The Poimandres as a Visionary Revelation

The Poimandres, the first triktate in the Corpus Hermeticum, is a text that presents a visionary revelation. Unlike the dominant scholarly perspective, which focuses on the mythological account, the true importance lies in the narrative of the visionary. The main emphasis is on the first seven sections of the text, which describe Hermes being confronted with the vision of Poimandres, the divine news. The moment of gazing into each other's eyes signifies a radical realization that there is no distinction between the subject and the object. The visionary discovers that he himself is divine, and there is no difference between him and the ultimate reality of the news.