The archive

Histories, symbols and teachings

The archive of the Apotheotic Order gathers entries on the history, art and philosophy the Order has inherited, and on its own symbols and teachings. It is not a complete account, and much is to be found between its entries by those who follow the references within them; the historical material is arranged under three inheritances.

Foundations

The Order, its patron and its inheritance.

The Founding of the Order Principles, purpose and inheritance · The Order
On Apotheosis The name of the Order · Teaching of the Order
The Patronage of Hermes Hermes Trismegistus as patron of the Order · Graeco-Egyptian antiquity · The Order
The Three Inheritances Antiquity, late antiquity and the Renaissance · c. 2500 BC – AD 1600
The Golden Chain How the inheritance was handed on · Antiquity to the Romantic age · The Order
The Canon The works the Order holds closest · The Order
Kindred Works Works in the company of the Canon · The Order
A Glossary of the Order Terms used in the archive · The Order

Symbols

The Ankh and its use.

The Ankh The sign of divine life · Ancient Egypt · The Order
Wearing the Ankh A sign of affinity · The Order · Custom
The Three Signs Life, stability and dominion · Ancient Egypt · The Order

Teachings

The Order’s principal teachings.

The Sacred Faculty On creation and meaning · Foundational teaching
The Poetic Genius The faculty through which the divine is received · Teaching of the Order
On Inspiration Whether a work is received or made · Teaching of the Order
The Muses Daughters of Memory · Teaching of the Order
Coleridge on the Imagination The finite repetition of the eternal act · England · 1817
The First and Second Breath The reciprocal gift · Teaching of the Order
On the Making of Gods The Order’s reading of the Asclepius · Asclepius, chs. 23–24 and 37–38 · The Order
Works That Come Alive Pygmalion, the golem and the creature · Teaching of the Order
The Gods of Craft The divine makers of many peoples · Teaching of the Order
On Divine Play Lila, maya and the dance of Shiva · Teaching of the Order
Nothing Perishes The second god and the third · Teaching of the Order
On Meaning and Historical Truth Two questions, kept apart · Teaching of the Order
To Create, To Preserve, To Uphold The motto of the Order · The Order
The Precepts Short sayings for the keeping of the charge · Teaching of the Order
Those Who Preserve The keepers of the inheritance · Teaching of the Order
The Art of Memory Palaces and theatres of the mind · Antiquity to the Renaissance · The Order
Begotten, Not Made A distinction from the Creed of Nicaea · Nicaea, AD 325 · The Order
On the Nature of Temples Places set apart · Teaching of the Order
The Supreme Divine On the ultimate source · Teaching of the Order
Temples of Knowledge Libraries, archives, museums and theatres · Antiquity to the present · The Order
The Cathedral Builders Abbot Suger and the nameless masons · France · 12th and 13th centuries
In the Sanctuaries of Others On reverence and respect · Teaching of the Order

Antiquity

Egypt, the Hermetic writings and other ancient voices.

Thoth The Egyptian god of writing and wisdom · Ancient Egypt · Hermopolis
Hermes Trismegistus The Thrice-Great · Graeco-Egyptian tradition · 1st–3rd centuries AD and after
The Corpus Hermeticum The Greek Hermetic treatises · Composed c. 1st–3rd centuries AD · compiled in Byzantium
The Poimandres The vision of creation · Corpus Hermeticum I
The Asclepius The Perfect Discourse · Greek original c. 2nd–3rd century AD · Latin version by the 4th century
The Hymn of Creation Rigveda X.129 · Ancient India · Rigveda, tenth book
The Popol Vuh The Maya book of creation · The K’iche’ Maya · written down c. 1550
Ptah and the Spoken Word Creation in the Memphite tradition · Ancient Egypt · Memphis
The Shabaka Stone An Egyptian account of creation · 25th Dynasty · c. 710 BC
The Opening of the Mouth The ritual that gave images life · Ancient Egypt · Old Kingdom to Roman period
The Epic of Gilgamesh The walls of Uruk · Mesopotamia · c. 2100–1200 BC
Homer The poet of the Iliad and the Odyssey · c. 8th–7th century BC · Ionia
Plato The philosopher of forms · c. 427–347 BC · Athens
Plotinus The sculptor of the soul · c. AD 204–270 · Alexandria and Rome

Late Antiquity

Alexandria, Nicaea and the Christian readers of Hermes.

