Is Freemasonry a form of Hermetism?
No. Hermetism is a belief in Hermetica or Hermetic writings a collection of works of revelation ascribed to the Egyptian god Thoth, also styled in the Greek as Hermes Trismegistos (or Trismegistis). Hermes was once considered to be the inventor of writing. The theological writings, written in Greek and Latin, date from the middle of the 1st to the end of the 3rd century CE. The collection is represented chiefly by the 17 treatises of the Corpus Hermeticum, extensive fragments in the the writings of Stobaeus, and a Latin translation of the Asclepius, preserved among the works of Apuleius. The collection reflected a growing distrust with traditional Greek rationalism. Divided into two main classes, “popular” Hermetism received little attention until the end of the 19th century while “learned” Hermetism was a favorite resource for mediaeval astrologers and alchemists. Although the setting of the writings is Egypt, the philosophy is Greek and it was later extensively cultivated in Arab wri
