Christian Bull, expert on the way of Hermes in antiquity, discusses renunciation, immortalisation, and hypercosmic ascent in the hermetic texts. The podcast explores connections between hermetic texts and Gnosticism, the challenges of dating technical hermetica, the hermetic way as a means of knowing God and gaining knowledge of the cosmos, the concept of Guinea Chor and its connection to rebirth, ascetic practices and tests of a spiritual seeker, the importance of statues in ancient Egypt, and the presence of apocalyptic literature criticizing the rule of the Ptolemies and the Romans.