Introduction

It was my pleasure to speak with Prof. Dr. Wouter Hanegraaff about his new book, Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination: Altered States of Knowledge in Late Antiquity. As Wouter preferred not to give a general summary, I chose four very important themes of the book to discuss: what the Hermetica is really all about; the notion of embodiment in the Hermetic texts; the difficult but extremely important task of interpreting the ancient texts; and the importance of the faculty of the imagination - not only within the Hermetica, but also for the scholar trying to understand what the texts are actually saying. 
Wouter does an excellent job of explaining the terms gnosis and nous (that Wouter calls the "hero of the book") and how they are used within the Hermetic texts; these terms are crucial for the rest of the discussion.  Following the four themes, Wouter discusses in more detail how Platonism influenced the Hermetica, how Gadamer's concept of hermeneutics plays a role in the process of understanding these texts, the paradox of how we think about the term imagination, and how Wouter tries to 'systematically privilege weirdness' when studying the Hermetic texts. 

PROGRAM NOTES

Wouter's website: Home | Wouter Hanegraaff- Hoogleraar - UVA (wouterjhanegraaff.net)
List of publications: Books | Wouter Hanegraaff (wouterjhanegraaff.net)
Links to new book: Hermetic spirituality and historical imagination altered states knowledge late antiquity | History of religion | Cambridge University Press
Hermetic Spirituality and the Historical Imagination: Altered States of Knowledge in Late Antiquity: Hanegraaff, Wouter J.: 9781009123068: Amazon.com: Books

Corpus Hermeticum: The Corpus Hermeticum & Hermetic Tradition -- The Gnostic Society Library (gnosis.org)
Poimandres: Poimandres—Corpus Hermeticum I | The Matheson Trust
The Asclepius: The Perfect Sermon, or The Asclepius I - The Corpus Hermeticum - Sacred Texts - Hermetic Library

Plato:
Symposium: The Internet Classics Archive | Symposium by Plato (mit.edu)
Phaedrus: The Internet Classics Archive | Phaedrus by Plato (mit.edu)

Tommy Cowan, MA (res)
(99+) What Most People Would Call Evil: The Archontic Spirituality of William S. Burroughs | Tommy P Cowan - Academia.edu
(99+) Archontic States of Consciousness in Twentieth-century Neuromancy | Tommy P Cowan - Academia.edu
 

Hans-Georg Gadamer
Hans-Georg Gadamer (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Gadamer, Hans-Georg | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (utm.edu)
Hermeneutics: Gadamer’s Hermeneutics - Northwestern University Press

Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Derrida, Jacques | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (utm.edu)

History of Hermetic Philosophy and Related Currents (University of Amsterdam): HHP | History of Hermetic Philosophy and related currents (amsterdamhermetica.nl)

Theme music: Daniel P. Shea

Other music: Stephanie Shea