Thoth

[C.O.T.]

Didn't find any reference in the forum about this topic, so think that is time to give it his own reference. And is, maybe a personal duty being part of " The cult of Toth" that makes direct reference to this magic entity ( I know i write it in an incorrect spelling, but sorry, you know I'm terrible at spelling and grammar in any language).
The interest about Toth is important for any person interested in the development of the magic tough and practice of the magic worldwide and along , literally, of millenniums. So, who develops interest on this figure, quickly starts to pull of a line that start to bring himself to new connections along the ages, and a lot of ideas around the magical though.
Thoth was one of the divinities of the egiptian panteon, the one of the ibis head. This representation was chosen by the activity of the bis in the morning that spread their wings in front of the rising sun, the salutation to the sun. Being the sun the symbol of all knowledge. And sometimes depicted as a sit baboon, cause of the wisdom of that specie.
Was the god in charge of the writing and the knowledge, the science and the magic. And was for this last for what has been achieving interest along thousands of years. Got a Temple devoted to him at the Egiptian city of Hermiopolis, the name of the city itself was a reference to "city of Hermes" being Hermes Toth itself. Cause Greeks named it whit the name of his god Hermes, but ading the surname Trimegisto (tree times great) to differentiate him from the Greek one.
This was usual at that time, the romans referee to the norse Tor as " a kind of norse Zeus".

 

[skinny]

I'm getting a bit of knowledge of Thoth from Justin Sledge's ESOTERICA web channel.

What do you think of his overview?

 

[C.O.T.]

There are 40 books credited to Thoth himself, even some parts of the book of the death. Centuries after when the figure of Thoth have been brought to europe by the Greek conquerors, that took control of the Egyptian empire during the Ptolemaic ages. The name that adopted this second part of the Thotian ideas was still well know. Was through the figure of Hermes Trismegistus around the II bce. With this name and around the III ce. many more books were written giving credit to Hermes himself. It's supposed that it was a formula to recognise inspiration by the god itself. The number of Thotian-Hermetic volumes is huge, and still was even bigger cause not all have survived the pass of the times. Have to realize that from the times of the Temple of Hermiopolis in Egypt till the bizantine books from the III century, we are talking about a lapse of close to a millennium.
And this is a estimation having the bizantine books directly attributed as the end....cause, are the XX and XXI century books related to Thoth still Thoth books?... And the answer is that maybe yes.
Sledges channel is very interesting.

 

[AmStramGram]

For an historical perspective on the figure of Hermes Trismegistus, to those who can read French, I recommend the works of André-Jean Festugière, especially "La Révelation d'Hermes Trismegiste". Festugière was a cleric and translator of the hermetic corpus into French.

The introduction of "La Revelation d'Hermes Trismegiste" is an especially stimulating read, as it describes the slow shift of the Roman empire from a predominantly "social" and ritual religion towards a more personal and "spiritual" conception of faith. The "Hermetic" corpus was part of this phenomenon, although Christianity finally triumphed as the trendiest religion on the market.

It is not an "esoteric" read though, as Festugière acts as an historian. He never assumes that the books written under the name "Hermes Trismegistus" (or by a supposed initiated disciple of the aforementioned Hermes) indeed came from an actual Egyptian "Hermes". His analysis of the internal coherence of the various texts attributed to Hermes Trismegistus actually do not really accredit the thesis of a single author, anyway. We should remember that in the past it was common practice to write under the name of some famous character.

For those who are interested, most Hermetic manuscripts are available in Greek - French or Coptic - French at the "Librairie des Belles Lettres" (and so are father Festugière's works) :

The collection in which the Hermetic works are translated : https://www.lesbelleslettres.com/contributeur/hermes-trismegiste

Father Festugière's works : https://www.lesbelleslettres.com/contributeur/andre-jean-festugiere

Good luck to the brave who'll manage to read everything !