Symbolos
July-November 1947 - These issues contain a long study by François Ménard on 'The Hermetic Virgin', that addresses rather diverse questions, all however relating to the cosmological order as this is envisaged more particularly in traditional Western forms. The symbolism of the
'Hermetic vase', which corresponds to a certain aspect of the Virgin, is examined first; the author then seeks to explain the meaning of the 'Hermetic Wisdom' of Khunrath, drawing the conclusion that 'the Virgin is the essential principle of Hermeticism,' but that 'this aspect is nevertheless orthodox, that is to say that it is linked to the metaphysical domain which, as we know, is that of the supreme Principle', this link moreover corresponding to that which normally exists between 'royal art' and 'sacerdotal art'. Then, with regard to the Virgin as 'Light of Glory', we find a kind of scientific fantasy on the 'coronal light'. This is regrettable in our opinion, first because things of this kind have only a rather hypothetical character, and then also because, like everything inspired by profane science, they really have nothing in common with traditional data, Hermetic or otherwise, but on the contrary recall rather too much the kind of speculation dear to occultists. We could say almost as much about 'the cycle of nitrogen and the web of the perceptible world,' although here the author has at least taken the precaution of pointing out, with regard to the force of which the different modalities constitute this 'web', that 'Hermeticism has the considerable advantage over modern science in knowing this force from the inside as it were, of having identified it with the light that is in man, and that it has recognized that, to a certain degree, his well-directed will can act on it and so obtain definite results, through a sure technique'. We for our part will say more clearly that in these two cases, Hermeticism and modern science, the knowledge involved is not in fact of the same order. The next question is that of the 'zodiacal Virgin', like the myth of Ceres to which it is related as a 'sign of earth'. This is followed by an outline of the different stages of Hermetic realization according to Dante's symbolic description in the Divine Comedy. In wanting to 'elucidate the hieroglyphic mystery of Hokmah,' the author has unfortunately committed a grave error: he has confused the final he with a heth, which, naturally, entirely distorts his calculation and his interpretation. As for his conclusion that 'the Hermetic Virgin, insofar as she is found to be in contact with sensible and material things, is the form of the Goddess (that is to say, of the Shakti), the best suited to the West and to our age of extreme materialism,' let us say that it seems somewhat in contradiction with the fact that, in the modern West, the traditional sciences are completely lost.