Orphic Hymn to Mercury: Empower Your Mercurial Prayers & Magic

Ah, Mercury, blessed spirit of ambivalence! All the other planets line up neatly into pairs, with one planet belonging to the day sect and one to the night sect: Sol and Luna, Jupiter and Venus, Saturn and Mars. Mercury, as the non-binary outlier, swings both ways, all ways, and everything in between. Having a good relationship with this versatile celestial intelligence can be excellent for almost everybody.

As with any planetary spirit, invocations, prayers, and offerings to them can help you attune to and come into rhythm with that planet. There are many ways to pray to or invoke a planetary spirit, including simply speaking from the heart, but a natural place to start is one of the most common and accessible prayers to Mercury: The Orphic Hymn to Mercury.

The Orphic Hymn to Mercury

The Orphic Hymns are a collection of Hellenistic religious poems that were involved in the practices of Orphism, a mystery religion centered around the mythical figure Orpheus. The infamous magician Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa wrote that “nothing is more effective in natural magic” than the hymns of Orpheus.

The Orphic Hymn to Mercury exemplifies one approach to planetary prayer, which is to regale the spirit with praise, listing many noble qualities, powers, accomplishments, and superlatives associated with that spirit.

Hermes, draw near, and to my prayer incline,
angel of Jove, and Maia’s son divine;
Studious of contests, ruler of mankind,
with heart almighty, and a prudent mind.
Celestial messenger, of various skill,
whose powerful arts could watchful Argus kill:
With winged feet, ’tis thine through air to course,
O friend of man, and prophet of discourse:
Great life-supporter, to rejoice is thine,
in arts gymnastic, and in fraud divine:
With power endued all language to explain,
of care the loosener, and the source of gain.
Whose hand contains of blameless peace
the rod, Corucian, blessed, profitable God;
Of various speech, whose aid in works we find,
and in necessities to mortals kind:
Dire weapon of the tongue, which men revere,
be present, Hermes, and thy suppliant hear;
Assist my works, conclude my life with peace,
give graceful speech, and me memory’s increase.
—Orphic Hymn to Mercury, tr. Thomas Taylor

The Orphic Hymn to Mercury can be recited on Wednesdays, particularly during the planetary hours of Mercury. We recommend lighting a candle and burning incense with any prayer or invocation. Mercury tends to be pretty flexible with incense offerings, but canonical offerings would include mastic, frankincense, clove, and herbs such as fumitory and marjoram. You could light a single candle or if you were performing a more involved ritual or petition you might use eight (the number associated with Mercury).

A second Orphic Hymn can be used to appeal to Mercury. Mercury, in addition to being associated with commerce and various trickster aspects, was also a psychopomp, who led newly departed souls into the afterlife. The Orphic Hymn to Terrestrial Hermes (Hermes Khthonios) can be used to appeal to Mercury in this aspect. This hymn is particularly helpful for appealing to Mercury in their retrograde condition, as the backward motion can be analogized to an underworld descent.

Hermes I call, whom Fate decrees to dwell
in the dire path which leads to deepest hell
O Bacchic Hermes, progeny divine
of Dionysius, parent of the vine,
And of celestial Venus Paphian queen,
dark eye-lashed Goddess of a lovely mien:
Who constant wanders through the sacred feats
where hell’s dread empress, Proserpine, retreats;
To wretched souls the leader of the way
when Fate decrees, to regions void of day:
Thine is the wand which causes sleep to fly,
or lulls to slumberous rest the weary eye;
For Proserpine through Tartarus dark and wide
gave thee forever flowing souls to guide.
Come, blessed power the sacrifice attend,
and grant our mystic works a happy end.
—Orphic Hymn to Hermes Khthonios, tr. Thomas Taylor

If the aesthetics of 18th century poetic verse do not appeal to you, then be aware that other more modern translations of the Orphic Hymns exist, such as in the Orphic Hymns Grimoire by Sara Mastros.

