Hercules:

 

Hercules:

 

“Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”

TO HERCULES.

HEAR, strenuous Hercules, untam'd and strong,

To whom grand works and powerful hands belong,

Titan untam'd, rejoicing and benign,

Of various forms, eternal and divine.

Father of Time, the theme of gen'ral praise,

Ineffable, adored in various ways,

Magnanimous, in divination skill'd,

And in thy athletic labours of the field.

'Tis thine, strong archer, all things to devour,

Supreme, all-helping, all-producing pow'r.

To thee mankind as their deliv'rer pray,

Whose arm can chase the savage tribes away.

Unweary'd, earth's best blossom, offspring fair,

To whom calm peace and peaceful works are dear.

Self-born, with primogenial fires you shine,

And various names, and strength of heart are thine:

Thy mighty head supports the morning light,

And bears, untam'd, the silent gloomy night;

From east to west, endu'd with strength divine,

Twelve glorious labours to absolve is thine;

Supremely skill'd, thou reign'st in heav'n's abodes,

Thyself a God, amidst thy immortal Gods.

With arms unshaken, infinite, divine,

Come, blessed pow'r, and to our rites incline;

The mitigations of disease convey,

And drive disastrous maladies away.

Come, shake the branch with thy almighty arm,

Dismiss thy darts, and noxious fate disarm.

Hercules is the most well-known of all the Greek heroes and he symbolizes the struggle of the Great Work, via the Herculean tasks. Although he is associated with the Holy Guardian Angel, he is not, the Angel. Heroes should rather be equated to Demigods for convenience, indeed they are in a certain respect, more venerable, than the Gods themselves. The reason for this is, that they are more real, and communication or union with the Gods and their offices only serve to prepare one for encountering these Heroes. Hercules is thus symbolic of divine inspiration, as representing the True Will, the True Will is realized in Tiphareth, however the influence of the Heroes is established via the connection between an adept and Binah along with Jupiter, hence Chesed being the Sphere of the Devas. The Devas are gods who may choose to incarnate, similar to the Secret Chiefs or the Bodhisatvas and these gods are the equivalent of the Orphic idea of Heroes in relation to the planetary orbs, and Madam Blavatsky’s idea of the Hidden Mahatmas. So, as Iamblichus taught, once K&C is attained, the Theurgist must give his Soul over to the superintendence of a God, by this, I believe he meant the Secret Chiefs or Heroes. 

These Heroes are present in all magickal traditions and this has in the past been noted, it suggests to me, that they present an individual’s connection to tradition. As, what they represent, is the unfolding of Being, the individual’s relationship to the divine is the vehicle for this unfoldment, which they render the expression of. Thus, they become, in a sense, that which is manifested on Earth through an adept’s connection to Heaven via Binah, this is understood in Thelemic parlance as the True Will. The True Will is what orders the Great Work but cannot do so, unless it has been grounded in tradition, and this is where these entities come in as being symbolic of Phanes' relationship with Aether, who, it’s said created Heaven and Earth. Therefore, these Heroes, are indicative of the Daughter, having taken the place of the Mother, as representing the cycle of creation, thus evolution. Contact with Demigods ensures that the evolution is guided in a specific direction, via the Will of a magician. The importance of the Heroes is thus, that they are the expression of the Soul's will.

Tiphareth is said to be the first summit, where an adept gets a glimpse at the Unity, although we could say that it is also at Tiphareth, that he gets a proper look at Phanes. The impression from an adept's encounter with his True Self is what summons the Heroes, which equates to the True Will. As Tiphareth joins the Astral and Ethical Triads and Chesed joins the Supernal and Ethical Triads, interaction with the Demigods is what joins Heaven and Earth and becomes the means by which equilibrium is re-established. This expresses the difficulty of the task and how the story of the Herculean task has been formulated, to express this idea. 

“Since, according to Orpheus, there is an intellectual which is the source of the sensible world; the former containing in a primary and causal manner what the latter comprehends secondarily and sensibly; hence the former contains an intellectual heaven and earth, not like the material existing in place, and conversant with the circulations of time; but subsisting immaterially in the stable essence of eternity.”

The above quote is concerned with the creative influence from the Supernal Triad, as in this Theology, Saturn is also called Intellectual Heaven and Earth and is establishing that the influence from the Heroes proceeds from this Triad. Thus, the Heroes are clearly established as Gods, but more than that, they link the sensible to the intellectual and are said to subsist within “the stable essence of eternity” establishing their connection with the Spirit, hence we can see the connection between these Heroes and the Holy Guardian Angel. "Now as Hercules is celebrated in this hymn as the Sun, and the Sun is the same with Hyperion, the reason is obvious why Hercules is called " Earth's best blossom.""  However, they are of an inspirational quality and still don’t form part of the Soul, in the strict sense of the word. Deducing from the above expressed nature and asking the question, what is immortality? I conclude that their relevance, is only expressed within the framework of tradition, and gives us the reason for their diverse natures, as being universally present. Therefore, once dialogue with the Heroes has been established, a person is integrating their influence, which becomes an expression of the dialogue between the individual Soul and the All-Soul. Their influence becomes prophetic, as it is interpreted by a Soul that has harmonized with the Gods and is grounded in having an affinity with the Demigods, who are guiding this influence. "In this divine world another sun and moon and stars shine with intellectual light; for every thing there is perfectly lucid, light continually mingling with light. From this heaven and earth resident in the intellectual Phanes, Orpheus, according to Proclus, derives the sublunary orders of the Gods;..." 

“Phanes, as we are informed by Athenagoras, is denominated by Orpheus Hercules and Time. Hence, we see the reason why Hercules in this hymn is said "to shine with primogenial fires;" since he is no other than Protogonus in the intelligible and intellectual worlds, and the Sun in the sensible world.”

Once the 'Vision of Beauty' is experienced, a person gets a look at Phanes, who is said to be absorbed and revealed by Chesed. It is this vision that unfolds the true nature of the All and can only be expressed by one’s direct relationship to the Supernal Light, both of which are unconsciously perceived at this point, as the True Will and symbolically represented in the subject of this essay. The above quote is a perfect representation of The Hermit ATU in the Thoth Tarot, which is a visual depiction of Jupiter’s influence. Wherein the card, the Hermit is holding the World Egg, which is symbolic of Phanes, in his right hand and the lamp he carries in his left is the Sun and symbolic of Tiphareth, thus, the Hermit himself reflects the connection between Jupiter and the Sun and the unfolding of Being for an adept.

“Love under will, love under will.”