Among the Greeks, Mercury was the son of Zeus and Maia, and soon after his birth he showed his great intelligence. He was born on a mound inside a willow hollow. Willow is an important tree because it prevents harm, such as rue, fig, etc.
As Zeus' special servant, Mercury (or Hermes as he was known in Greece) had winged sandals, a winged hat, and a golden caduceus, or magic wand, entwined with snakes and crowned with wings.
At birth, Mercury was swathed, as was common for babies, but he managed to untie his sash and knots, leaving him free. He who binds and unties has supreme power, the power to bind or release someone.
Mercury went out into the world and went to Thessaly, where the most beautiful flocks were. He stole Admetus' flocks that Apollo was guarding. He erased the traces of the theft, bribed the witnesses, sacrificed two heifers to the gods, killed a tortoise from which he made a lyre, hid the cattle and returned to the crib as if nothing had happened. He has already started to show, then, his speed, versatility, diversity and cunning.
Apollo, having the gift of divination, discovered the theft and accused Mercury. The gods did not believe it, because, after all, Mercury was a baby. But Apollo took him to Zeus who forced him not to lie. Mercury does not lie, nor does he tell the complete truth. To conquer Apollo, Mercury played the lyre made from the tortoise, enchanting him. So Apollo exchanged the herds for the lyre.
This represents commerce, exchange, and Mercury is the protector of merchants, thieves, and travelers alike. Travelers and traders would throw stones at a mound for Mercury to protect their trades.
Mercury then became the 'Messenger of the Gods'.
The messenger of the Goddesses is Iris, with her shoes of 7 colors (Rainbow).
Mercury wears a hat that gives him invisibility, shoes with wings that give him speed, a bag to keep his profits and a caduceus, which is a kind of staff, symbol of wisdom. Mercury knows herbs, and his magical power, represented by the caduceus, is also used as a symbol of physicians.
Mercury, the messenger of the gods
Mercury, god of travelers, protector of magic and divination, responsible for strokes of luck and sudden changes in life, patron of thieves and crooks, was the son of Zeus and the mysterious Nymph Maia, the youngest of the Pleiades, also called at night.
Called a trickster for his ambiguity, he was at the same time a messenger of the gods and also a faithful messenger of the world of darkness. Mercury is a child of spiritual light and primordial darkness. His red and white colors reflect the mixture of earthly passions with the spiritual clarity that are part of his nature.
Still very small, Mercury managed to get out of the cradle, stole a herd from his brother Apollo, created fire and roasted two cattle. To deceive him, he put his sandals on backwards so that his brother would follow the false trail.
When Apollo discovered the theft, he demanded that Hermes return the cattle.
But Hermes denied everything, apologizing for being still a child.
Apollo predicted that Hermes would become the master of thieves.
Once again, Hermes tricked his brother Apollo and gave him a lyre made from a tortoiseshell, claiming to be a tribute to his musical abilities. Apollo delighted with the homage forgot about the cattle.
Apollo, fearing that in the future Hermes would deceive him again, demanded that his brother swear never to deceive him again, and in return he would make him rich, honorable, and famous, skilled in all that he honestly undertook, both in word and deed, and ability to complete what he had started.
He gave Hermes three winged virgins who taught divination and told the truth when fed honey.
Hermes became the master of the four elements and taught men the arts of divination.
Portrayed by Homer and Hesiod, with his skills and benefactor of mortals, bringer of good luck as well as fraud. Classical authors also adorned the myth with new developments. Aeschylus showed Hermes helping Orestes kill Clytemnestra under a false identity and other stratagems, and also said that he was the god of quests, and of those who look for lost or stolen things.
Sophocles had Odysseus summon him when he needed to convince Philoctetus to enter the Trojan War on the side of the Greeks, and Euripides had him appear to help Dolon in spying on the Greek armada. Aesop, who allegedly received his literary gift from Hermes, placed him in several of his fables, as ruler of the gate of prophetic dreams, as god of athletes, of edible roots, of hospitality; he also said that Hermes had assigned to each person his fair share of intelligence. Pindar and Aristophanes also document their recent association with gymnastics, which did not exist in Homer's time, Aristotle systematized the concept of hermeneutics, the science of interpretation, translation and exegesis, based on the attributes of Hermes.
Eudoxus of Cnidus, a mathematician, named the planet now known as Mercury Hermes, a change that occurred thanks to later Roman influence.
A very old deity, he was worshiped as a god of fertility, herds, magic, divination, roads and travel, among other attributes. Over the centuries his myth was extensively expanded, becoming the messenger of the gods and patron of gymnastics, thieves, diplomats, merchants, astronomy, eloquence and some forms of initiation, as well as being the guide of souls. from the dead to the realm of Hades. With the domination of Greece by Rome, Hermes was assimilated to the god Mercury, and through the Egyptian influence, he also suffered a syncretism with Thoth, creating the character of Hermes Trismegistus – The thrice great.
Hermes is credited with a great number of loves with goddesses, demigoddesses and mortal women, generating numerous offspring. He begat Hermaphrodite, Eros and perhaps Priapus along with Aphrodite; Pan together with Dryope nymph; he seduced Hecate on the shores of Lake Boibes, became acquainted with Peitho, the goddess of persuasion, taking her as his wife; he tried to woo Persephone, but was rebuffed.
Daphnis, Kaikos, Keryx, Kydon, Ekhion and Eurytos, Eurestos, Norax, Cephalus, Eleusis, Polybos, Blueberry, Lybis, Pharis, Arabos, three satyr sons: Pherespondos, Lykos and Pronomos; they were all fruits of Hermes' love affair with innumerable nymphs, mortals, and demigoddesses.
The Romans gave him one more love, Larunda, with whom he generated the Lares, important domestic deities.
He is often represented as a young man with a beautiful face, dressed in a short robe and wearing a winged helmet on his head, wearing winged sandals and in his hand his main symbol, the caduceus donated by Apollo. As a messenger or interpreter of the will of the gods, he gave rise to the term hermeneutics.
Hermes represents our ability to see our talents, even though we may feel confused, and can point us to the best choices we can make in our lives. Hermes is playful and sometimes doesn't respond when we want direction.
He comes to us disguised through dreams that disturb us or in the figure of a person who becomes important, as if he were the catalyst for a journey.
Hermes can arise under a sudden discovery that we always know more than we realize. An unexpected and commonplace circumstance brings a change in our lives, like an inner or outer teacher.
As in the myth of Dionysus, Hermes protects him until his birth and we too can protect ourselves or be protected.
Hermes was a god not to be trusted, for he was treacherous and malicious and often led travelers astray. Thus, following the inner master does not always mean a safe and guaranteed choice. We often depend on an external indication to guide us.
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