Hello good friends! I apologize that this post has been so delayed. It's been an interesting week at work and to be honest? I feel like I kinda ran out of content on this one. But I do love Hermes, so I want to give him a fair go.
Hermes is just an all around great guy. He's also just a very all around guy. Last time I said that Apollo had a very miscellaneous nature? Well sometimes it seems like anything Apollo didn't pick up went to Hermes. Hermes is often called the God of Travelers and Roads. Which doesn’t sound like it would make him a top-echelon deity - after all Janus, the two-faced god of doorways and new beginnings and decisions, etc. isn't in the pantheon. But Hermes is much more. He is the God of Borders and of crossing over them - the God not only of arriving safely at your destination wherever that may be, of making a living as either a Merchant OR a highwayman and thief - but he is also the god of crossing the border between this world and the next - be that Hades or by it Olympos. He is also the God of Sport, for whatever reason, and of trickery. But he is not what I would call a classical trickster god - he's not Loki, and he rarely plays the villain, despite being a thief and a trickster. Those are just... charms of his personality. Hermes' cunning is commendable, and his abilities unworldly, even for the gods. Let's start as usual with his origin story.
Hermes is the son of Zeus by - you guessed it - Not Hera. Specifically, he is the son of Maia, one of the Pleiades - the seven daughters of Atlas, who we will get to later. Maia had it easier than Metis and Leto in some ways, as she seems to be one of the very few lovers Zeus took whom Hera never found out about (or never found out about until her child was fully grown). I say lovers… She wasn’t really Zeus’ lover. He definitely - you guessed it again - raped her. Big yikes. We don’t know a lot about Maia, but we know that after having this terrible crime committed against her and finding herself pregnant by Zeus, she secluded herself in a cave. Whether this was to avoid Hera or just because she wanted to be alone, you can judge. In either case she brought the child to term and gave birth to Hermes.
Now you might think that having a God of Mischeif as a child might be a nightmare, and I'm sure he was a handful, but as a child Hermes wanted nothing more than to make his mother happy and proud. To this end, he actually invented the Lyre, a stringed instrument often associated with Apollo. On it he played new music no one had ever heard before. The reason Hermes isn’t normally tied to this important creation of his is because the OTHER thing he did in the name of helping his mother is to steal an entire herd of cattle! Now I don't know why this would have helped, but I guess the god of thieves couldn't help himself. Now these weren’t just any cattle. They were the sacred white cows of the Sun, and they belonged to Apollo. Hermes snuck in one night and tied brushes to the cow’s tails, so that as they walked, they wiped away their own tracks, then he drove them all away. Apollo came back and found not only no cows, but no trace of their escape! But as I said before, Helios, the sun, sees all, and he helped Apollo track down his cows. When Apollo found young Hermes, he was upset but impressed, and brought the matter of the theft before the Gods, where it was agreed that Hermes could keep the cows if he paid Apollo for them, and in payment Hermes gave Apollo his lyre.
I’m having trouble remembering many other tales about Hermes at the moment (this blog post has been delayed because I kept thinking that if I gave myself some time I could think up some Hermes stories...) Mostly, Hermes is known for his powers more than any specific legends. Hermes can fly and run faster than anyone else, faster than the wind. He has wings on his sandals and on his helm. He can fly without these, but they are his major symbols. He is the Messenger of the Gods, and travels between the world of Olympus and Earth and Hades several times a day. Hermes always seems to have one foot in another world. It can make him seem a bit of a mystic. And since he has this ability, it is also part of his job to help escort the souls of the dead down to the gates of Hades. (We’ll get into this later, but there are four+ people responsible for different parts of a soul’s journey, including Thanatos, Hermes, Charon, and Hades in that order).
Hermes has a lot of jobs, but primarily Hermes is the god of travelers, so monuments to him were built along most roads, especially at crossroads, called Herms. These started as simple cairns (stacked stones), but later became small (or large!) pillars topped with a bust or Hermes. The other thing these pillars had was an erect penis… because… that was the important part of Hermes? I guess? Some of the waymarkers are literally just stone penises. The ancient greeks Really. Really. REALLY. Liked penises. Like. I cannot emphasize enough the amount of penis in Greek statuary.
One of the most interesting stories to do with these isn’t actually about Hermes, but since I’m on the subject - there is a real life story from the history of greece, during the Peloponnesian War (~430 BC), there was an Athenian general named Alkibiades. He was a friend (and possible lover) of Socrates, and the most playboy playboy who ever playboyed (that’s a verb now). Alkibiades’ life story is full of intrigue, and through the course of the war he switched sides not once but THREE times. This started when Alkibiades was sent out on an expedition in the name of Athens, but the night before he left someone - maybe a political rival, maybe Alki himself - went around Athens at night and desecrated as many Herms as they could find. And by desecrated, I mean they cut the penises off. Rightfully or not, this was soon blamed on Alkibiades, who by this time was off on campaign. He was recalled, but instead of going home just to be exiled, Alkibiades defected to the Spartan army, offering up secrets of Athenian strategy. This lasted him a while, until one of the Kings of Sparta found Alkibiades in bed with his wife, after which Alki fled to Persia, again offering to help them with his knowledge of Athens. He used his political wiles to outwit Persia, though, for his hometown of Athens’ gain, and in the end he did make it home, and was reinstated as a general, if you can believe it or not. He was very successful as a general, very tactical, good at making alliances. But somehow he’s mostly remembered for being in love with Sokrates and for the incident with the Herms.
