455
In the beginning was the Word, the Logos, who is Mercury, and is therefore to be identified with 
Christ. Both are messengers; their birth mysteries are similar; the pranks of their childhood are 
similar. In the Vision of the Universal Mercury, Hermes is seen descending upon the sea, which 
refers to Maria. The Crucifixion represents the caduceus; the two thieves, the two serpents; the 
cliff in the Vision of the Universal Mercury is Golgotha; Maria is simply Maia with the solar R in her 
womb. 
The controversy about Christ between the synoptics and John was really a contention between the 
priests of Bacchus, Sol and Osiris, also, perhaps, of Adonis and Attis, on the one hand, and those of 
Hermes on the other, at that period when initiation all over the world found it necessary, owing to 
the growth of the Roman empire, and the opening up of means of communication, to replace 
conflicting polytheisms by a synthetic faith. (This is absolutely new to me, this conception 
{720} 
of Christ as Mercury.) Some difficulty about the ... (This sentence is now quite unintelligible.) 
To continue the identification, compare Christ's descent into hell with the function of Hermes as 
guide of the dead. Also Hermes leading up Eurydice, and Christ raising up Jairus' daughter. Christ is 
said to have risen on the third day, because it takes three days for the planet Mercury to become 
visible after separating from the orb of the sun. (It may be noted here that Mercury and Venus are 
the planets between us and the sun, as if the Mother and the Son were mediators between us and 
the Father.) 
Note Christ as the Healer, and also his own expression, "The son of Man cometh as a thief in the 
night"; and also this scripture (Matt. XXIV, 27), "For as the lightning cometh out of the east and 
shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." 
Note also Christ's relations with the money changers, his frequent parables, and the fact that his 
first disciple was a publican. 
Note also Mercury as the deliverer of Prometheus. 
One half of the fish symbol is also common to Christ as Mercury; fish are sacred to Mercury (owing 
presumably to their quality of movement). (This I did not know before.) Many of Christ's disciples 
were fishermen and he was always doing miracles in connexion with fish. 
Note also Christ as the mediator: "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me", and Mercury as 
Chokmah through whom alone we can approach Kether. 
The caduceus contains a complete symbol of the Gnosis; the winged sun or phallus represents the 
joy of life on all planes from the lowest to the highest. The Serpents, besides being active and 
passive, Horus and Osiris, and all their other well-known attributions are those qualities of Eagle 
and Lion respectively, of which we know but do not speak. It is the symbol which unites the 
Microcosm and the Macrocosm, the symbol of the Magical Operation which accomplishes this. The 
caduceus is the universal solvent. It is quite easy to turn quicksilver into gold on the physical plane, 
and this will soon be done. New life will flow through the world in consequence. The god now lays 
his caduceus upon my lips for silence; bidding me only remember that on the following night he is to 
come in another form. 
The temple was then closed. 
Our occasional failures produced results as striking and instructive as our successes. For instance, 
having made an error in invoking Mercury, and thus having created a current of force contrary to his 
nature, we observed that events of a Mercurial character, no matter how normal, failed to occur. 
For