Secret REBIRTH Teaching of Jesus: Corpus Hermeticum Book 13

"The Secret Sermon on the Mountain" or Book XIII of the "The Corpus Hermeticum" powerful and intricate Hermetic dialogue between Hermes Trismegistus and his son Tat is a sacred teaching on spiritual rebirth (palingenesia) — the transformation of the human soul into divine consciousness. It’s found in the Corpus Hermeticum, a collection of Greco-Egyptian texts central to Hermeticism, composed around the first few centuries CE. What follows is a comprehensive explanation and unpacking of this mystical conversation.

🧠 STRUCTURE AND THEMES

This is an initiatory dialogue, combining Greek philosophy, Egyptian religion, and early mystical Gnosis. The major themes include:

1. Rebirth through Gnosis – True salvation is through divine knowledge.

2. The Fall of the Soul – Human suffering stems from ignorance and material attachment.

3. The Ten vs. The Twelve – Ten divine powers (virtues) overcome twelve passions (vices).

4. Transformation of Perception – From sensory to divine mind.

5. The Secret Hymn – A praise-song of spiritual realization.

🧩 KEY CHARACTERS AND TERMS

• Hermes: The teacher, also called Thrice-Greatest (Trismegistus), representing divine intellect and cosmic wisdom.

• Tat: The disciple, Hermes’ son, symbolizing the seeking soul.

• Logos: The divine Word, Reason, or organizing principle of the cosmos.

• Rebirth (Palingenesia): Not physical reincarnation, but spiritual transformation into a divine being.

• Gnosis: Intimate knowledge of the divine — salvific and transformative.

• The Twelve Torments: Psychological and moral afflictions (e.g. anger, envy, grief).

• The Ten Powers: Divine virtues (e.g. truth, self-control, righteousness).

📖 DETAILED EXPLANATION BY SECTION

1. Tat’s Plea for Understanding Rebirth

Tat is confused. He says:

“Thou didst speak in riddles most unclear…”

He refers to Hermes’ earlier teachings, where he was told that no man can be saved without being reborn, but Hermes didn’t explain how.

“I made the thought in me a stranger to the world-illusion.”

Tat tries to renounce the material world to prepare himself, hoping for a mystical teaching.

Key Concepts:

• “Stranger to the world” = withdrawing from the sensory world and ego identity.

• “Wending up the mount” = symbolic of spiritual ascent/initiation.

2. Hermes Explains the Source of Man

“Wisdom that understands in silence… the True Good the seed.”

• Man is born of silent divine Wisdom — not of earthly seed but from the Will of God.

• This “seed” is divine essence, not physical.

• Hermes speaks in riddles because true rebirth cannot be taught — only experienced.

3. Mystical Identity and Vision

“I have passed through myself into a Body that can never die.”

Hermes has experienced rebirth: he no longer identifies with his physical form but with Mind (Nous). He has become a being of light, untouched by decay.

“Thou seest me with eyes, my son; but what I am thou dost not understand…”

Here, the divine self is beyond sight and form — it must be perceived with the inner mind, not physical senses.

4. Tat’s Crisis of Mind and the Divine Son

“I see not myself anymore!”

Tat is overwhelmed — which is a good sign. In mystical terms, “not seeing oneself” means the ego is dissolving.

“Who is the author of rebirth?”
“The Son of God… the One Man…”

This “Son” is not Jesus per se, but a cosmic archetype of divine humanity — the true self birthed by God's Will.

5. The False Self and the True

“The mortal form doth change with every day…”

The physical body is false, impermanent. The true being is formless, unchanging, pure light and life.

6. What Is True?

“That which is never troubled… no figure, no color…”

True being is ineffable — it cannot be described in sensory terms. It’s the spirit beyond all form, which the intellect and senses cannot grasp.

7. The Path to Rebirth

“Withdraw into thyself, and it will come.”

This is the central technique: inner withdrawal, renouncing the senses, purging “brutish torments” — the base passions.

“Torment the first is Not-knowing…”

Hermes lists 12 torments that imprison man: Not-knowing (ignorance), grief, lust (concupiscence), anger, envy, etc.

These are overcome by 10 divine Powers.

8–10. Invocation of the Ten Powers

Each Power defeats its opposite:

“When the Ten is come… the Birth in understanding is complete… and we are made into Gods.”

Rebirth = Deification — becoming like God through divine knowledge and transformation.

11–13. Tat’s Awakening

Tat proclaims:

“I am in animals, in plants… I’m everywhere!”

He experiences cosmic unity — the dissolution of the ego into divine Mind. This is the culmination of Gnosis.

14. The Mortal vs. Immortal Body

“Speak not of things impossible…”

Hermes affirms the natural body dies, but the reborn body — a body of light and Mind — is eternal.

“Thou hast been born a God…”

The purpose of Hermetic rebirth is not just salvation, but transformation into a divine being.

15–16. The Secret Hymn

Hermes prepares Tat to receive the sacred hymn — a cosmic invocation not meant for the uninitiated. This moment marks Tat’s ascent to the Ogdoad, the 8th sphere in Hermetic cosmology (above fate, into divinity).

17–21. The Hymn of Rebirth

This is the mystical climax. It is a praise-song:

• To the One and All — the God who is everything and beyond.

• Through the elements and creation: fire, air, earth, water, and spirit.

• The Powers within Hermes “sing” — showing that rebirth activates divine virtues within.

The hymn proclaims unity with Mind, Light, Life, and the Logos.

🗝️ SUMMARY OF CORE MESSAGES

• Spiritual Rebirth is not physical but a total transformation of awareness and identity.

• One becomes a Son of God, not by lineage but by inner awakening.

• Rebirth is only granted when the initiate is ready and purified from passions.

• Gnosis (true knowledge) alone casts out ignorance and awakens the soul.

• The Logos (Divine Word) is the key to union with the One.

• Only those prepared in silence and secrecy may receive this wisdom.

🧾 GLOSSARY OF IMPORTANT TERMS

✅ APPLICATION FOR MODERN SEEKERS

This text, though ancient, carries deep meaning today. It's a guide for awakening:

• Free yourself from the false self, bound by emotions and ego.

• Seek silence, contemplation, and the voice of the inner Logos.

• Understand that salvation is not belief-based, but experiential transformation.

• Practice self-discipline, love, and truth, invoking the Ten Powers to overcome lower nature.

A retelling of "The Secret Sermon on the Mountain" or Book XIII of the "The Corpus Hermeticum" by Jacob Kuker (Cub)

"You know that I have spoken in riddles and metaphors, striving to explain the hidden truths of the divine essence of the Supreme Creator and the mystery of salvation. I have said clearly that no one can be liberated unless they are born again. To be born in spirit is to enter true life.

To reach this truth, I removed myself from the illusion of the world. Only when the mind becomes foreign to the patterns of illusion can the experience of spiritual Rebirth be grasped. I turned inward, preparing my being to receive what cannot be taught through speech alone, but only through sacred transmission or direct revelation.

The true origin of humanity is not found in flesh or the seeds of the earth. It comes from divine wisdom, which speaks in silence. It is from the Pure Good that the spiritual seed is planted. The will of the Source is the sower, and what is born is the Divine Offspring, made of all the sacred energies.

This truth is not handed down like a doctrine. It awakens in the soul when the Divine chooses. This lineage of Light cannot be taught, only remembered.

As for how one is reborn, I can only say this: when the inner Vision awakens within me by the grace of God, I transcend who I was before. I am no longer the former self. I am reborn in the Mind of Spirit. I dwell in a vessel that no longer dies. My former self has been disassembled. I am not bound by the senses, even though I still have them. I carry dimension, yet I no longer belong to it.

Though others may see me with their eyes, what I truly am cannot be grasped through sight or effort.

If you were to pass through your own form like one who dreams with open eyes, you would begin to understand. Rebirth is not seen by physical perception. It is born within, through the Divine Child, by the will of the Eternal.

The mind in this awakening becomes still. The senses grow silent. The physical shell loses meaning, and the soul begins to see not with eyes, but with the fire of consciousness. In that moment, the outer self is revealed to be a mask, subject to decay. It is not the real.

What is real is eternal. It does not change. It has no shape or hue. It cannot be turned, held, or described. It is light itself, known only to itself.

The senses cannot comprehend that which ascends like flame, yet anchors like stone; that flows like water, yet breathes like wind. It is neither solid nor fluid, bound by nothing. Only the awakened soul perceives this mystery.

But it is not beyond your reach. Turn inward. Will it—and it unfolds. Quiet the senses. Let your Divine Self rise. Remove the chains of the flesh. These chains are not just conditions, but patterns—energetic forces that hold the soul captive.

These energies have been called tormentors. But know them now as the Zodiac Forces—twelve archetypes, cosmic influencers that shape the mortal body and the personality. They are:

1. Unknowing

2. Grief

3. Excess

4. Craving

5. Injustice

6. Greed

7. Falsehood

8. Jealousy

9. Trickery

10. Rage

11. Impulse

12. Malice

These twelve are not just emotions—they are energies that pass through the body and soul, binding the self to the lower world. But when divine light touches a soul, these forces begin to retreat. This is the beginning of spiritual awakening.

Sit in stillness. Guard the silence. For through silence, the mercy of the Divine continues to flow. Rejoice, because through these divine energies you are being purified and made ready to receive the vibration of the Living Word.

As divine knowledge awakens, ignorance disappears. With it, sorrow is also banished. Joy arrives, and with it comes Discipline. Discipline replaces Excess. Then arrives Continence, which dissolves Craving. Righteousness is seated, displacing Injustice.

When Greed is gone, Sharing appears. When Falsehood departs, Truth enters. Truth brings the fullness of Goodness, and Life and Light flow with it. The influences of darkness are driven away.

This is the cycle of Rebirth. When the Ten Divine Powers rise within, they scatter the Twelve Shadow Forces. Through this, divine understanding awakens. The soul becomes like the gods.

Whoever receives this divine awakening through grace becomes conscious of their true being—Light and Life. Ecstasy fills them. They recognize their true composition.

Their vision expands beyond the body. They see themselves in sky, in stone, in beasts and trees, in air and water. They exist before the womb, within the womb, and beyond it. They are one with all.

The physical body is a construct, formed from the twelve zodiacal influences. They are not truly separate, but seem so to the unawakened. The Ten Divine Powers displace these, and the soul returns to unity.

In the sacred design, the One holds the Ten, and the Ten reflect the One.

To perceive this is Rebirth. No longer seeing through the body’s lens, one perceives the invisible universe.

Do not speak of this divine body dying. That is false. The physical form dissolves. The inner, eternal self is untouched by death. The old must fall away, so the true may live.

You are born a god, child of the One, as I am.

When I reached the Eighth Sphere, I received a sacred song from the Mind of the Divine. It was not more than I needed. The Mind knew I would uncover all that remained. I was left to create beauty, and the powers within me began to sing:

Let all beings of creation receive my hymn. Earth, open. Deep realms, reveal yourselves. Trees, be still. I will praise the One who is All. The One who anchored the Earth, hung the heavens, and commanded the oceans to feed all beings. The One who gave Fire to shine for gods and mortals. Let all of us lift our voices to this Source—beyond all natures, ruler of the All.

The One is the Eye of Consciousness. May my inner powers sing the sacred song.

You within me, rise and praise. Let Will become sound. Let Divine Knowledge awaken light. Let Self-Control praise the harmony. Let Righteousness speak truth. Let Sharing honor the One. Let Truth resound. Let the Good bless the Good. Let Life and Light echo my gratitude.

Source of all, I thank You. Through You, my powers move. Through You, my energy flows. Your Word sings through me. Receive it all, for it returns to You.

My inner forces perform Your will. From You comes purpose. To You returns everything. Preserve the spark within. Illuminate the light. Inspire the breath of spirit.

You are the guide of Your own Voice. The Creator of all. The Giver of the Spirit. From Your timeless essence, I have learned to offer praise. In Your will, I find rest.

Let only the awakened Mind see this inner world. Through the hymn, my mind is lit. And now, from within, I sing to the One who gave me life.

You are my Creator, my Consciousness. Accept this offering. All is completed in You. Through the Living Word, I return all.

Blessed am I, for I bear the fruit of Truth, which cannot perish.

Now that the sacred transmission is complete, I call for silence. Keep this mystery veiled. It is not for every soul. For only in stillness of Mind do we come to know our true nature and the Source from which we came."