Oldal 26 [26]
ENDRE ÁDÁM HAMVAS
3.3. The Life-giving Potion
There is an important and interesting text, the Virgin—or Pupil—of the World
(Koré kosmou), which is linked to the Hermetic tradition. The text consists of
a dialogue between Isis and her son, Horus. In the text, Hermes also plays an
important role, but that can be neglected when dealing with the philological
problems here." The dialogue is in a fragmentary condition now but it can
be adequately reconstructed. In the opening scene, the author says that Isis
gave a potion of ambrosia to her son, Horus; a drink that souls receive from
gods.” When that happened, she started informing Horus about the creation
of the world, the souls, the fall of the souls, the creation of humanity out of
a secret kind of material, and about the fallen soul. Thus, it can be seen that
the dialogue is an initiative speech about divine mysteries.
However, there are also some problems with this section: we do not know
what kind of souls the author is speaking of, or what kind of potion this
divine gift is. Nevertheless, I think it is probable—as it may be supposed on
the basis of the fifth section—that it is a drink of immortality for illuminated
souls; furthermore, it can be supposed that Isis initiates her son Horus into
the divine mysteries of the universe and the creation of the material world
and of souls, so the divine potion plays the same role as the living water
examined in the previous section: it gives immortality to souls that gain
true, divine knowledge. Hence, we can conclude that the Koré kosmou is not
only a mythological dialogue but also an initiative text, which begins with
an initiation into the mysteries, mysteries that can be accessed by divine
knowledge.
This motif of the drink of ambrosia appears in the same context in
the Poimandres. In the last part of the text, the unknown prophet gives an
account of how he started to teach the people who sought his teaching, and
says that “I sowed the words of wisdom among them,** and they were nourished
#1 On this text, see W. Bousset, Kore Kosmu, in Paulys Real-Encyclopddie der classischen
Altertumswissenschaften, Vol. 11/2, 1386-1391; Walter Scott, Hermetica, The Ancient Greek
and Latin Writings which Contain Religious or Philosophic Teachings Ascribed to Hermes
Trismegistus, Vol. 3, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1927, 471-475, 558; Nock-Festugiere, Corpus
Hermeticum, Vol. 3, cxxvi, ccxxi-ccxxvii; Colpe-Holzhausen, Das Corpus Hermeticum,
Vol. 2, 447; Eduard Norde, Agnostos theos, Leipzig, Teubner, 1923, 65-69; André-Jean
Festugiére, Le style de la ‘Koré Kosmou’, Vivre et penser, 1942/2, 15-57; P. A. Carozzi: Gnose
et sotériologie dans la Kore Kosmou Hermétique, in Julien Ries (ed.), Gnosticisme et monde
hellénistique: actes du colloque de Louvain-la-Neuve, 11-14 mars 1980, Louvain-la-Neuve,
Université Catholique de Louvain, 1982, 61-78; Howard M. Jackson, Koré kosmou. Isis,
Pupil of the Eye of the World, Chronique d Egypte, 61 (1986), 111-135.
Koré kosmou (SH XXIII, 1): “Having thus spoken, Isis first poured forth for Horus a sweet
draught of ambrosia, such a draught as the souls are wont to receive..., and thereupon she
thus began her most holy discourse.” (Trans. Scott, Hermetica, Vol. 1, 457.)
33° Cf. 1 Cor 3-6.
32
s 24 ¢
Daróczi-Sepsi-Vassányi Initiation 155x240.indb 24 6 2020.06.15. 11:04:10