Comments on: Hermetic concepts http://www.gangleri.nl/articles/53/hermetic-concepts/ Sat, 10 Jul 2010 10:54:18 +0200 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc By: Roy http://www.gangleri.nl/articles/53/hermetic-concepts/#comment-66 Roy Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:07:16 +0000 http://www.gangleri.nl/articles/?p=53#comment-66 This is an answer to Paul who posted a question under the article "<a href="http://www.gangleri.nl/articles/54/what-are-the-hermetic-texts#comment-2569" rel="nofollow">What are the Hermetic texts?</a>", but which I find more fitting here. The question is where <a href="http://www.gangleri.nl/bookreviews/232/the-hermetica-timothy-freke-peter-gandy-isbn-0874779502/" rel="nofollow">Freke and Gandy</a> found their information about Zodiac in the Hermetic texts. As sources for their chapter XII they name "Asclepius", "Stobaeus" and "Corpus Hermeticum" 3 and 16. Their chapter is about how God created humans and how the gods were worried about their investigative minds and therefor God created the Zodiac to bestow Fate upon man. I find no reference to this idea in the CH books referred to. The other references are very vague, since Asclepius and quite a work and all the Stobaeus fragments together too. Paging through Asclepius references to the Zodiac and Fate are made in 19, 35 and 39 which vaguely deal with "Fatum" in combination to the Zodiac, but 'executed' by "Omniformis" (or "Pantoformis" in most translations). I think the writers have had a better look at the Stobaeus fragments which speak a lot about the Zodiac and fate. Let me quote fragment XII as an example: <blockquote> But all things come to pass..., and there is no place destitute of Providence. Now Providence is the sovereign design of the God who rules over the heavens; and that sovereign design has under it two subordinate powers, namely, Necessity and Destiny. (Necessity is...;) and Destiny is subservient to Providence... Adn the stars are subservient to Destiny. [ ] For the stars are the instrument of Destiny; it is in accordance with Destiny that they bring all things to pass for the world of nature and for men.</blockquote> Translation of <a href="http://www.gangleri.nl/bookreviews/234/hermetica-vol-1-walter-scott-isbn-1570626308/" rel="nofollow">Walter Scott</a> I haven't found (yet) where Freke and Gandy found their "Atum" contrary to Hermes or Tat and how they came to their fancy story, but in basis I don't think their chapter is entirely misplaced. This is an answer to Paul who posted a question under the article “What are the Hermetic texts?“, but which I find more fitting here. The question is where Freke and Gandy found their information about Zodiac in the Hermetic texts. As sources for their chapter XII they name “Asclepius”, “Stobaeus” and “Corpus Hermeticum” 3 and 16. Their chapter is about how God created humans and how the gods were worried about their investigative minds and therefor God created the Zodiac to bestow Fate upon man. I find no reference to this idea in the CH books referred to. The other references are very vague, since Asclepius and quite a work and all the Stobaeus fragments together too. Paging through Asclepius references to the Zodiac and Fate are made in 19, 35 and 39 which vaguely deal with “Fatum” in combination to the Zodiac, but ‘executed’ by “Omniformis” (or “Pantoformis” in most translations). I think the writers have had a better look at the Stobaeus fragments which speak a lot about the Zodiac and fate. Let me quote fragment XII as an example:

But all things come to pass…, and there is no place destitute of Providence. Now Providence is the sovereign design of the God who rules over the heavens; and that sovereign design has under it two subordinate powers, namely, Necessity and Destiny. (Necessity is…;) and Destiny is subservient to Providence… Adn the stars are subservient to Destiny. [ ] For the stars are the instrument of Destiny; it is in accordance with Destiny that they bring all things to pass for the world of nature and for men.

Translation of Walter Scott
I haven’t found (yet) where Freke and Gandy found their “Atum” contrary to Hermes or Tat and how they came to their fancy story, but in basis I don’t think their chapter is entirely misplaced.

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