Hermes

Culture: Ancient Greek   Domain: Travel, messages, trade, boundaries, cunning

Hermes is Olympus's messenger, guide of souls to the underworld, and patron of travelers, merchants, and thieves alike; his cleverness shows from infancy, when he stole Apollo's cattle and invented the lyre from a tortoise shell on the same day. He moves easily between worlds, making him a natural god of thresholds, roads and communication.

Associations

Travel and roads, communication, commerce, boundaries and thresholds, cleverness, the lyre.

Ways people honor him (modern)

• Ask his favor before travel or an important conversation
• Keep a small statue or marker (a modern nod to the old herm-stones) at a doorway
• Practice clear, honest communication as a discipline
• Read the Homeric Hymn to Hermes for the cattle-theft story

Approach any deity with respect and do your own research. Practices vary widely between traditions, and modern devotional practice often goes beyond what survives in ancient sources.