Temple of the Hermetic one


Many people are aware of Zeus.* Even non-pagans know him. He is easily the most popular divinity outside of Abrahamism. But, did you know Zeus is actually threefold and serves different purposes throughout the entire divine hierarchy?

Julian, the beloved last pagan emperor of Rome, referred to him as “Zeus-Helios” in some cases.

But wait, aren’t those two separate gods? The answer is a bit more complicated than that.

This refers to the concept of realms (as outlined by Iamblichus, Plato, and Hermes). These are intellectual spheres that overlap with ours. We are not disconnected from them, but only the first two are even remotely intelligible to us. I would liken this complexity to a high-school student getting thrown into a doctorate class on thermodynamics. None of what they will hear will make sense, but that doesn’t make it untrue. It just means they are *currently* incapable of understanding it and need to increase their knowledge and understanding of it.

But enough about that, let’s discuss Zeus’s three roles in the universe.

SUB-LUNAR (our perceivable realm via senses, Earth and Matter): Zeus has dominion over the entire earth, including the gods who hold their offices here as well. With that said, Zeus is the God of boundaries and property, and bears the title of DEMIURGE. Through his guidance, work, and gods like Hephaestus, he crafted the world.

ENCOSMIC(Heavenly): Just like the Sub Lunar, Zeus-Helios also holds a place here as the Celestial Demiurge who created the entire galaxy and celestial bodies. Within the Encosmic, Zeus-Helios also governs the visible sun. We only see a fraction of the sun here and cannot look at it for very long directly because it would blind us. As the visible sun, Zeus-Helios casts light through the entire chain of planets. This is his role in the Encosmic realm within our perceived cosmos: Illuminator, life supporter, and stabilizer. All of us, including the planets, revolves around the sun.

HYPER-COSMIC: This Zeus is completely unknowable to us, because the Hyper Cosmic realm is so complex (refer to the Thermodynamic class scenario). We shall refer to this as Zeus-Phanes. To give you an example, we see the effects of time, and we understand being conscious. But, do we fully understand how either of them works (in their entirety)? Absolutely not. Once upon a time, it was Phanes who governed the entire cosmos. After Zeus overthrew his father, he absorbed Phanes and received the Scepter of the Universe, which allowed him to completely restructure the entire universe at his sole will.

So, how do we reach all three of his manifestations? Simple: by the name “Zeus” in prayer. As Plotinus wrote, prayer is likened to strumming a chord; what vibrates from the bottom, vibrates the entire length of the chord.

Let us conclude this lesson with a small prayer to Zeus.

Maximus, Stator, Intellectual Supreme.
Master, Craftsmen, whom the gods call King
Lord of the Earth, of the Cosmos, First Link of the Chain
From your rule we acknowledge, from your splendor we gain
God who knows no malice, only benevolence to bless
For you shaped the heavenly cosmos, time and necessity in your caress.

* The name Zeus originates in the old Indo-European Dyeus, from a root meaning “sky” or “shine”. Hence Deus, Dios, etc. – Ed.

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