Very interesting, especially the bit about Hegel. I already assumed Hermetic thought must have been some kind of influence on him, given that Hegel himself was very clearly influential on Hermetic spiritual movements (Anthroposophy and Rosicrucianism certainly), but I wasn't really sure to what extent he himself took Hermetic ideas into account. Hell, Eric Voegelin actually went so far as to argue that:
"Hegel should be understood not as a philosopher, but as a "sorcerer", i.e. as a mystic and hermetic thinker."
Also from wiki:
This concept of Hegel as a hermetic thinker was elaborated by Glenn Alexander Magee, who argued that interpreting Hegel's body of work as an expression of mysticism and hermetic ideas leads to a more accurate understanding of Hegel.
I'm not familiarized enough with Hermetic ideas -- let alone Hegel -- to really have an opinion on this. Calling him an outright mystic or sorceror seems overboard, as he's very obviously been a massive influence on philosophy -- but at the same time, his works do have the feel of esoterica, and not just because of how densely impenetrable they can be.
As for the notion of a 'pristine wisdom tradition', specifically in relation to Hermetic idealogy...it has certainly grown on me. I don't take Hermetic ideas literally at all, but I definitely think there's
something to it. I mean, this is arguably the oldest spiritual tradition to remain somewhat intact in the entire Western world, and it's still here. And when viewed without the knee-jerk skepticism associated with spirituality in general, there's absolutely some insights to be gleaned even just sort of glossing over Hermetic material (particularly older stuff, the things allegedly written by
Seswatha(Hermes Trismegistus) one can definitely see a certain amount of foresight into the nature of the universe and so forth, although the same is true of numerous ancient religions.
I don't really know what I'm talking about anymore, other than that I definitely think there is a soft cycle to civilization and knowledge (or was, until the technology revolution), and I absolutely think pre-modern humans had the ability to experience 'transcedental states of mind' that are serverly hampered by modern civilization, to the point that it's seen as silly or absurd. Transcedental is a stronger word than I actually mean, but I'm too tired to think of a better one lol. Regardless I do think there is a possible link with this sort of thing and a communal, shared wisdom that is basically "the best you can get" with normal human wetware.