.

Ficino complied swiftly, completing the Latin translation of these first fourteen treatises, starting with the Ποιμάνδρης (which he initially mistook for the title of the entire collection, naming his translation Pimander), by April 1463. This translation thus became Ficino’s first major completed translation work. Although finished in 1463, the first printed edition appeared later, published without Ficino’s direct oversight in Treviso in 1471. This work rapidly became one of the most influential texts of the Renaissance—disseminated widely through numerous manuscripts and at least 24 printed editions before the end of the 16th century.

As regards philosophy, which professes to teach men something which shall make them happy, studies of that kind flourished in those lands about the times of Mercury, whom they called Trismegistus, long before the sages and philosophers of Greece, but yet after Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, and even after Moses himself. At that time, indeed, when Moses was born, Atlas is found to have lived, that great astronomer, the brother of Prometheus, and maternal grandson of the elder Mercury, of whom that Mercury Trismegistus was the grandson.

Augustine,

De civitate dei,

Book XVIII, Chapter 18 (Marcus Dods, 1871)

Writers from the Renaissance and onwards have been taken by the way in which its creation myth bears similarity to Genesis—albeit mainly negatively. They often believed that Lucifer being cast from Heaven has here become the descent of primordial man through the Spheres of the Planets, a descent caused not by disobedience but by Love, and via the blessing of ἡ Θεός.

Perceiveration, as Life and phaos, father of all, brought forth in his own likeness a most beautiful mortal who, being his child, he loved. And theos, who loved his own image, bequeathed to him all his works of Art.

Ποιμάνδρης,

Section 12 (David Myatt, 2017)

The text opens with a visionary encounter between Hermes Trismegistus and a numinous, personified mind called Poimandres. Poimandres shows Hermes the hidden truths of the cosmos, presenting a vision of the universe where all things emanate from a single, unknowable primordial source. Behind the apparent chaos of the world lies a rational, ordered, and intelligible structure created by this supreme principle. Poimandres explains the cosmos as a divine emanation, with humanity depicted as part of this cosmic order, created in the divine image.

Falling into the mundane, humans have lost touch with their acausal physis. Suggesting that the physical world is merely a shadow of a higher, spiritual reality. Central to the tractate is the idea that humans possess an inner spark—an acausal charge—a fragment of the original Cosmic Being. Immortality and return to the Numinous is achieved through gnosis by anodos. By turning internally adept and awakening this grand mastery, individuals can transcend the limitations of this causal realm and rejoin the Stars from which we originated.

Thus does the mortal hasten through the harmonious structure, offering up, in the first realm, that vigour which grows and which fades, and—in the second one—those dishonourable machinations, no longer functioning. In the third, that eagerness which deceives, no longer functioning; in the fourth, the arrogance of command, no longer insatiable; in the fifth, profane insolence and reckless haste; in the sixth, the bad inclinations occasioned by riches, no longer functioning; and in the seventh realm, the lies that lie in wait.

Ποιμάνδρης,

Section 25 (David Myatt, 2017)

Inanna’s “Ἄνοδος”

It is this ascent that heuristically describes the process which we, as practitioners, must also go through with our spiritual peregrination. For as good as it is to be knowledgeable and to understand the underlying sapientia behind this Way, it is crucial that one is applying this heuristic in order to grasp a firm foundation via real-life, exeatic praxis.

Mere textbook knowledge is simply not enough for achieving deep wisdom (nemicu), one must experience and feel these concepts out in the physical world.

For proper coming to terms with Πάθει Μάθος, to quench the thirst for the the Numinous, it must be experienced directly and personally throughout an extended, continuous period—lest entropy sets in. The alchemy itself is in the experience, within the beautiful relationships and memories one makes along the odyssey of the Magnum Opus. Nobody is above this, and no serious person can do without these experiences.

Even acausal beings themselves are called to take on a transformative descent or ascent. This is recurring and central theme in comparative mythology. We see this in the Sumerian myth of Inanna's descent to the Underworld. Inanna seeks to overthrow Ereshkigal, Her sister, who rules the Underworld. Her journey to do so is illustrated via tribulation, the stripping off of Her adornments at each gate, in order to gain access to the Underworld. An experience generating Πάθει Μάθος / 𒉆𒆬𒍪 for the Goddess:

– Who are you and why have you come?

– My name is Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth. Please let me in. I have come to see what I have not yet seen, to experience what I’ve not yet experienced, and to learn what do not yet know.

The gatekeeper demands that She surrenders the Shugurra, the Crown of the Steppe, before he will open the first of seven (7) gates. Each subsequent gate entails some form of challenge for the Goddess, She is tested all along the Way. Much as some of ourselves, She is ultimately rescued by Love. Enki, Her father, helps her to leave the Underworld. It is not acausality itself that saves the Goddess—but it is Love. We are all subject to the ineffable flow of the Cosmic, even the gods.

Yet there is something, here; some feeling, burgeoning in Sun—of Life in its essence; of consciousness, living, of compassion, love; droplets forming one whole, one river flowing from one source to one end in one sea in one moment of one Time. Thus, a brief smile, a knowing of moments where the I is at least lost as it become lost in the happiness of such sharing as love makes. No God—but a warmth of being flowing from one small beginning to one Cosmic existence without end.

David Myatt,

Understanding and Rejecting Extremism: A Very Strange Peregrination (2013),

“Part Two. A Learning From Grief”; “Existence Without End”