@achillghost A good example is in Old Norse where a troll (or something trollish) isn’t some exact category of being, but can refer to jötnar, þurs, sorcerers, ghosts, weird animals, weird places, weird people, anything weird really
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Pseudo-Hermes
44 posts
Pseudo-Hermes
@pseudo_hermes
Philosophy | Esotericism | Antiquities
Hermopolis Katılım Mart 2026
71 Takip Edilen126 Takipçiler
The Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual has done incalculable harm to the way people think about folkloric creatures
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“[Man] raises his sight to heaven while he takes care of the earth. Thus he is in the fortunate middle position: he loves those things that are below him and is beloved by the beings above…through the sharpness of his mind he plumbs the depths of the sea. All things are open to him. The heavens do not seem too high, for he measures them by the skill of his mind as though he were very close to them. Foggy air never disturbs the direction of his attention; the dense earth is no obstacle to his work; no depth of water, however great, impairs his view. He is all things and he is the same everywhere.”
Asclepius 6
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To the medieval astrologer, Christ was not an image of the Sun, but the Sun was an image of Christ.
Christ clothed as a solar deity with the zodiac and seasons, 11th century Italy
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When you get to the Myth of Er and Orpheus chooses to be born a swan because of the sufferings inflicted upon him by women
Science girl@sciencegirl
Only those who read books regularly will understand this feeling.
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The first ever English translation of Beowulf was by John Mitchell Kemble, in 1837. He was a miserable and extremely rude know-it-all who often insulted his contemporaries, but his translation was decently good.
Remarkably, it's actually *better* than some modern editions in a few regards. Obviously I hate the translation of hwæt as "Lo!", but translating þēodcyninga as "of the mighty kings" is a sign that he recognized even back in 1837 that the first element þēod- is from *þiudijaz (great), not *þeudu (people). Modern translations of "folk-kings" or the like misunderstand the compound.
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@Trad_West_Art My first instinct was that it was for a magical purpose, since lines from Homer were sometimes used as protective charms, but the Catalogue of Ships is an odd choice to be buried with
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Archaeologists stunned to find copy of Homer’s Iliad inside ancient Egyptian mummy
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“The world as a whole, spatially divided as it is, brings about division throughout itself of the single, indivisible light of the gods. This light is one and the same in its entirety everywhere, is present indivisible to all things that are capable of participating it, and has filled everything with its perfect power…”
Iamblichus, De Mysteriis
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@SmaragdinaVisio Is that Avebury? Very interesting place in terms of spiritual continuity. New age/neopagans leaving prayer ribbons in the grove, next to a Norman chapel, all within a neolithic stone circe.
One of those places that feels beyond time
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@daatdarling @gamergate2077 They are wearing religion as a skinsuit to decieve the ignorant. Nothing “traditional” about their agenda at all.
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@gamergate2077 Literally every part of this manifesto is fundamentally opposed to every religion in the world’s history. Any Christian who falls for it is genuinely low iq or deeply disconnected from their faith.
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Perhaps the most embarrassing part of Thiel-ism is that they have to pretend to like Christianity.
Palantir@PalantirTech
Because we get asked a lot. The Technological Republic, in brief. 1. Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible. The engineering elite of Silicon Valley has an affirmative obligation to participate in the defense of the nation. 2. We must rebel against the tyranny of the apps. Is the iPhone our greatest creative if not crowning achievement as a civilization? The object has changed our lives, but it may also now be limiting and constraining our sense of the possible. 3. Free email is not enough. The decadence of a culture or civilization, and indeed its ruling class, will be forgiven only if that culture is capable of delivering economic growth and security for the public. 4. The limits of soft power, of soaring rhetoric alone, have been exposed. The ability of free and democratic societies to prevail requires something more than moral appeal. It requires hard power, and hard power in this century will be built on software. 5. The question is not whether A.I. weapons will be built; it is who will build them and for what purpose. Our adversaries will not pause to indulge in theatrical debates about the merits of developing technologies with critical military and national security applications. They will proceed. 6. National service should be a universal duty. We should, as a society, seriously consider moving away from an all-volunteer force and only fight the next war if everyone shares in the risk and the cost. 7. If a U.S. Marine asks for a better rifle, we should build it; and the same goes for software. We should as a country be capable of continuing a debate about the appropriateness of military action abroad while remaining unflinching in our commitment to those we have asked to step into harm’s way. 8. Public servants need not be our priests. Any business that compensated its employees in the way that the federal government compensates public servants would struggle to survive. 9. We should show far more grace towards those who have subjected themselves to public life. The eradication of any space for forgiveness—a jettisoning of any tolerance for the complexities and contradictions of the human psyche—may leave us with a cast of characters at the helm we will grow to regret. 10. The psychologization of modern politics is leading us astray. Those who look to the political arena to nourish their soul and sense of self, who rely too heavily on their internal life finding expression in people they may never meet, will be left disappointed. 11. Our society has grown too eager to hasten, and is often gleeful at, the demise of its enemies. The vanquishing of an opponent is a moment to pause, not rejoice. 12. The atomic age is ending. One age of deterrence, the atomic age, is ending, and a new era of deterrence built on A.I. is set to begin. 13. No other country in the history of the world has advanced progressive values more than this one. The United States is far from perfect. But it is easy to forget how much more opportunity exists in this country for those who are not hereditary elites than in any other nation on the planet. 