ll serve to reconcile the many bits of
occult knowledge that they may have acquired, but which are apparently
opposed to each other and which often serve to discourage and disgust
the beginner in the study. Our intent is not to erect a new Temple of
Knowledge, but rather to place in the hands of the student a Master-Key
with which he may open the many inner doors in the Temple of Mystery
through the main portals he has already entered.

There is no portion of the occult teachings possessed by the world which
have been so closely guarded as the fragments of the Hermetic Teachings
which have come down to us over the tens of centuries which have elapsed
since the lifetime of its great founder, Hermes Trismegistus, the
"scribe of the gods," who dwelt in old Egypt in the days when the
present race of men was in its infancy. Contemporary with Abraham, and,
if the legends be true, an instructor of that venerable sage, Hermes
was, and is, the Great Central Sun of Occultism, whose rays have served
to illumine the countless teachings which have been promulgated since
his time. All the fundamental and basic teachings embedded in the
esoteric teachings of every race may be traced back to Hermes. Even the
most ancient teachings of India undoubtedly have their roots in the
original Hermetic Teachings.

From the land of the Ganges many advanced occultists wandered to the
land of Egypt, and sat at the feet of the Master. From him they obtained
the Master-Key which explained and reconciled their divergent views, and
thus the Secret Doctrine was firmly established. From other lands also
came the learned ones, all of whom regarded Hermes as the Master of
Masters, and his influence was so great that in spite of the many
wanderings from the path on the part of the centuries of teachers in
these different lands, there may still be found a certain basic
resemblance and correspondence which underlies the many and often quite
divergent theories entertained and taught by the occultists of these
different lands today. The student of Comparative Religions will be able
to perceive the influence of the Hermetic Teachings in every religion
worthy of the name, now known to man, whether it be a dead religion or
one in full vigor in our own times. There is always certain
correspondence in spite of the contradictory features, and the Hermetic
Teachings act as the Great Reconciler.

The lifework of Hermes seems to have been in the direction of planting