A Hymn for Baboons

Hi Friend,

This morning I was brought back to some of my studies in Hermetic religion and it led me again to the Discourses on the Eighth and Ninth. This is sort of the “final level” so to speak for the religion. You have to go through steps 1-7 first. At the end of this process you become enlightened and anointed as a “son of God” by the Egyptian priests and there is a liturgy performed where you sing the name of God in a hymn – but in the language of Baboons. This is the hymn that is sung:

Imagine you are a Roman or Greek in or around 0AD. If you were learned, you grew up learning about Plato and Pythagoras and you worship Greek or Roman Gods. In reading of Plato you learn about Theuth as the keeper of all wisdom in Egypt and the priesthood dedicated to that God and knowledge. Plato was a Theuth fanboy. He wrote about Theuth quite a bit. So after growing up on these stories, you travel to Alexandria and there you meet the Egyptian priests who are telling you about Hermes – one of your Gods – and how that Hermes is one and the same with the famous Theuth. The keeper of Egyptian wisdom. The priests invite you to learn it… if you can pay.

You see, the Ptolemies defunded the Egyptian priesthood after they invaded Alexandria. Until that point the Egyptian priesthood was extremely secretive as a product of the Egyptian state religion – and thus controlled (in some way) by the state. Then they lose all their state support and funding. So to accommodate, survive and raise funds they adapted their teachings for the new Greeks and Romans and then sold access to them. They merged their religion with the philosophy of the Greeks – specifically Plato – to make it accessible and palatable and they doubled down on the sterotypes that the Greeks had about them. Namely that they are the “magical negros” of Alexandria of this time. It is for all intents and purposes the same kind of ignorance paired with fetishization. But the Egyptians were smart and they capitalized on it.

So you as a Greek wander in, give them your money and they share with you a corrupted view of their religious beliefs. You pay. You learn. Then eventually you grow to reach levels 8 and 9 whereupon you’re told you are a “son of God” and are anointed to go out and teach to others, but before you do you need to pray like a Baboon. Why a Baboon? Thoth is associated with a Ibis exploring the Nile as a symbol of knowledge and growth. Thoth is also associated with a Baboon who is a seeker of already learned knowledge and associated with balance and equilibrium – typically in a resting and receptive or studious pose. (Ibis = Pursuit of new knowledge. Baboon = Student of learned knowledge. Ibis = Adventure. Baboon = Scholarship)

It’s worth noting that thee temple to Thoth existed in Hermopolis, at the time when Jesus lived there as a child with his family in exile. We don’t know much about Jesus’ upbringing, but we do where he lived and where he grew up and what he was exposed to. The temple to Hermes Tristmigestus was something Jesus knew intimately, and there is no doubt in my mind that he learned and practiced in that philosophy.

Hermeticism is proto-Christianity, pre-Christ. The end of the Disc 8-9 read as follows:

“And write an oath in the book, lest those who read the book bring the language into abuse, and not (use it) to oppose the acts of fate. Rather, they should submit to the law of God, without having transgressed at all, but in purity asking God for wisdom and knowledge. And he who will not be begotten at the start by God comes to be by the general and guiding discourses. He will not be able to read the things written in this book, although his conscience is pure within him, since he does not do anything shameful, nor does he consent to it. Rather, by stages he advances and enters into the way of immortality. And thus he enters into the understanding of the eighth that reveals the ninth.”

If you decide to study this, equate “Nous” with the Holy Spirit for they are one and the same. Many of the teachings of this philosophy / religion eventually found their way into Quakerism. The way that we practice is more in line with the way of Hermes and the people who practiced historically right before, at the time of, and directly after Jesus’ ministry.

What follows is the secret of all secrets, translated in prose, kept safe throughout time for all those who hold reverence and knowledge at the center of their Spiritual practice. In modern days, it is referred to as the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismigestus and in these words hold the path to salvation – a path, which Jesus walked and which Jesus preached, yet did not disclose and kept secret.

“It is true without lying, certain and most true. That which is below is like that which is above and that which is above is like that which is below, to do the miracle of one only thing. As all things have been and arose from God by the mediation of God: so all things have their birth from this one act of creation by adaptation. Here is a seed. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, and the earth is its nurse. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here, in this seed. Its force or power is contained entirely within itself and will grow if it is just planted into the earth. Separate your earth from your fire; the subtle from the gross – sweetly and with great industry. When the Spirit given to you ascends from the earth to the heaven and then returns to the earth, it receives the force of things superior and inferior. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world and thereby all obscurity shall fly from you. Its force is above all force, for it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing. This is why the world was created. So that you can adapt and grow into a wonderful being, for this is the way. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegistus, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. Now, what I have said about the process of the Sun has been successful and it is complete.”

In Reverence,

Raymond Chandler III