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Audiobook edition · 35 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 34 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 34 pagesAbout this book
What happens when a teacher leads his student beyond words, toward a vision expressed through silence?
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth begins with a promise. A son asks his father, understood as Hermes Trismegistus, to guide him upward through the heavens. In this short Hermetic dialogue, their shared prayer opens a search for divine understanding. The stakes are spiritual: how can the soul move beyond the limits of earthly life?
The unknown author presents initiation through a request, a prayer, a vision, a hymn and an oath of secrecy. The text survives in Coptic in Nag Hammadi Codex VI, found in Egypt in 1945. Its few pages offer a compact encounter with Hermetic religious thought, where questions give way to contemplation and praise reaches toward the divine Mind.
What you’ll discover
- A promise between seekers Follow the son's request and the teacher's response as their dialogue turns toward spiritual ascent.
- Prayer before the vision Explore how the text places shared prayer at the threshold of divine understanding.
- The Eighth and Ninth Encounter the heavenly realms through which this Hermetic teaching imagines the soul's journey.
- A hymn of silence Consider a form of praise that asks what lies beyond the reach of speech.
- Ancient mysticism in miniature Discover how a few pages bring together teaching, contemplation and the longing to understand.
Who will love it
This book will delight readers drawn to mystical experience, ancient Egypt and Alexandria, the Nag Hammadi discoveries, the bond between teacher and student, and the sacred use of prayer, chant and silence.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A Hermetic text that lay buried until 1945
- The cosmos is a ladder of spheres
- A spiritual father brings his son to birth
- Books prepare the soul but cannot finish the work
- Prayer to the invisible God opens the way
- The vision of Mind and the hymn sung in silence
- A stone book and an oath guard the teaching
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The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth
by Attributed to Hermetic philosophers · 150
A teacher and his student climb past the planets to the stars, then fall silent before a vision no words can hold.
Medium levelUnder 2 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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“I see a fountain bubbling with life.”
In short
A son reminds his father of a promise. Yesterday you said you would bring my mind into the eighth heaven, and after that into the ninth.
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth at a glance
- Reading time
- About 8 min7 min fast, 10 min slow
- Length
- 2,020 words5 chapters
- Pages
- 34 pages34 in large print
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- about AD 150by Attributed to Hermetic philosophers
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Listen freeOr hold it in print: paperback, hardcover or large print, at costFrom the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A Hermetic text that lay buried until 1945
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth belongs to the Hermetic tradition. It takes its name from Hermes Trismegistus, whose name means Hermes the Thrice-Greatest. In Roman Egypt he was seen as a blend of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. Both were linked to wisdom, writing and the passing on of divine knowledge. He was thought to be an ancient sage who had set revelation down in sacred books.
Scholars place the Hermetic writings between the first and third centuries, with their home in Egypt, perhaps in or near Alexandria. That city was the intellectual capital of the Mediterranean. Greek philosophy, Egyptian religion, Jewish scripture and early Christian thought met there in constant conversation. The Hermetic books drew on this mix.
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A teacher and his student climb past the planets to the stars, then fall silent before a vision no words can hold.
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Details
- First published
- 150
- Language
- English
- Listening time
- 35 min
- Level
- Medium level
- Paperback
- 34 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 34 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 34 pages · 8.5 × 11 in
- Large print hardcover
- 34 pages · 8.5 × 11 in
- Delivery and returns
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For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-the-discourse-on-the-eighth-and-ninth.
The discourse on the eighth and ninth. (2026). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-the-discourse-on-the-eighth-and-ninth (Original work published ca. 150)
The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-the-discourse-on-the-eighth-and-ninth.
@book{anonymous2026discourse,
title = {The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-the-discourse-on-the-eighth-and-ninth},
note = {First published ca. 150}
}
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What is The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth about?
It is a dialogue between Hermes Trismegistus and his student, called his son. The teacher guides him through prayer and chant to a divine vision, then commands him to preserve the teaching and its oath.
Where was The Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth found?
It was found in December 1945 among the Nag Hammadi books in Upper Egypt, in Codex VI. The copy is in Coptic, and scholars think it was translated from a Greek original.
What do the eighth and ninth heavens mean?
Seven spheres carry the Moon, planets and Sun. The eighth is the sphere of the fixed stars, where souls and angels dwell. The ninth lies beyond it, with higher powers, and the student is led to both.
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