The Hermetica…Incarnation of the Soul

The Hermetica…Incarnation of the Soul

All souls share the same essential nature. They are neither male nor female, as such differentiating characteristics exist only in the body. All souls are a part of the one Soul of the Cosmos.

God has two servants which look after souls. The Keeper of Souls cares for disembodied souls, and the Conductor of Souls sends them down into physical incarnation. Nature creates the individual body into which a soul incarnates. The power that Hermes calls “Memory’ ensures that this body conforms to the universal ‘form’ of the human species. The power Hermes calls ‘Skill’ makes sure that each individual body is a fitting home for the particular soul it houses. 

Our individual characteristics are governed by the qualities of the gods presiding over the moment of our incarnation. If the gods present at our birth are peaceful, we will be peaceful by nature. If they are warlike, we will be aggressive. This is why astrologers say, for example, that those born at the time of Aries have certain characteristics whilst those born at the time of Capricorn have a different nature. Those gods who accompany the soul at the moment of birth affect the instinctual nature of the soul. Those that have their effect later in adolescence affect the rational part of the soul.

Before it incarnates, the soul is already wrapped in a spiritual body. When this wrapping is thin and clear, the soul is intelligent. However, when this wrapping is dense and opaque, the soul has limited vision and is only aware of its immediate situation. As a soul sinks into incarnation it forgets its own nature and takes on the qualities of the gods who have shut it into a human body. Hermes describes a vision of disembodied souls about to make their journey into a physical form. They are filled with fear and horror at the fate which awaits them. They cannot bear the prospect of such imprisonment. 

The Hermetica,
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy