The Secret Hymn

This hymn derives from the Corpus Hermeticum, a collection of texts written in the 2nd to 3rd centuries CE. Tractate XIII records Hermes’s secret teaching on the regeneration. His student-son Tat asks to hear the hymn of the Ogdoad. This beautiful translation of Hermes’s response was made by Melita Denning.

Let every substance of the world receive the sound of the hymn.
                Earth, be open;
                Let every bolt of the rain be open to me.
                Trees, be still.
        I am going to praise the Lord of creation,
                Both the All and the One.
                Heavens, be open,
                And, winds, stand still.

Let the immortal circle of God receive my word.
        For I am going to praise him who created all things,
                The One who established the earth
                And suspended heaven,
                Who ordered the fresh water to go from the ocean
                To the inhabited and uninhabited regions
                For the sustenance and creation
                Of all men,
        The one who ordered fire to shine
                On every activity
                For gods and men alike.

Let us all in unison give the praise
                To him who is high above the heavens,
                The creator of all nature.
                He is the Eye of the Intellect.
        May he accept the praise of my powers.

        Powers in me, praise the One and the All.
        All you powers that are in me, sing in harmony with my will.
                Holy knowledge,
                Since I have been illumined by you,
                While praising through you the intellectual light,
        I rejoice with intellectual joy.

All powers, sing with me.
        And you, self-control, sing with me.
        My righteousness, praise the righteous through me.
        My generosity, praise the All through me.
        Truth, praise the Truth.
        Good, praise the Good.
        Life and Light, the praise goes from you to you.

I give thanks to you, Father, strength of the powers.
I give thanks to you, God, power of my forces.
        Your Logos praises you through me.
Through me accept the All in speech,
                A spoken sacrifice.

The powers in me cry these things aloud;
        They praise the All;
        They accomplish your will.
        Your wish goes from you to you, the All.
Accept from all a spoken sacrifice,
                The All which is in us.
        Life, save!
        Light, illumine!
        God, inspire!
For it is your Logos which the Intellect shepherds.

Spirit-bearer,
Creator,
        You are God.
        Your man cries these things aloud through fire,
                                                                                Through air,
                                                                                Through earth,
                                                                                Through water,
                                                                                Through spirit,
                                                                                Through your creatures.
        From your Aion I found a blessing,
        And, as I desire, by your wish I have come to be at rest.
        By your will I saw.