The Essence of Christian Hermeticism

The essence of Christian Hermeticism is the same as the essence of conventional Christianity, except that one actually practices and realizes this essence instead of merely believing it. This essence is summarized in the two primary sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion (or the Eucharist), and the realization of the Trinity.

Initiation into Christian Hermeticism begins when a disciple (one who practices the discipline of Holy Communion) is literally (not figuratively or ceremonially) Baptized by the Holy Spirit Itself. Palpable Divine Power begins to pour into and through his bodymind, and the sacred ordeal of receiving and uniting with this down-poured Light-Energy becomes the focus of his life.
The Christian Hermeticist practices the Eucharist, but does so mystically (or Spirit-ually) rather than merely ceremonially. He actually communes with and channels (or receives) the Holy Spirit. And at times he experiences union with this Light-Energy continuum, which enables him to apperceive (or radically intuit) his Christ Self as consubstantial with the Father, the Divine Being.

The essence of Christian Hermeticism is Di-“vine” Alchemy, for the Hermeticist seeks to mystically combine the Substance, or “vine,” of his soul (or consciousness) with the Substance, or “vine,” of Spirit (or Light-Energy), so as to “produce,” or unveil, the Divine Being, with whom he is at-one with. This Divine Union occurs in the Sacred Heart Center, a.k.a. as the Heart-cave, or Holy Chalice. When this union occurs, the mystic (temporarily, if not permanently) has untied the Gordian Knot and found (or located) the Holy Grail, which is tantamount to realizing the Trinity – Di-“vinized” Soul and Di-“vinizing” Spirit as consubstantial, or coessential, with the Divine Being.

The Initiated Christian mystic, by virtue of his enactment of the true, or mystical, Eucharist, transforms himself into a Hierophant, a High Priest who communes with and draws down the Numinous. Employing both apophatic (or via negativa) and cataphatic (or via positiva) Eucharistic practices (meaning, respectively, “poverty,” or self-emptying, and “obedience,” or rapt communion) he merges his entire bodily being with the Mysterium Tremendum, the ineffable Divine Splendor and Glory that is God’s Grace, or Blessing Power.

The Christian Hermeticist takes three sacred vows: Obedience, Poverty, and Chastity. Obedience is a synonym for at-one-ment, and means atoning for one’s sin of separation from God by re-establishing oneself in Divine (or Holy) Communion. Re-establishing this connection constitutes redemption because it frees one from original sin, the root existential dis-ease of estrangement from God, the Divine Being.

Poverty is a synonym for self-nullification -- self-emptying effected by utterly relaxing-releasing one’s body-mind. This self-empyting creates an inner void or vacuum that prepares one for the Plenum, glorification in the “form” of the formless Holy Spirit.

Chastity is a synonym for abiding in the Virgin (or Unborn) Holy Spirit, the Clear-Light Plenum that the Initiated Hermeticist receives by virtue of his self-emptying. The Plenum is the Hermeticist’s Saving Grace, the Divine Elixir that fills his empty cup, the Holy Chalice in his Sacred Heart-center.
When the Christian Hermeticist, or Sacred Alchemist, combines the two “vines” of individual soul and universal Spirit through his enactment of the “Vacuum/Plenum,” a.k.a. “infused contemplation,” he experiences Bliss. And when this union of soul and Spirt becomes permanent, he attains Beatitude, permanent abidance in the Divine Domain, a.k.a. the Kingdom of Heaven.

The Way of the Christian Hermeticist has three stages -- Purification (or Purgation), Illumination (or Divinization), and Divine Union (or Christ Consciousness). These stages reflect the progressive en-Light-enment of one’s whole bodymind. Purification reflects the psychical suffering that a disciple of the Way must endure as the Clear-Light Energy from above “crashes down” on him, dredges up his undigested psychical “garbage,” and forces him to confront it. Purification also challenges the disciple on a physical level, as the Divine Energy, often painfully, divinizes his body, literally transforming his contracted cells into open “conductors” of the Clear-Light Energy. When, in a timeless moment, the Sacred Heart-knot (located two digits to the right of the center of one’s chest) is severed, permanent Divine Union (or Christ Consciousness) and concomitant Beatitude (or Heaven) are attained.

Hermetic Divination

In addition to Spirit-ual divination – the mystical discipline of uniting the “vine” of one’s soul with the “vine” of Spirit -- many Christiam Hermeticists also choose to practice occult or theurgical divination, meaning the Hermetic arts of Qabalah, Tarot, and/or astrology.

The Hermetic arts of occult divination, which are based on the Hermetic axiom, “as above, so below,” provide the Hermeticist, and those he counsels, with guidance regarding mundane affairs, and more importantly, with greater understanding of self and others within the cosmic scheme of things.