The Hermetica…The Circle of Time

The Hermetica…The Circle of Time

Everything in the Cosmos is constantly changing. Things are born, pass away and come into existence again, like old plants dying each winter to return as new shoots each spring. All these changes, however, are governed by unchanging natural laws. In the way, therefore, it could also be said that the Cosmos is essentially changeless. 

Time regulates the natural processes of change in the Cosmos. It is measured by the recurring cycles of the stars and the sun, which revolve in fixed and permanent orbits. Unlike our modern picture of time as a straight line from the past to the future, Hermes sees time as a circle. A day is a circle of time which begins again when the sun rises each morning. The year is a circle of time measured by the Earth’s orbit around the sun. Vaster circles of time are expressed by the movements of the constellations of the stars. All of these cycles eventually bring things back to where they started. It is impossible to say where that is, however,, for a circle has no starting point – you cannot say where it begins and where it ends. 

Hermes ultimately points to a deeper understanding of time. The past has gone and does not exist. The future has yet to happen and does not exist. The present moment passes so quickly that it has no permanence. Before we have even said ‘now’, the moment has gone. We can never catch the present, so in what way could it be said to exist? This mystical insight into the illusory nature of time is a way to glimpse the Oneness of God, who exists beyond time. For God, there is no past, present and future – only eternity. Freeing ourselves from the illusion of time is yet another way we can experience God.

The Hermetica,
Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy