Tarcherperigee The Hermetica: The Lost Wisdom of the Pharaohs

I've read a couple of Freke & Gandy's previous books, most notably the somewhat controversial Jesus Mysteries. It's clear they have a sot of neo-gnostic leaning which is fairly explicit in those other works and, not surprisingly, a core element here, too.Whether or not the Hermetica, as its most pure adherents may claim, is the root of the Gnostic movement of the early Christian church is up for debate and depends upon whether or not you view its author(s) as the Egyptian sage/ god Thoth or his followers, operating - according to Freke/ Gandy - around 3000BCE, or the free-thinkers of the 1st and 2nd century Alexandria.Regardless, Freke and Gandy do a great job here of presenting the core elements of what has become known as Hermeticism in a clear and concise manner, balancing out the poetic mysteries of the actual (translated) text with a brief but useful explanation of how it should be interpreted. It's not the full text, of course, but rather what the authors consider to be some of its core excerpts. As to whether the translation or the interpretations they offer will be subject to the same scholarly criticism as that within The Jesus Mysteries is a topic for another day, perhaps, but for the uninitiated, such as me, this proved to be an engaging and enjoyable introduction to the Hermetica and certainly whetted my appetite for more.

Top read for anyone whose into philosophy or history, although it just the tip of and iceberg. This book is part of the truth about our real past and a good starting point for anyone new to the subject or concept that we create our own reality with our thoughts. This happens if we are conscious of it (ideal way so we can create our own lives and manifest what we desire) or and sadly, and this is how the world operates, we let other people tell us what to believe and therefor think via religions, science, education and every mainstream media body, thus creating a reality that is bias toward the elite.Well written though and well translated but not the full story.

This was bought as a present for a friend . So much in it resonated within her and it is now on her bookshelf to refer to at anytime . I recommend this to anyone who has the slightest wish to delve into the esoteric fields which are not ' secret ' but available to all who seeks . It is not a 'study ' book but a well written account of knowledge which we all need !

I thought it was going to be an in depth analysis and insight into the ancient wisdom. HOWEVER the whole book was a series of extracts from prose/poetry supposedly from Ancient Egypt then where each extract was preceded by the author's commentary which was a slightly more plain English version of the extract. Skipped the last part of the book as it was more of the same. Very disappointing read.

I have had this book before and really enjoyed it, as it an easy to read version, as the Hermetica is often too scholarly and full of endless footnotes, that it makes it so boring to read. Unfortunately though this copy had to be sent back due to the contents being jumbled up and not in correct order, despite the pages being numbered correctly. Please rectify this, so i can purchase another.