The syncretic philosophical-religious tradition based on the Corpus Hermeticum — attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, teaching that God, cosmos, and humanity share divine essence, and that the mind can ascend through the cosmic spheres to divine union.
Hermeticism as Western esoteric foundation: the Hermetic corpus (rediscovered in Renaissance Florence and mistakenly believed to be ancient Egyptian wisdom older than Moses) shaped Renaissance Neoplatonism (Ficino, Pico della Mirandola), alchemical tradition, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and ultimately all Western occultism. The Hermetic axiom 'As above, so below' (macrocosm mirrors microcosm) provided the metaphysical basis for astrology, alchemy, and ceremonial magic. Frances Yates's Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition (1964) argued that the Hermetic tradition was a crucial precursor to the Scientific Revolution.
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