hermeticism
1
9.9
- noun
- /hɜrˈmɛtɪsɪzəm/
:
hermetismo
- Many scholars are fascinated by hermeticism because it combines elements of mysticism and ancient philosophy.
And yeah, next thing you know, I'm studying like Hermeticism and Gnosticism and Rosicrucianism and the wisdom traditions and things like that.
- And yeah, next thing you know, I'm studying like Hermeticism and Gnosticism and Rosicrucianism and the wisdom traditions and things like that.
Examples
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And yeah, next thing you know, I'm studying like Hermeticism and Gnosticism and Rosicrucianism and the wisdom traditions and things like that.
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The book explores the influence of hermeticism on modern spiritual practices and its historical roots.
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His sexual abstinence is thus closely linked to his metaphysical project of total hermeticism.
Academic text (2003) -
My father saw more than I; he's studied different philosophies as well as Rosicrucianism and Hermeticism.
Blog text (30) -
The second problem has been the hermetic character of modernist criticism and, together with this hermeticism, the extensive self-analysis of artists themselves, which this criticism has often seen as sufficient.
Academic text (1990) -
In America, this high-culture Hermeticism combined with a less elite brew that included imported English country magic and Continental mystical species of millennialism and Native American and African American lore.
Academic text (2010) -
In The Elixir and the Stone (see What I've Been Reading), Baigent and Leigh quote at length from the novelist Thomas Mann as a twentieth-century artist influenced by Hermeticism.
Blog text (30) -
He dedicated years to studying hermeticism, believing it held the secrets of the universe.
Synonyms
20
9.8
Beliefs about secret supernatural powers and practices
11
9.4
Belief in direct personal contact with the divine through deep prayer or meditation
3
9.9
The study and practice of magic and secret powers
Surface Forms
Morphology
hermeticism = hermetic (semi-transparent) = hermetic + ism
The formation 'hermetic' + '-ism' is regular and signals a system of doctrine, but 'hermetic' is specialized and historically specific, so many learners would not infer the full meaning.
Etymology
Hermeticism comes from the name Hermes Trismegistus, an ancient wise teacher whose writings are called the Hermetica. Those books were seen as teaching 'hidden' or 'secret' knowledge about nature and the spirit, so hermeticism grew to mean the mystical and alchemical ideas based on them. You can also see the same root in hermetic, which often means 'closed' or 'secret', and that helps explain the modern meaning.