The Hygromanteia Prayer to Mercury

Another prayer to Mercury from the Hygromanteia, also known as the Magical Treatise of Solomon, a group of Byzantine-era grimoires focused on astrological and planetary magic. The Hygromanteia prayer of Mercury is somewhat more commanding than the Orphic Hymn to Mercury, and you may wish to use it when you have more experience invoking and petitioning Mercury. This prayer, like the Orphic Hymn, lists some of the qualities and powers of the spirit. In contrast, though, the Hygromanteia prayer appeals to the spirit by a list of names associated with Mercury. Different versions appear in the text, one of which is as follows:

In the name of the omni-benevolent God, amen; O Lord, who dwells on high and beholds the humble, who searches the reins and hearts, the lord of spirits, the king of heaven and earth, grant your grace to me, the sinner, O Lord, in order to subdue the powers of the planet Mercury. O Mercury, the most skilled in logical arguments, the effective and most excellent in wisdom and in every science; who divides and distributes the art and craft of each person; the experienced and skilled soldier, since without you all things, mobile or immobile, cannot be known; O Mercury, creator, philosopher and greatest among orators, who rules over minds; I conjure you by God who created you and placed you in the heaven. I conjure you by your heaven, by your sphere, by the treasure and by the secret wisdom of God, by His strong and immeasurable hand and by all the myriads of angels, do not disobey me. I conjure you in the following names: Siboraz, Hyielisphak, Iagrou, Hysoreono, Eililoph, Naendo, Gelstamot, Khaselon, Aseoulouel, Teratouon, Sphalikon, Kyrmaen, Barnidon. In your above names, grant me your grace and your virtue, in order that any work I attempt to be effective and true; by the omnipotence of God, Amen.
—Hygromanteia, MS Harleianus 5596, tr. Ioannis Marathakis

The Heptameron Conjuration of Mercury

Another somewhat more involved prayer can be adapted from the Heptameron, a grimoire of spirit invocation attributed to Peter de Abano. A translation of the Heptameron by Joseph H. Peterson is available at Esoteric Archives. The Heptameron takes a very different approach than the Orphic Hymns or the Hygromanteia prayers. Rather than appealing to Mercury themselves, this invocation approaches the spirit by appealing to other spirits in the same cosmic hierarchy. The Heptameron also involves facing and calling upon spirits of the different directions. You can think of this type of prayer as locating yourself within the Great Chain of Being so as to best position yourself to appeal to a particular spirit.

This particular invocation invokes the planetary archangel of Mercury, Raphael (note that in some corners of the tradition, Mercury is associated with Michael). The Heptameron planetary invocations are prefaced by invocations of angels of the relevant level of heaven in the four directions. An abbreviated ritual for appealing to the angels of Mercury could go as follows:

[Facing East:] Mathlai. Tarmiel. Baraborat.
[Facing West:] Iarescue. Mitatron.
[Facing North:] Thiel. Rael. Iariahel. Venahel. Velel. Abviori. Ucirnuel.
[Facing South:] Milliel. Nelapa. Babel. Caluel. Vael. Laquel.
[Facing East:] I Conjure and Confirm upon you, ye strong, holy and potent Angels, in the name of the most strong, most dreadful, and blessed Ja, Adonay, Eloim, Saday, Saday, Saday, Eie, Eie, Eie; Asamie, Asaraie; and in the name of Adonay, the God of Israel, who created the two great lights to distinguish the day from the night; and by the name of all the Angels serving in in the second host, before Tetra, a great strong and powerful Angel; and by the name of his Star which is Mercury; and by the name of the Seal which is Sealed by God most mighty and honorable: by all things before spoken, I Conjure upon thee, Raphael a great Angel, who art chief ruler of the fourth day, and by the holy name which is written in the forehead of Aaron the priest of the most high Creator, and by the names of the Angels who are confirmed into the grace of our Savior; and by the name and the seat of the Animals having six wings, that for me thou labor, [speak your own petition or request here].
—Heptameron, XX. Considerations of Tuesday, tr. Joseph H. Peterson

Note that the Heptameron is a highly complex grimoire and the above prayer is a simplified adaptation of a much more extensive rite of conjuration. You may wish to further research the text before delving into this prayer.

