From the book
Ancient Mystic Oriental Masonry
R. Swinburne Clymer · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordHermes names an authority of sacred learning; Hermetic identifies teachings, books, or practitioners placed within that field.
- In Ancient Mystic Oriental MasonryThe Egyptian procession distributes books of Hermes among priestly offices and their specialized studies.
- In this editionBooks of Hermes follows the source.
- A place to readD.17: … “carries an instrument symbolical of music, and two books of Hermes, one of them containing the” …
Meaning
Hermes names an authority of sacred learning; Hermetic identifies teachings, books, or practitioners placed within that field.
Use in the book
The Egyptian procession distributes books of Hermes among priestly offices and their specialized studies. Elsewhere the Tablet’s above-and-below formula explains cosmic unity, and Hermetic philosophers are proposed as contributors to Masonic symbolism. An original note extends the vocabulary into alchemy. These are several literary and doctrinal uses of the name, not a single identified book.
Places to read
- Degrees of the Mystic Oriental Rite · Block 17… “carries an instrument symbolical of music, and two books of Hermes, one of them containing the hymns of the gods, and the other the list of the kings. After him comes” …
- Mystic Masonry · Block 19… “the famous axiom of the Smagdarine Tablet of Hermes: 'That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below.' This” …
- Mystic Masonry · Block 33… “conclusion, after long and patient investigation, that certain Hermetic Philosophers* had a hand in the construction of the organization of Free and Accepted Masons, and if they embodied in its symbolism” …
- Original Notes · 1907 pp. 86–87… “of Alchemy and the Sages and wonder about Hermes calling Azot Nitrogen the Virgin of the world, Mercury the Soul of the World. It is said fire purifies the dross, Agni” …
In this edition
Books of Hermes follows the source. Pastophoroi in the related-text note follows Clement’s translated account; that form is absent from the counted corpus. The Tablet’s varying spelling is treated under Emerald Tablet.
Reading the argument
The procession has an ancient textual parallel, but that parallel cannot be made to prove the entire Pyramid narrative. Likewise the Tablet’s formula should be examined as a particular text rather than treated as a summary of everything called Hermetic.
Related texts
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata VI.4, describes forty-two books and assigns six medical books to the Pastophoroi. This is the specific parallel for the priestly procession, not evidence for Abdemon’s Masonic initiation.12
Hermes
“Hermes” — 5 occurrences in 4 text blocks: D.17; M.19, 75; N.86.
Hermetic
“Hermetic” — 3 occurrences in 3 text blocks: M.33; F.47, 85.
books of Hermes
“books of Hermes” — 2 occurrences in 1 text block: D.17.
Source note
Clement of Alexandria: primary literary parallel. Clement of Alexandria. Stromata VI.4, in the English translation reproduced by New Advent. Consulted for the Egyptian procession, its priestly offices, and the forty-two Hermetic books. The parallel does not attest Clymer's entire Egyptian degree story. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/02106.htm