The Virgin of the World of Hermes Mercurius Trismagistus

What It's About

This volume collects a group of Hermetic writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, translated from the Greek and Latin. The central text, "The Virgin of the World" (Kore Kosmou), is a dialogue in which the goddess Isis instructs her son Horus in the mysteries of creation, the origin of souls, and the divine order underlying the visible world. It is accompanied by shorter fragments, including "Asclepios on Initiation" and "The Definitions of Asclepios," along with extensive introductory essays and notes by the translators setting the texts in their historical and esoteric context.

Key Concepts

The Hermetica present a cosmology in which the material world is a reflection of divine intelligence, and human souls are portrayed as sparks of that intelligence temporarily embodied in matter. Kingsford and Maitland read these ideas through the lens of their own mystical Christianity, presenting Hermeticism as an ancient forerunner of esoteric Christian doctrine rather than a purely pagan curiosity.

About the Author

Anna Kingsford (1846–1888) was an English physician, writer, and one of the first women in England to qualify in medicine. A committed vegetarian and anti-vivisectionist, she became a prominent figure in the Theosophical Society before co-founding the Hermetic Society with Edward Maitland in 1884. Edward Maitland (1824–1897) was an English writer who, after years abroad in California and Australia, returned to devote himself to mystical and humanitarian causes. His long collaboration with Kingsford produced several works of esoteric Christian interpretation, and he wrote her biography after her death.

About This Edition

This is a 1885 translation by Anna Kingsford and Edward Maitland.