h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Good on ya for writing an article that makes sense of hermeticism! Now that I am better informed, I can see that the lines between gnoticism and hermeticism are incredibly blurry; much of what Jesus says in the Nag Hammadi codices could be considered hermetic. Hermetics would probably snicker over the gnostic idea of the struggle between light and dark, but the two would be able to share a drink without having to go for their ideological pistols. The hermetic pursuit of enlightenment is much like the gnostic pursuit of Sophia, or wisdom. The reference to melatonin (forgive me for centuries of prejudice when I say "yuck!") makes me wonder, does hermeticism have a belief in sacred sex magic, like the gnostics?

Hermeticism & alchemy, the chicken and the egg...

If we consider the Sumerians (who appear to have been able to convert metals from their normal state to their high spun state to extract individual ingredients) the first alchemists, and Hermeticism logically couldn't have been invented until the appearance of Hermes, then you'd have to say that Alchemy came first and Hermeticism & Sacred sex are components of it, later refinements to a system already in place. And yet as Enki laid down with mortal women, perhaps we see here the prototype for scared sex... I don't think there's a straightforward answer to that question without entering into a much larger discussion. As I understand it, other sects practice sacred sex without practicing hermeticism. I'm thinking of the Tantric practices, for example. If you refer to the book 'The Elixir & The Stone', the details of which are on a different forum, they go to some lengths to explain the differences between Gnosticism and Hermeticism, and you may find the answer there. It will certainly go towards clearing up some of the similarities, which as you suggest are many.I will look in the meantime and post such answer as I can find.