Hermetic Archetypes

This is only one potential scheme.

Monad – Ever-present silent stillness.

Sun – The Teacher
Moon – The Caretaker

Salt – Id. One’s instinctual and emotional drives, similar to the epithymia and eros.
Mercury – Ego. One’s identity and sense of virtue, similar to ethos.
Sulphur – Superego. One’s analytical mind and goal-driven sense of reason, similar to the logistikon.

Earth – Discipline. Also associated with the Melancholic Temperament, characterized by cautiousness.
Water – Wisdom. Essentially one’s maturity and perspective. Also associated with the Phlegmatic Temperament, characterized by introspection.
Air – Intellect. Essentially one’s capacity to reason, problem solve, and remember. Also associated with the Sanguine Temperament, characterized by extroversion.
Fire – Will. Essentially passion and motivation. Also associated with the Choleric temperament, characterized by aggression.

I’ve been thinking about how to best describe these archetypes for years now and, ironically, I feel like I finally found the best way to describe them now that I am no longer enmeshed in Hermeticism. Perhaps they will be of use to someone else, probably one of those people that collect long-running lists of Hermetic correspondences.

I’m open to discussing why I came to the understandings that I have here.

(Discussion in ‘Pagan‘ started by Ella S. 17/04/2022)

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