the bird of hermes is my name,and i would like to know what that means.

[lwm3398]

if you've watched hellsing,or have read the Ripley scroll, you will know the "bird of Hermes" line. can someone please explain to me what this means? i did a slight bit of research, and found out a couple things. one, red is the philosophers stone. white is the philosophers stone. i learned that red is birth and life, and white is death. in the final passage of the Ripley scroll, here's what it said.

In the sea without lees
Standeth the bird of Hermes
Eating his wings variable
And maketh himself yet full stable
When all his feathers be from him gone
He standeth still here as a stone
Here is now both white and red
And all so the stone to quicken the dead
All and some without fable
Both hard and soft and malleable
Understand now well and right
And thank you God of this sight
The bird of Hermes is my name
Eating my wings to make me tame.

well... uh... any of you understand this? i heard the sea without lees is the home of the gods. i know from liking greek myth that hermes is the messenger of the gods. but eating his wings? hmm...does the pain make him stronger? is the pain experience making him wiser? help,please?

 

[Skuffyshootster]

Nah, I'm not really into pokemon.

 

[NeutralDrow]

The flat, featureless area is the location described according to hermetic principle, and the bird stands still without either winds or wings to move it. Once it reaches the perfection of perfect stillness, the one principle opens and it becomes the source of both life and death.

Yes, I pulled that straight out of my...nose, but it wouldn't surprise me if that were close. Sounds like alchemical philosophy.

 

[AbsoluteVirtue18]

Basically, if you could figure this out, you should be able to make the Philosopher's Stone.

As such, I have no idea.

 

[Brother Eros]

Hermes may here mean thoth hermes trismegistus, like another poster mentioned, alchemical philosophy. It's a process of transmutation that may be considered on either a cosmic or human scale, as above so below, as within, so without.

The idea of stillness might be better understood with the hindu concept of sattva, one of the three qualities of motion that is roughly translated as rythym.

These philosophies can be confusing because it is sometimes difficult to explain metaphysical concepts within a physical reference point, and they were deliberately made more so so as to hide their secrets from the profane. In any case the dichotomy of being and non-being is here approached, that the absolute is greater that that which is, it must be-not to BE absolutely, rather than to be defined and limited.

The bird usually represents the human soul, the 'messenger' as such between the earthly man and divine spirit. The deliberate association with hermes would be less to do with this aspect of conjoining, and rather be significant of the possession of self-awareness, individual consciousness, and self-initiated effort, that is, specific association with the intellect (which takes a similar position of uniting the human self with the soul).

I would roughly translate this, from an alchemical context, as follows;

An aspect of the limitless ocean (the border of the infinite approached by the divinity within man)
Exists the human soul
consuming it's vehicles (utilising the fruits of earthly experience, in the process of alchemical transmutation)
developing and uniting within that higher consciousness (or achieving stability, peace, a higher focal point of consciousness that is perpetual and maintained)
When the process of incarnation is complete (when all the fruits have been harvested, so to speak, and the ties to earthly life absolved)
Stability is achieved (the soul moves down from the ocean of the infinite no longer, ie, is fully divine, human life is ended)
All qualities are possessed and united (one is all things, as a reflection of that infinite, a drop within the ocean)
One is an expression of Life, and brings life to those about one, inspiring them towards the same within (the philosophers stone is the aspect of material life which is a catalyst for the transmutation to spirit. For the alchemist, life and death are reversed, the divine spirit is freed into life through earthly death, and we that live upon the earth are the dead, trapped in prisons of matter, of flesh) All life has lead to achieving this goal.
of this line I am unsure. Perhaps a continuation of the above?
Possessing all qualities, being all things, fluid, and complete, able to fulfill whatever purpose is required.
Understand now, correctly, for this is of importance
it is of divine revelation
I (you) are in truth the soul, this is our true identity, not the human self, but the higher
Using earthly life to achieve this end, devouring that which has given movement (that is moving through the experience, after which the vehicles, the human incarnation, serve no further purpose, and are destroyed, so that the life within may be freed) bringing all under the control of the thinker, the dweller within the form. The identity of the self becomes divine and all powerful within the sphere of that self, is no longer moved by outside forces, has reaped all that can be, and now resides within the bosom of the infinite.

I hope that this may have helped.

 

[lwm3398]

Nah, I'm not really into pokemon.

and here i was never thinking that would ever come in handy...

 

[lwm3398]

well,here's how i just figured it. the first verse was the end of death, or white, and beginning of life, or red. now, if the very last verse is where life and death coexist, then the bird of hermes is the end of both life and death. just as Alucard is the end of life and death, as he is immortal. or is eating his wings to make him tame meaning he gave up white and red, in favor of eating his wings, to make him stable, or as i think of it now, eternal. the sea without lees has been explained as an endless sea, which is where Alucard seems to be, simply wandering a humongous earth, walking, patiently waiting, for the sea to end. the bird of hermes ate it's wings to make itself stable,or in alucards case, immortal,to make itself as endless as the sea. Alucard will only end with the end of the earth. ok, yeah, i get it.

 

[lwm3398]

snipped to the power of pi.

that is just deep. i mean, goddamnit, my interpretation sucked compared to this. thank you, it does help, but what does it have to do with alucard?

 

[dwightsteel]

Nah, I'm not really into pokemon.

Seriously, well done. Beautifully used reference. Kudos.

 

[Skuffyshootster]

Nah, I'm not really into pokemon.

Seriously, well done. Beautifully used reference. Kudos.

Aw, shucks...

 

[MikeTrystorm]

hmm.i made a account so i might try to answer this question.i think what it means is that bird of hermes means servent of hermes.in greek mythology hermes takes souls to hades aka underworld so i believe he is seen or at least is related to the messenger of death. So what i think hellsing is saying is that he is the servent of death he eats his wings(or he feels he is bound to integra his master)to keep himself under control.he follows his masters commands which keeps him tame.basically he is servent of death and fullfills whatever wish that his master commands.hellsing has so much power (all those souls rawr lol)that in order to keep him tame he eats his wings(sacrafices his freedomes and serves integra)so in order for life to continue things have to die.so alucard is the thing that keeps things in balance he kills the nazis so life can continue.so even though he sacrafices his freedome it keeps him stable.i think what the scroll itself is basically a description of what the stone has the ability of doing..either that or what ripley himself is saying is that he knows how to make the stones, since he knows how he sees himself as the messenger of death, if he tells how to make it it might lead to something not very desireable.So he tells a little bout what he discovered but fears he might go to far sothen he reminds himself by saying the bird or hermes is my name i eat my wings to make me tame.he bites his tounge.
well that the closest thing i can come up with..lol

 

[RJ 17]

ALSO! Also it's what Dracula says in the anime/manga Hellsing when he unleashes his full power.

Yeah, 2 years late to the conversation, only here cause I recently watched Hellsing and googled the quote.

 

[Abaddon13]

"The Bird of Hermes is my name,
Eating my wings to make me tame."

A simple explanation of this phrase is that we have to accept restrictions and limitations on our capabilities sometimes to achieve peace/harmony..
Just as the bird of hermes eats his own wings (trims his feathers) so that he can be stable (tame).

In Hellsing, Alucard is the bird of hermes who eats his wings (accepts restrictions on his practically limitless power) to keep himself in check.
Could explain more but then i wud be giving out hellsing spoilers.

Hope this explanation helps.