From old Egypt have come the fundamental esoteric19esoteric 秘伝的な、深遠な（少数の入門者にのみ伝えられる内なる教え） and occult teachings which have so strongly influenced the philosophies of all races, nations and peoples, for several thousand years. Egypt, the home of the Pyramids and the Sphinx, was the birthplace of the Hidden Wisdom and Mystic Teachings. From her Secret Doctrine20Secret Doctrine 秘密の教義（大衆に公開されないヘルメス主義の核心的教え） all nations have borrowed. India, Persia, Chaldea, Medea, China, Japan, Assyria, ancient Greece and Rome, and other ancient countries partook liberally at the feast of knowledge which the Hierophants21Hierophants 秘義の祭司たち（古代の秘儀宗教において神聖な教えを伝える祭司） and Masters of the Land of Isis so freely provided for those who came prepared to partake of the great store of Mystic and Occult Lore which the masterminds of that ancient land had gathered together.

In ancient Egypt dwelt the great Adepts22Adepts 霊的到達者たち（長い修行と悟りにより高い境地に達した者たち） and Masters who have never been surpassed, and who seldom have been equaled, during the centuries that have taken their processional flight since the days of the Great Hermes. In Egypt was located the Great Lodge of Lodges of the Mystics. At the doors of her Temples entered the Neophytes23Neophytes 修練生、初心者（秘伝の教えに入門したばかりの初歩の修行者） who afterward, as Hierophants, Adepts, and Masters, traveled to the four corners of the earth, carrying with them the precious knowledge which they were ready, anxious, and willing to pass on to those who were ready to receive the same. All students of the Occult recognize the debt that they owe to these venerable24venerable 尊崇すべき、由緒ある Masters of that ancient land.

But among these great Masters of Ancient Egypt there once dwelt one of whom Masters hailed as “The Master of Masters.” This man, if “man” indeed he was, dwelt in Egypt in the earliest days. He was known as Hermes Trismegistus25Hermes Trismegistus ヘルメス・トリスメギストス（「三重に偉大なるヘルメス」。ヘルメス主義の伝説的創始者）. He was the father of the Occult Wisdom; the founder of Astrology26Astrology 占星術（星と惑星の動きが人間の事に影響を及ぼすとする学問）; the discoverer of Alchemy27Alchemy 錬金術（ヘルメス哲学では物質変換ではなく精神的変容の象徴）. The details of his life story are lost to history, owing to the lapse of the years, though several of the ancient countries disputed with each other in their claims to the honor of having furnished his birthplace—and this thousands of years ago. The date of his sojourn28sojourn 滞在、逗留（ある場所にしばらく留まること） in Egypt, in that his last incarnation on this planet, is not now known, but it has been fixed at the early days of the oldest dynasties of Egypt—long before the days of Moses. The best authorities regard him as a contemporary of Abraham, and some of the Jewish traditions go so far as to claim that Abraham acquired a portion of his mystic knowledge from Hermes himself.

As the years rolled by after his passing from this plane of life (tradition recording that he lived three hundred years in the flesh), the Egyptians deified Hermes, and made him one of their gods, under the name of Thoth29Thoth トート（エジプト神話の知恵と書記の神。ヘルメスと同一視される）. Years after, the people of Ancient Greece also made him one of their many gods—calling him “Hermes, the god of Wisdom.” The Egyptians revered his memory for many centuries—yes, tens of centuries—calling him “the Scribe of the Gods,” and bestowing upon him, distinctively, his ancient title, “Trismegistus,” which means “the thrice-great”; “the great-great”; “the greatest-great”; etc. In all the ancient lands, the name of Hermes Trismegistus was revered, the name being synonymous with the “Fount of Wisdom.”

Even to this day, we use the term “hermetic” in the sense of “secret”; “sealed so that nothing can escape”; etc., and this by reason of the fact that the followers of Hermes always observed the principle of secrecy in their teachings. They did not believe in “casting pearls before swine,” but rather held to the teaching “milk for babes”; “meat for strong men,” both of which maxims30maxims 格言、金言（人生の知恵や真理を簡潔に表現した言葉） are familiar to readers of the Christian scriptures, but both of which had been used by the Egyptians for centuries before the Christian era.