Asclepius on Dæmons

[sdi]

Around the sun are many troops of demons looking like battalions in changing array. They are not far from the immortals though they dwell <with mortals>. From on high, they have been assigned the territory of mankind, and they oversee human activity. What the gods enjoin them they effect through torrents, hurricanes, thunderstorms, fiery alterations and earthquakes; with famines and wars, moreover, they repay irreverence. Irreverence is mankind's greatest wrong against the gods: to do good is the gods' affair; to be reverent is mankind's; and the demons' is to assist. Whatever else humans dare to do—out of error or daring or compulsion (which they call fate) or ignorance—all these the gods hold guiltless. Irreverence alone is subject to judgment.

For every kind, the sun is preserver and provider. Just as the intellectual cosmos that encompasses the sensible cosmos fills it by making it solid with changing and omniform appearances, so also the sun that encompasses all things in the cosmos strengthens and makes solid all of them that are generated, as it takes in those that are spent and dwindling away. The sun sets in array the troop or, rather, troops of demons, which are many and changing, arrayed under the regiments of stars, an equal number of them for each star. Thus deployed, they follow the orders of a particular star, and they are good and evil according to their natures—their energies, that is. For energy is the essence of a demon. Some of them, however, are mixtures of good and evil.

They have all been granted authority over the things of the earth and over the troubles of the earth, and they produce change and tumult collectively for cities and nations, individually for each person. They reshape our souls to their own ends, and they rouse them, lying in ambush in our muscle and marrow, in veins and arteries, in the brain itself, reaching to the very guts.

The demons on duty at the exact moment of birth, arrayed under each of the stars, take possession of each of us as we come into being and receive a soul. From moment to moment they change places, not staying in position but moving by rotation. Those that enter through the body into the two parts of the soul twist the soul about, each toward its own energy. But the rational part of the soul stands unmastered by the demons, suitable as a receptacle for god.

Thus, if by way of the sun anyone has a ray shining upon him in his rational part (and the totality of those enlightened is a few), the demons' effect on him is nullified. For none—neither demons nor gods—can do anything against a single ray of god. All others the demons carry off as spoils, both souls and bodies, since they are fond of the demons' energies and acquiesce in them. {And it is this love that} misleads and is misled. So, with our bodies as their instruments, the demons govern this earthly government. Hermes has called this government "fate."

The intelligible cosmos, then, depends from god and the sensible cosmos from the intelligible, but the sun, through the intelligible cosmos and the sensible as well, is supplied by god with the influx of good, with his craftsmanship, in other words. Around the sun are the eight spheres that depend from it: the sphere of the fixed stars, the six of the planets, and the one that surrounds the earth. From these spheres depend the demons, and then, from the demons, humans. And thus all things and all persons are dependent from god.

Therefore, the father of all is god; their craftsman is the sun; and the cosmos is the instrument of craftsmanship. Intelligible essence governs heaven; heaven governs the gods; and demons posted by the gods govern humans. This is the army of gods and demons.

(Corpus Hermeticum XVI x ff., as translated by Brian P. Copenhaver)

["God," here, is the same as the Neoplatonic nous (e.g. the being that creates the intelligible world). "The sun" is not the Greco-Babylonian planet in the fourth heaven, but rather the solar logos, the center and fount of all material being. It is much more like the Platonic Demiurge or the Hesiodic Zeus.]

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It is noteworthy that the Hermetists, like Porphyry, take a much more negative view of dæmons than the earlier Greek philosophers; I consider this obsession with the nous against all else to be a hallmark of the Piscean era, and an argument for a relatively late dating of the Hermetica.

Comments

[k_a_nitz]

"Thus, if by way of the sun anyone has a ray shining upon him in his rational part (and the totality of those enlightened is a few), the demons' effect on him is nullified. "
This lines up with the Christian mysticism I've been reading of the "God is within you" sort.

[sdi]

Bingo! I agree, I think Asclepius is getting at the same thing. There was something in the air in those days, all the different religions sounded alike.

[jprussell]

On the other hand, Krebs and Kolb both pooh-pooh the thinking mind, which you might equate with the "rational part," though nous is certainly a more nuanced concept than just the "thinking mind," and very likely doesn't mean the same thing Krebs and Kolb mean. I'm about halfway through Krebs, and this thought struck me, as it has lined up with some of my own efforts.

