CH XIII: The Secret Discourse on the Mountain

Treatise XIII of the Corpus Hermeticum, titled The Secret Discourse on the Mountain, represents the pinnacle of the "Way of Hermes" initiatory path.

The Mechanics of Rebirth

The dialogue features Hermes Trismegistus initiating his son, Tat. Tat complains that despite learning the general discourses, he has not experienced spiritual rebirth (Palingenesia). Hermes explains that rebirth cannot be taught through rational discourse; it is an ecstatic, silent experience where the divine Nous replaces the sensory faculties. The text details a specific ritual incantation designed to drive out the twelve material torments (the Zodiac) and invite in the ten divine powers (the Ogdoad), resulting in Tat's deification and his ability to see the universe not with physical eyes, but through the singular eye of the Mind.