┌─╷─┐ ╵┌┼┐╵ polyphanes.smol.pub ╷└┼┘╷ by polyphanes └─╵─┘
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Saying this:
if you think magic has anything to do with the teachings of Hermes you're missing the point
Is much like saying this:
if you think meditation has anything to do with the teachings of Buddha you're missing the point
Meditation is not the point of Buddhism, and Buddhism doesn't exist merely to teach meditation. Rather, Buddhism is a means to the cessation of suffering—but meditation plays a hugely important part in that goal of liberating us from suffering. In a similar way, magic (which is a broad term that includes astrology, alchemy, goetia, and various priestly or temple-based practices) is not the point of Hermeticism, which is about living a virtuous life in union with the Divine and freeing ourselves from suffering by saving the soul—and magic (in all its various forms) is part and parcel of that goal. Sure, there are different approaches that may rely more or less on individual practices, but to outright say that magic has no place in Hermeticism or that Hermēs never taught it or extolled it is an error. Sure, there's definitely more to Hermeticism than just doing magic, and to do magic for its own sake doesn't fulfill the Hermetic ethos; to claim that Hermeticism is just or only about magical empowerment (as, for example, Franz Bardon seems to do) is also an error. And yet, Hermeticism makes use of magic all the same, and we cannot ignore that!