Picatrix Prayer to Mercury

A more extensive prayer to Mercury can be found in the premiere grimoire of astrological magic, the Picatrix or Ghayat al Hakim. This prayer can be used on its own, but was originally intended as part of a more extensive rite of petition involving complex suffumigations and other ritual trappings. The full version of the Picatrix prayer involves all three approaches we have seen so far: listing epithets and qualities, appealing to different names of the spirit, and appealing to associated spirits in the relevant cosmic hierarchy. A partial selection of the Picatrix prayers to Mercury that shows some of the similarities and differences to the other prayers follows:

May God bless you, good lord Mercury, you who are truthful, perceptive, intelligent, and the sage and instructor of every kind of writing, arithmetic, computation, and science of heaven and earth! You are fortunate with fortunes and unfortunate with infortunes, masculine with masculine planets and feminine with feminine ones, diurnal with diurnal planets and nocturnal with nocturnal ones; you exist and harmonize them in all their natures, and you conform yourself to them in all their forms, and you transmute yourself into all their qualities. Therefore I call on you and invoke you by all your names, that is, in Arabic, Hotarit; in Latin, Mercurius; in Roman, Haruz; in Persian, Tyr; in Indian, Meda; I conjure you above all by the high Lord God, who is the lord of the firmament and of the realm of the exalted and great; by Him I conjure you, that you will receive my petition, and grant to me that which I ask, and pour out the powers of your spirit upon me, by which I shall be made strong, and be able to have my petition fulfilled, and be made apt and disposed to gain knowledge and wisdom. Thus I conjure you by Arquyl, who is the angel whom God has set beside you to complete your acts and works, that you will receive my petition and hear my prayer and attend to my requests and fulfill them. I ask that you [speak your own petition or request here].
—Picatrix, tr. John Michael Greer & Christopher Warnock, Book III, Chapter 7

For the full Picatrix prayers to Mercury, consult the full version of the Picatrix, available from Christopher Warnock.

Composing Your Own Prayer to Mercury

The above prayers from the Orphic Hymns, the Hygromanteia, and the Heptameron are excellent general-purpose texts for coming into relationship with Mercury. If you intend to pray to or petition Mercury for a very specific purpose, such as making an astrological talisman with a particular intention or keyword, you may wish to write your own prayer.

As we saw above, there are generally three main approaches to praying to a particular spirit that are exemplified in the prayers listed above. These are:

Listing noble qualities, powers, or deeds of the spirit;
Calling upon the spirit by their various different names and epithets;
Situating oneself in the relevant cosmic hierarchy by invoking or appealing to other spirits associated with or ruled by the spirit.

Prayers in astrological and planetary magic can serve as double duty for a request or petition: that is, one can appeal to what the spirit does effectively and downplaying what is not in line with the spirit’s influences. As Agrippa writes:

“[C]omposing [prayers] for attracting the virtue of any star or god…is accomplished by praising, extolling, amplifying, and adorning that which the star typically brings about and influences, while suppressing and rejecting that which the star typically destroys and impedes. Pray and implore for that which the star typically destroys and impedes; reprimand and detest that which one desires to destroy and impede.”
—Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book I, Chapter 71, tr. Eric Purdue

A good place to start with all this is primary sources about the spirit. The Orphic Hymn to Mercury and Picatrix prayer to Mercury have some great epithets, names, and descriptions of Mercury. The Hygromanteia and Heptameron likewise have associated names, spirits, and effects of Mercury. Agrippa also lists a number of epithets and descriptions of Mercury that you may wish to draw upon:

Mercury is called the son of Jupiter, herald of the gods, interpreter of heaven, Stilbon [the twinkling one], the serpent-bearer, the staff-bearer, the wing-footed, eloquent, bringer of wealth, wise, rational, valiant, strenuous, powerful in good and evil, notary to the Sun, messenger of Jupiter, communicator between the gods above and below, male with men, female with women, fertile with both sexes; and Lucan called him the arbiter of the gods. He is also called Hermes—that is, the interpreter, enlightening all that is dark and uncovering all that is hidden in inner places.
—Three Books of Occult Philosophy, Book II, Chapter 59, tr. Eric Purdue

Research into the mythology of Hermes and the epithets of Hermes (more here) and can also help provide perspectives from which to approach the planetary spirit. Although the Hellenistic god and the planetary spirit are not identical, it can help provide an inroad into the aspect of the spirit you wish to invoke.

Other Resources

Other resource posts in this series:
Diana Rose Harper‘s primer on planetary prayers is an excellent general place to start for beginners.
Christopher Warnock’s book The Celestial Way provides a more extensive resource for planetary devotion.

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