14. American power has made possible an extraordinarily long peace. Too many have forgotten or perhaps take for granted that nearly a century of some version of peace has prevailed in the world without a great power military conflict. At least three generations — billions of people and their children and now grandchildren — have never known a world war. 15. The postwar neutering of Germany and Japan must be undone. The defanging of Germany was an overcorrection for which Europe is now paying a heavy price. A similar and highly theatrical commitment to Japanese pacifism will, if maintained, also threaten to shift the balance of power in Asia. 16. We should applaud those who attempt to build where the market has failed to act. The culture almost snickers at Musk’s interest in grand narrative, as if billionaires ought to simply stay in their lane of enriching themselves . . . . Any curiosity or genuine interest in the value of what he has created is essentially dismissed, or perhaps lurks from beneath a thinly veiled scorn. 17. Silicon Valley must play a role in addressing violent crime. Many politicians across the United States have essentially shrugged when it comes to violent crime, abandoning any serious efforts to address the problem or take on any risk with their constituencies or donors in coming up with solutions and experiments in what should be a desperate bid to save lives. 18. The ruthless exposure of the private lives of public figures drives far too much talent away from government service. The public arena—and the shallow and petty assaults against those who dare to do something other than enrich themselves—has become so unforgiving that the republic is left with a significant roster of ineffectual, empty vessels whose ambition one would forgive if there were any genuine belief structure lurking within. 19. The caution in public life that we unwittingly encourage is corrosive. Those who say nothing wrong often say nothing much at all. 20. The pervasive intolerance of religious belief in certain circles must be resisted. The elite’s intolerance of religious belief is perhaps one of the most telling signs that its political project constitutes a less open intellectual movement than many within it would claim. 21. Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive. All cultures are now equal. Criticism and value judgments are forbidden. Yet this new dogma glosses over the fact that certain cultures and indeed subcultures . . . have produced wonders. Others have proven middling, and worse, regressive and harmful. 22. We must resist the shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism. We, in America and more broadly the West, have for the past half century resisted defining national cultures in the name of inclusivity. But inclusion into what? Excerpts from the #1 New York Times Bestseller The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West, by Alexander C. Karp & Nicholas W. Zamiska techrepublicbook.com
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Pseudo-Hermes retweetledi
A section from the Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius:
“First decan of Cancer. It is called SÔTHEÍR, and looks like a man with the head of a dog; his whole body has a spiral shape like that of a serpent. He is seated on a pedestal. He governs illnesses that manifest in the sides of the trunk. Engrave him on a dryite stone, place some artemisia plant under it, and wear it while abstaining from white sow stomach”
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The origin of Talismans?
Magical objects have likely been around as long as humanity has, but perhaps one of the earliest systemitized form of astrological talismans appears in Late Antique Egypt, where Greek, Egyptian, and other religious systems intermingled. The Sacred Book of Hermes to Asclepius details the connections between the Decans, the 36 gods dividing the zodiac, with stones and symbols.
The talismans were believed to operate via cosmic sympathy, as the energies and virtues of the stars were made manifest in matter, particularly the human body, minerals, and vegetation. The correct combination of herbs, stones, and symbols could then create the proper environment for the protective influences of the gods and daimones to ward against bodily afflictions.
Monotheist traditions also incorporated these practices, such as the famous Abraxas stones meant to ward off the evil powers of the planetary archons, or the Islamicate ruhaniyyat tradition.
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@FortressLugh And Celtic speakers just magically vanish from southern Germany/Czechia for a couple centuries for some reason
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I'm sure this guy makes maps specifically to anger me.
When he shows Proto-Celtic first spreading into Britain, by that same time Goidelic and Brythonic would necessarily have been separate branches.
The timeline for the spread is so wrong it is insulting to the intelligence.
Vintage Maps@vintagemapstore
Spread of Celtic languages over time
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I do like the idea that Germanic paganism was a development on the Greek and then Roman pantheons in a chain of progressive revelation
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This is such a demented eclectic mix of religious traditions and dates so wrong it has to have been made as a shitpost and is now being circulated unironically
Authentic New Englander, That Happy Cat@That_Happy_Cat
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Introduction
I have never been a big X poster, mostly using the app for memes and entertainment. But lately I've grown sick of the slop, politics, and other endless garbage, and wanted a more curated and educational feed. In the meantime, I felt that I could also possibly contribute in a small way to all of the noise.
The main focus will be excerpts and discussions on Western esotericism (particularly Hermetica), classical philosophy, mystical theology, and other related topics. While I'm not an academic I'd like to hold myself to that standard, avoiding anything too woo/new age or heavily opinionated, with references to primary sources. Anything labeled as "Hermetic" is unfortunately fraught with plenty of inventions and misinformation, and deserves better. While I'm not expecting any great deal of popularity, if this account ever gains any momentum I'll do some larger breakdowns of some obscure topics that deserve more attention, like the Arabic Hermetica.
So for the handful of real humans out there reading this, if these topics interest you at all, any likes, shares, or follows is greatly appreciated, and I'll be posting semi-regularly. Bless you all.
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“The One is out of reach of every rational process. Nor can any words come up to the inexpressible Good, this One, this source of all unity. Mind beyond mind, word beyond speech, it is gathered up by no discourse, by no intuition, by no name.
It is and it is as no other being is.”
Dionysius the Areopagite
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