In Egypt during the first centuries CE, men and women would meet discreetly in their homes, in temple sanctuaries, or insolitary places to learn a powerful practice of spiritual liberation. They thought of themselves as followers of Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary master of ancient wisdom. While many of their writings are lost, those that survived have been interpreted primarily as philosophical treatises about theological topics. Wouter J. Hanegraaff challenges this dominant narrative by demonstrating that Hermetic literature was concerned with experiential practices intended for healing the soul from mental delusion. The Way of Hermes involved radical alterations of consciousness in which practitioners claimed to perceive the true nature of reality behind the hallucinatory veil of appearances. Hanegraaff explores how practitioners went through a training regime that involved luminous visions, exorcism, spiritual rebirth, cosmic consciousness, and union with the divine beauty of universal goodness and truth to attain the salvational knowledge known as gnosis.

Hermetic spirituality in late antiquity was an experiential practice and personal transformation grounded in powerful techniques for consciousness alteration.

About the Author
Wouter J. Hanegraaff is Professor of History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents at the University of Amsterdam. He is the author of six monographs, including New Age Religion and Western Culture (1996) and Esotericism and the Academy (2012), and editor of eight collective works, including the Dictionary of Gnosis and Western Esotericism (2005).


Book Information
ISBN 9781009123068
Author Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Format Hardback
Page Count 400
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 800g
Dimensions(mm) 236mm * 158mm * 30mm