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The Development of Hermes Trismegistus

The Development of Hermes Trismegistus - An Overview of Magic in the Greco-Roman World Background for Ars Magica sagas The development of Hermes Trismegistus Thoth was among the most diverse and popular of all the Egyptian gods. Like many of his colleagues he was a composite, even an accumulation, rather than a figure cast whole and unambiguously defined. In particular, Thoth was regarded even in the most primitive period as the moon-god; and from this lunar association arose many of his most distinctive functions. Just as the moon is illuminated by the sun, so Thoth derived much of his authority from being secretary and counselor to the solar divinity Re. The moon, 'ruler of the stars, distinguishes seasons, months and years';[83] and so Thoth became the lord and multiplier of time, and the regulator of individual destines. Indeed, so important were the moon's phases in determining the rhythms of Egyptian life, that Thoth became regarded as the origin both of cosmic order and of religious and civil institutions. He presided over almost every aspect of the temple cults, law and the civil year, and in particular over the sacred rituals, texts and formulas, and the magic arts that were so closely related. To him, as divine scribe, inventor of writing and lord of wisdom, the priesthood attributed much of its sacred literature, including, for example, parts of the Book of the Dead. Of occult powers latent in all aspects of the cult of the gods, Thoth was the acknowledged source. By extension he became regarded as the lord of knowledge, language and all science-even as Understanding or Reason personified. Esoteric wisdom was his special preserve, and he was called 'the Mysterious,' 'the Unknown.' His magical powers made of him a doctor too; and when the body finally succumbed to mortality, it was Thoth who conducted the dead person to the kingdom of the gods, and sat in judgment on his soul. However, it was at Hermoupolis Magna, the main center of his cult, that Thoth attained the pi

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