[sdi]

I had the exact same question while I read through the Hermetica—it often uses terms like "mind," "rational part," etc., and it's not totally clear what is being referred to. (I miss reading Porphyry, he was so nice and precise!) Alas, my read of the Hermetica is merely a casual one right now—I haven't the time for a deep investigation—and so I haven't dug in to the original to see what word or words are translated as "rational part," here.

(I edited the post, though, to make clear that the use of the term nous was my own.)

[thinking_turtle]

Thanks for sharing, thought provoking.

Thus, if by way of the sun anyone has a ray shining upon him in his rational part (and the totality of those enlightened is a few), the demons' effect on him is nullified.

Rational thought feels like a simplified model for short term predictions. Advertisements appeal to the rational mind with claims like "2 for the price of 1", "50% discount only today", "best tested", and "approved by independent experts". My rational thought is easily misled, and luckily, not confident in any conclusion it reaches.

What do you think the Corpus Hermeticum means with "the demons' effect on him is nullified" ?

[sdi]

I think it's the same things the Christians mean when they say "salvation by grace alone." It seems to me to be a direct shot across the bow of the Platonists, who taught that dæmons were a necessary intermediator between the gods and us (e.g. Plato's Symposium).

This is what I meant by a "Piscean era" religion. Aries is ruled by Mars, and Mars loves hierarchies and rank; so Plato sees an ordered cosmos where everyone marches to one drum by means of following their specific orders. Pisces is ruled by Jupiter and longs to go "out there," seeking a direct route straight to the top by bypassing the hierarchy. Good examples of such religions are Christianity (bypass the hierarchy via Jesus's sacrifice), Buddhism (bypass the hierarchy via cessation of desire), Neoplatonism (bypass the hierarchy by gathering yourself into a microcosmic One), and Hermeticism (bypass the hierarchy by illumination).

Nothing is wrong with any of those, of course! But we're no longer in the age of Pisces and so I suspect such a model is past it's pull-by date.

[k_a_nitz]

Yes, I think the "salvation by grace alone" is it. The mysticism I've been reading lately talks of God being in everything but unrecognised, and that it is the act of recognition which brings "grace". That element of God within to be recognised is often called the divine spark and "centred" in the centre of the chest (though they never seem to square the "is everywhere" with it supposedly being "centred" in that location). (They also talk about Jesus as being the sun behind the sun.)

Re: reason, rational part, nous - my own struggles with the translating of German terms around soul/mind/spirit suggests to me that we need to be quite open-minded about the nuances of these terms in a translation and not instantly jump to the modern everyday meaning in English. And of course, meaning comes as much from the reader as from the text.

Thanks for the explanation of "Piscean era" - I got the gist originally but the more in-depth explanation is good to have. :-)

[sdi]

What makes the translation of such terms even worse is that the original Greek of some of the Hermetic books are lost, and we only know through Latin or Coptic translations!

I sympathize with your translation troubles... I still haven't figured out an elegant way to translate many of the Neoplatonic terms into English. Part of it is that the source words are used in a technical sense (unrelated to the normal meaning of the word), and part of it is that modern English culture is so clueless about spiritual concepts that one almost needs to invent terms...

[thinking_turtle]

So it's about listening to your inner rational voice instead of appointed experts. I guess I overemphasized the "nullified" part. Nullifying daemons does not make you a super human, rather the best human you can be, by listening to the ray of light of God shines on your rational part.

Symposium sounds interesting, I enjoyed The Republic, thanks for the tip!

[sdi]

I think "nullifying daemons" literally means "are no longer subject to the forces that govern the material cosmos." That is, it is equivalent to "salvation" or "going to heaven" or moving beyond human existence.

As for the Symposium, you're welcome! I'm not a huge fan of Plato, but the Symposium is probably my favorite work of his (of the half or so that I've read so far). Maybe that's not surprising, since it's about love—and, after all, I have Venus as my avatar image!

[thinking_turtle]

Thanks for your comment! To me the image of a ray of sunlight implies something temporary, and also something beyond one's control. It strikes me as a moment when your rational thought bears fruit.

In the introduction it is said The Symposium is held in honor of Eros. Hesiod lists Eros as one of the earliest gods, the fourth god to come into existence. The introduction says Socrates found the best pursuit of Eros to be philosophy. I doubt one would write that about Venus!

[sdi]

Read on! There are two Aphrodites. :)