I am lost. I will be honest. Hermes has been difficult for me. I have been lost since I started focussing on him in my life, partly because unlike my other focusses to date, I have had trouble pinning him down.
The Historical aspects of Hermes are easy enough to figure out, information is available all over the internet, but they seem to me to be very different from what the God brings to bear in my life as I try to contemplate him. Even just checking theoi.com, you come up with many important aspects of the God.
Hermes is God of
- Animal Husbandry
- Heralds
- Birds of Omen
- Trickery
- Trade
- Merchants
- Thieves (not theft)
- Language
- Craftiness
- Roads
- Travel
- Hospitality
- Feasts and Banquets
- Protector of the Home
- Guide of the Dead
- Dreams of Omen
- Rustic Divination
- Contests
- Gymnasiums
- "The Games"
- Astronomy
- Calendars
- Rustic Music, Poetry, and Animal Fables
By just looking at that list, I can see the problem. There is so much Hermes represents, historically, that seems so far from my daily experience of life tat I have a hard time exploring him in a way that would give me the kind of meditative benefits I need.
But, it seems, Hermes is also a God who is part of your life on a daily basis. You travel every day, you look up at the stars all the time, you feast to celebrate your family and friends, no? So maybe I need to look back and seek to understand how Hermes affects the way I look at my entire relationship with the Gods. After all, as a God of communication, does he not also serve as the God who facilitates prayer?
So rather than trying to see him by himself, perhaps I need to move on and acknowledge him in my daily interactions with the world, with my loved ones, with the Gods themselves. And so I must bid my time with Hermes adieu and move to the next point in the star to another God I will no doubt have great problems with, Hephaestos. Wish me luck!
