They were venerated in ancient Greek and Roman religion. They live on Mount Helicon, or Mount Parnassus (which is also found in the name of the Quartier Montparnasse in Paris, famous for its artists’ studios), or they sit near Mount Olympus (in any case, it’s always a high place, as a link between the Earth and the Sky…). They are the goddesses of Literature, Music, Dance and all artistic activities. The Muses are said to be daughters of Zeus and the goddess Mnemosyne (= Memory), they are the fruit of 9 nights of love between these deities. He will become the god of arts, beauty and aesthetics, accompanied by the procession of the Muses. Hermes is also considered as the protector of travelers.Īs we have just seen, Hermes and Apollo are closely linked to the lyre instrument, which Hermes created and gave to Apollo. Sticking to movement and communication, Hermes is the one who leads the souls of the dead to the Underworld (the Psychopomp): he is the link between life and death, between the activity of the day and the silence/dreams of the night. He is linked to freedom of movement and sometimes in astrology, depending on his aspect, he can be a “player” and lead to misunderstandings, delays, hitches in movements and communications. He was therefore aware of the gods’ discussions and projects. In myth, Hermes was the messenger of the gods but also the one who served them. It is also said that he invented writing, dance and music, that is to say all forms of expression. Moreover, it is said that he himself chose to give to a woman for the first time, the power of speech. It is for all these reasons that Hermes is considered the god of public speaking, the god of the art of speaking well, and of the art of understanding what may seem obscure, but he chooses to reveal some parts of his personality whenever he wants… And Hermes can appear as “ hermetic” because he is not easily understood, he remains in a form of ambiguity.Īs like any being, Hermes also has dark attributes: cheating, slyness… He was the god of merchants, traders, but also of thieves, which reflects the duality in his personality. In Greece, an interpreter was called “ hermeneus” which gave “ hermeneutics“, which is the search for meaning and the art of interpretation. This is how Hermes will benefit from this talent. Later, Apollo will be very interested in the flute made by the ingenious Hermes and he will get it in return for lessons and apprenticeships on his gifts of prediction. But Apollo managed to find Hermes, with the help of an old man who was nearby and asked Hermes to give him the lyre he had just created in return for his oxen, because he loved the melodious sound of this instrument. The same day, his mischievousness pushed him to play a trick on the god Apollo by stealing his oxen and making them walk backwards so that their footprints were not in the right direction, leaving no clue on where they could have gone. He had the idea to empty this carapace, to stretch two rods of reed to maintain a frame for the instrument that he plans to create and stretched seven guts of ewe to make the strings: the lyre was created. He immediately had the idea of transforming the turtle’s shell, which resonated when he knocked on it, into a musical instrument: his artisanal, creative skills emerged from this episode. One of the most famous episodes recounted in the Homeric Hymns composed in his honor is that one day, at noon, as a young child, he had left the family home and, on the way, found a dead turtle. His mischievousness is not lacking, but so is his dexterity and mental alertness. ![]() Indeed, Hermes accomplishes feats as well as childish mischief and gets himself talked about in the Olympus from his earliest childhood. ![]() ![]() He’s also very clever, a lively mind who likes to talk, to communicate, to exchange, to debate… Let’s turn to Mythology to identify how is everything linked: Mercury or Hermes, is illustrated in many mythological episodes, while he’s still a very young child… The Gemini air sign is often associated with the Puer Aeternus, or “eternal child”, the mischievous teenager who experiments and wants to see for himself where his idea will lead him. Hermes’s legacy in the Zodiac wheel and the Gemini sign
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