Alexandria in Late Antiquity A city of converging traditions · Roman Egypt · 2nd–5th centuries AD
The Serapeum of Alexandria The last great temple · 3rd century BC – AD 391
The Ankh in Christian Egypt The crux ansata · 4th–7th centuries AD
The Council of Nicaea The first ecumenical council · Nicaea · AD 325
Lactantius, Augustine and Hermes Early Christian readers of the Hermetica · c. AD 200–430
John of Damascus and the Holy Images The defence of icons · c. 675–749 · Damascus and Jerusalem
Cassiodorus The founder of Vivarium · c. 485–c. 585 · Italy
The Nag Hammadi Codices A library buried in the desert · Buried 4th century · found 1945
The Book of Creation Sefer Yetzirah · Hebrew · c. 2nd–6th centuries AD

Renaissance

Florence, the rediscovery of Hermes, and its afterlife.

Poggio Bracciolini The book-hunter · 1380–1459 · Florence and Rome
Nicholas of Cusa Learned ignorance and the human god · 1401–1464 · Kues, Rome and Brixen
Cosimo de’ Medici and the Hermetic Manuscript Hermes arrives in Florence · Florence · c. 1460–1464
Lorenzo de’ Medici Il Magnifico · 1449–1492 · Florence
Marsilio Ficino Translator of Plato and of Hermes · 1433–1499 · Florence
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola The shaper of himself · 1463–1494 · Mirandola and Florence
Giordano Bruno The infinite universe · 1548–1600 · Nola to Rome
Tommaso Campanella The City of the Sun · 1568–1639 · Calabria, Naples, Rome and Paris
Michelangelo Buonarroti The hand that obeys the intellect · 1475–1564 · Florence and Rome
The Creation of Adam The Sistine Chapel ceiling · Rome · c. 1511–1512
The Hermes of Siena A pavement panel in Siena Cathedral · Siena · 1488
Isaac Casaubon and the Dating of Hermes The end of a legend and the survival of a text · 1614
The Emerald Tablet The secret of creation · Arabic sources 8th–10th centuries · Latin from the 12th century
Leonardo da Vinci The inquiring eye · 1452–1519 · Florence, Milan and Amboise

Exemplars

Makers and thinkers of many ages and lands, and works the Order holds dear. Those honoured from the three inheritances appear under their own periods.

Hunayn ibn Ishaq The translator of Baghdad · 809–873 · Baghdad
Murasaki Shikibu The Tale of Genji · c. 973–c. 1014 · Heian Japan
Hildegard of Bingen The living light · 1098–1179 · The Rhineland
Ibn Arabi The greatest master · 1165–1240 · Murcia to Damascus
Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy · c. 1265–1321 · Florence and Ravenna
Kabir The weaver of Benares · 15th century · Benares
Dara Shikoh The mingling of the two oceans · 1615–1659 · Mughal India
Zhuangzi The cook, the woodworker and the butterfly · c. 369–286 BC · China
William Shakespeare Airy nothing given a name · 1564–1616 · Stratford and London
Johann Sebastian Bach Soli Deo gloria · 1685–1750 · Thuringia and Leipzig
William Blake The maker of a mythology · 1757–1827 · London
All Religions are One Blake’s seven principles of the Poetic Genius · England · c. 1788
The Laocoön Blake’s last word on art · England · c. 1826–27
Thomas Taylor The Platonist · 1758–1835 · London
Katsushika Hokusai The old man mad about drawing · 1760–1849 · Edo
Mary Shelley The Modern Prometheus · 1797–1851 · London
Elias Lönnrot The gatherer of the Kalevala · 1802–1884 · Finland and Karelia
William Morris The dignity of the hand · 1834–1896 · London and Kelmscott
Ernst Cassirer The symbolic animal · 1874–1945 · Hamburg and exile
Carl Gustav Jung The mind and its images · 1875–1961 · Zurich
Zora Neale Hurston Keeper of stories · 1891–1960 · Florida and New York
J. R. R. Tolkien Sub-creation · 1892–1973 · Oxford
Joseph Campbell The hero with a thousand faces · 1904–1987 · New York
Alan Lomax The song collector · 1915–2002 · United States and the world

Fellowship

The sworn fellowship.

The Knights Apotheon The sworn fellowship · The Order
Honorary Knights Apotheon Knighthood honoris causa · The Order