Hermes, aka Mercury, aka Wodan, aka Thoth, aka the dude who’ll get your flowers to you on time because he’s known for being fleet-footed (hence the wings). Major god of innovation and science (hence the caduceus).

He’s also known for being clever, a trickster, and a thief. After all, moments after he was born, he stole Apollo’s cattle and returned to him a lyre, the strings of which he’d made from calf guts.

Though I’m not quite sure how he gained it–perhaps simply by virtue of being a god–Hermes was known for his wisdom, if we can believe it, having written “an astonishing 36,525 volumes of magic and wisdom, and Egyptian history.“ He taught the art of persuasion to Pandora, the art of prophecy to a few female inhabitants of the Mount of Parnassus, and music to Zeus’s stepbrother. To top it off, he also guided souls to the underworld. He knew his way around.

Wow. With this jack of all trades, why would anyone need the rest of the pantheon?

So here’s what interests me: We have this clever god, well-known for his trickery, who has a heart for music, a golden tongue for persuasion, and a brain full of the knowledge of magic and science. Makes me curious whether the point of this guy is to trick us into believing things that simply aren’t true. Interesting that he also leads souls to the underworld.

But why am I writing about this?

Stay tuned . . .