Anyway. Back to the god. Hermes. He's not the most powerful of Gods, but he's very good to have on your side, and is generally very benevolent. He's a guide, he watches over, he's a blessing. Shockingly few stories deal with Hermes' rage or offense or anything like that. He's a chill dude. Very different than most other trickster gods.
Finding Hermes in modern day is interesting, because he's been through so many variations. For instance you've probably heard the phrase "Hermetically sealed". This is... kind of... based on Hermes' name. You see, there is another figure - who from what I can tell bears almost NO relation to the god Hermes except in name and in symbol (the caduseus) called Hermes Trismegistus. This other figure/tradition is important to things like alchemy (whence came the process of hermetically sealing a glass) and deistic mysticism, and various such things. So when you're looking for direct influence, it's hard to seperate Hermes and Hermes Trismegistus.
I suppose the most glaringly obvious use of Hermes is in our modern iconography. His symbols - The Caduceus and his winged sandles and helm - have made it pretty much untouched into modern day without really losing their meaning. Which is impressive! Winged sandles mean haste and safe travel to this day. The caduceus, interestingly, is a bit of a different story. The Caduceus - a rod surmounted by wings and surrounded by two entwined serpents, or simply a rod with two entwined serpents on the top - is technically NOT a symbol for the medical field, and never really has been. It's the magic rod or staff of Hermes, and should therefore be associated with travel and trade and the like. However, the Caduceus is normally mistaken for ANOTHER greek symbol - the Rod of Asclepius. Which is just a rod with a snake on it. We'll get to Asclepius later once we're done with the Pantheon.
The most obvious image of Hermes in modern day is DC comic's The Flash. He's basically... just Hermes. He's got Hermes' powers and even part of his costume. He's a bit "in-two-worlds" in that there are a lot of versions of Flash and he tends to make weird temporal problems, etc. You could argue the same about Marvel's Quicksilver, but really, The Flash is just Hermes. And the original comics weren't even subtle about it. Comic Books are and have always been Modern Mythologies. I could do a whole other post series on this, but there are a LOT of modern mythologies. Superman is a mythology, but so is George Washington, and the Alamo. It does not matter if something is history or fiction. It's all mythology.
Man I need to write a whole other post about this. But let's finish up with our boy Hermes first.
What truth does Hermes relay, and what danger does he pose? This is not an easy question for me, and is most of the reason this post has come so late.
Let's start with truth. How can our image of Hermes help us to better understand and praise God? I think the thing Hermes tells us most about God is how he watches over us. Due to the Herms, Hermes was an ever present reality to anyone travelling in Greece. There were reminders everywhere of his presence. They were so present they could be easy to ignore (until the penises go cut off, apparently). Sometimes we need these reminders (hopefully without the penises). It's why we hang crosses over everything. To remind us. The Almighty watches our comings and goings, our day to day lives. And he knows that crossroads and boundaries are important. There is a reason that God commanded his children Israel,
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates" (Deut. 6:7-9)God knows that we need reminders. And the Greeks knew it too. Hermes' ever present protection should remind us that we, too, serve a God who is ever watchful - a great deal more so than Hermes. He is a God who sees all, who is not bound by time or space, but witnesses all eternity. A God has promised to be with us, in waking and sleeping, now and forever. In this life and the life to come.
As for danger, there are two ways I could go. The first is to embrace Hermes' nature of having one foot in this world and one foot in another. This is kind of embracing the Hermes Trismigustus, mystic side. It's not unlike what I mentioned for Apollo. There are a lot of things people believe - from mild superstition to deeply felt spirituality - which hinge on their or other's connection to The Beyond. And the idea that if we could only step outside of ourselves we would find Truth. Truth that we have always known, deep down. Etc. But all of that aside, I think there is another much more subtle and obvious danger of the modern Cult of Hermes: Efficiency.
If Hermes stands for one thing, it's SPEED. And speed is something our culture is obsessed with. Speed, efficiency, and instant gratification. These are things we pour our efforts into and hang our hopes and lives on. It is one of the defining aspects of modern American capitalism - why buy local when Amazon can have it at your door in 2 days tops? And it damages people's lives. If you don't believe this, please go and look up any given news story about Amazon employees. But also look at other everyday people. People like you and me who so often act as if if I can't have it NOW, then I don't need it. And not just products! If I can't be good at drawing the first time, then I'm not going to do it. If I don't loose weight the first time I go to the gym, then what is the point? We guard our time like hoarding dragons, or spend it on a thousand little activities to make us feel useful, productive, efficient. When it comes to business, speed is the name of the game. But it's not constrained to the marketplace. Honestly, the fact that "business" and "busyness" are basically the same word says a lot.
I should go into this more but I really want to get this post finally published. What says in your life to you worship Haste? Where has Speed become your priority? And where have you forgotten that God watches over you? Heavy questions, but freeing ones.
Thanks for reading.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.
R
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