Mercury (Hermes)
Mercury is a major Roman god, within the ancient Roman pantheon. He is the patron god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence (and thus poetry), messages/communication (including divination), travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery and thieves; he is also the guide of souls to the underworld.He was considered the son of Maia and Jupiter in Roman mythology.In his earliest forms, he appears to share characteristics with the Greek god Hermes. [1]
Hermes is an Olympian god in Greek religion and mythology, son of Zeus and the Pleiad Maia. He is second youngest of the Olympian gods.Hermes is a god of transitions and boundaries. He is quick and cunning, and moves freely between the worlds of the mortal and divine, as emissary and messenger of the gods, intercessor between mortals and the divine, and conductor of souls into the afterlife. He is protector and patron of travelers, herdsmen, thieves, orators and wit, literature and poets, athletics and sports, invention and trade. In some myths he is a trickster, and outwits other gods for his own satisfaction or the sake of humankind. His attributes and symbols include the herma, the rooster and the tortoise, purse or pouch, winged sandals, winged cap, and his main symbol is the herald's staff, the Greek kerykeion or Latin caduceus which consisted of two snakes wrapped around a winged staff. In the Roman adaptation of the Greek pantheon (see interpretatio romana), Hermes is identified with the Roman god Mercury.[2]
Messenger of Knowledge
In the Greek tradition, Hermes is the messenger of the gods, the one who conveys all the knowledge and wisdom of the gods to the other gods and to human kind, and even into hell.Hermes is also a symbol of that force of divinity that guides those who have died; he guides the dead to their next residence. He also guides souls out of the lower realms. This symbolism represents someone who is dying mystically, psychologically, someone who is sacrificing himself, and destroying and removing all that is impure and animal in order to be reborn as something new. Mercury, Hermes is the one who facilitates that process of thorough change. Hermes is the messenger of divine trinity, the one who conveys the Word. As such, Hermes is able to travel anywhere in the cosmos. He is one of the few in Greek mythology that could enter and leave hell at will. Mercury (Hermes) represents an aspect of ourselves, an aspect of the Divine Being, of true divinity, a living, vibrating, actual force in nature that the Alchemist learns to work with. Mercury (Hermes) is a Principle of alchemy that lives inside of us. The sacred number of Hermes is the number four.
Herma
The name of Hermes actually comes from the Greek word herma, which refers to a rectangular or square stone with four sides. A herma is a small stone pillar with a human head on top, and directly in the center is an erect masculine sexual organ. The Hermai were placed at crossroads all over Greece. A cross roads is a cross, an intersection of four directions. The cross is not merely a Christian symbol; it is universal. The Greeks would make offerings to these stones. The hermai were considered so sacred that even in times of war invaders would not damage the Hermai of their enemies. They would destroy everything else, but not the Hermai. That is how sacred they where considered to be, and with good reason. This symbol hides everything about the most sacred heart of the Greek mysteries, and Alchemy, Gnosis, Christianity, Egyptian mysticism, Asian mysticism. The head represents the divinity, the perfected man, the primordial Adam or Albion who comes out of the stone, who is perfected, sculpted, crafted out of the philosophical stone, the philosophical earth. The method to create a perfect being is through a refined use of the same energy we use to create any other being: the erect masculine sexual organ, through sexual energy. A perfect being is created through the upright, proper use of sex, with mindfulness of the Divine, the source of sexual power. So this symbol from the Eleusinian Mysteries is the heart and soul of the Greek mythology. These are mysteries that were never communicated to humanity openly and publicly, until the end of the Ascension Cycle. The herma represents the power of Mercury that is trapped in the stone, the power of the messenger of the gods. That is why the Freemasons utilized the stone as the most fundamental symbol of masonry.The waters in sex, the spine, and the mind are ruled by Mercury. They are Mercurial. In Alchemy, they are symbolized by Mercury.
Hermetically Sealed
Hermetically comes from Hermes, Mercury. Gnosis is a hermetic tradition. We are from the tradition of Hermes, Mercury. When you work with Hermes Mercury, your vessel must be perfectly sealed. “Hermetically sealed” refers to our Yesod or 2nd Chakra and sphere. Hermetically sealed means we let no energy escape. We retain our inner creative froces, our sexual energy, the forces of Yesod, the foundation, so that that energy can be used to build our temple from the solid stone in our root [3].