A young man wearing a white tunic and red cape stands at a crossroads. His body posture indicates “as above, so below.” Before him is a rock upon which are a chalice, a sword, a caduceus (wand) and a pentacle.
Crossroads:
- place of meeting with transcendent powers
- a statue of Hermes stood guard at crossroads and forks in the road, both to honor him and to invoke his blessings on the traveler, wanderer and homeless
- the unknown – hazard, choice, destiny, supernatural powers
- the union of opposites
- the meeting place of time and space
- image of human fears and hopes at a moment of choice
Cloak:
- power, protection, separation, metamorphosis, concealment
- separation from the materialistic world
- emblem of divine protection
- symbol of dignity and position
- means of hiding man’s true nature (while the tunic reveals man’s true nature)
Cup:
- the Cup of Fortune, especially fortune in love
- the heart; feelings and emotions
Sword:
- the cutting edge of the mind and its power
- authority, justice, judgment
Pentacle:
- sudden good luck
- Hermes was patron of merchants and businessmen
- health and harmony
- microcosm of the human body and mind
Wand:
- represents all opposites – good and evil, male and female, light and dark, etc
- supernatural powers and magical transformation
- untapped and limitless potential
Hermes:
- patron of travelers, patron of all forms of communication, patron of thieves and liars, ruler of magic and divination, and bringer of sudden good luck and changes in fortune
- known as the Trickster because of his deceitful and ambiguous nature, yet he’s also the messenger of the gods and the guide of souls into the underworld
- he is the child of spiritual light (from his father, Zeus) and primordial darkness (from his mother, Maia)
- his red and white clothes reflect the mixture of earthly passions and spiritual clarity that are part of his nature
- Apollo gave him the gift of divination
- as master of the four elements, Hermes taught man the skills of geomancy (earth divination), pyromancy (fire divination), hydromancy (water divination) and aeromancy (air divination)
- his presence suggests that there is within each of us the foresight and the resources, which are hidden from consciousness, to divine what direction to take and what choices to make; he represents the unconscious power within that looks after us and that appears at the most difficult and critical moments to offer guidance and wisdom that penetrate the mind, the imagination, the heart and the body
- he doesn’t come when called, but will show up as disturbing dreams, a chance meeting with someone who turns out to be a catalyst in one’s journey, a sudden hunch or the realization that one knows more than one thought
- he’s a reminder that following the inner guide doesn’t always mean making safe choices or ones that guarantee results
I completed my workbook exercise on 3 Aug 91. My key color was light blue, which I used to color Hermes himself, his cloak and the paths. I wrote the following about the card:
Hermes is blue because he knows the truth and his tunic is white to reflect his clarity of vision. The two paths reflect truth and secretiveness where the self is concerned. The sword represents clearness of mind, the pentacles represent greed, the cup represents love, and the wand represents determination accompanied by strength and clarity of vision.
Rodney