History Main / HermeticMagic

* Sorcery in ''Manga/SorcererHunters'' (aka ''Sorcerer Hunters''), ''Roleplay/RecordOfLodossWar'' and ''Anime/RuneSoldierLouie''.

* ''Manga/{{X1999}}'' utilizes a lot of European mystical symbolism, including Tarot and Qabbalah, but four of the seven protagonists derive their powers from traditional Japanese sources, including practical Buddhist magic, Shinto deities, and Taoism-based onmyoujitsu.

%%* This is the specific type of magic used in ''Comicbook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth''.%%ZCE

* High Magic in ''{{VideoGame/Lusternia}}'' is hermetic. It's basically a [[ShownTheirWork very well-researched]] ode to Qabbalah - each spell references an aspect of the Sephirot. It's diametrically opposed to the more illogical, intuitive branch known as [[RitualMagic Low Magic]].

* The ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'' is full of them, especially ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss''

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' showcases both European and Japanese magical traditions. Which makes sense, as there are both European and Japanese spellcasters.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''LightNovel/FateZero'', the two Caster-class Servants: ''LightNovel/FateZero''[='=]s Caster has a magic book that allow him to summon small monsters without the ritual usually necessary (bigger monsters, like ''Chtulhu'' (yes, he summoned it too), still need a ritual), while ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''[='=]s Caster is so good as a mage that she can spam spells that would require long rituals, like her trademark [[EnergyWeapon Rain of Light]] (a normal mage would need a magic circle, a ten-count aria and a full minute, or thirty seconds if the mage's very good, to cast a single beam of light, she needs a single word to fire thousands of them). She can do this by speaking [[LanguageOfMagic Divine Words]], which modern humans are physically incapable of pronouncing.

[[quoteright:350:[[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alchemcircle.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/alchemcircle.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist There's no way ''this'' could go wrong...]]]]

%%* Katsumi Liqueur's wizardry in ''Manga/SilentMoebius''.%%ZCE

%%* Symbols of some sort light up on Mikoto's sword Miroku in ''Anime/MaiHime''.

* ''FanFic/HarmonyTheory'': As a pegasus, Star Fall has no horn and so casts spells by drawing magic circles on spell paper.

These days, Hermetic magic is perhaps used/more likely found in anime than in Western works. Either to provide a comparatively exotic European flair to contrast with local mysticism... or just because [[FauxSymbolism it looks cool]], while in the West magic is often whitewashed to just a basic spell and effect with maybe one line of chanting and a circle of candles. This may be because talking about magic in too much detail might incite the MoralGuardians to launch a WitchHunt accusing you of Satanism, or just because Western media is more likely to be live action. It being a pain in the butt to depict those fancy geometric designs when you can't just [[StockFootage recycle animation]] and not end up with a SpecialEffectFailure. That said, Hermeticism has been around long enough to influence almost every aspect of Western magic, or at least share it with others such as use of pentagrams.

* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and ''LightNovel/FateZero'', the two Caster-class Servants: ''LightNovel/FateZero''[='=]s Caster has a magic book that allow him to summon small monsters without the ritual usually necessary (bigger monsters, like ''Chtulhu'' (yes, he summoned it too), still need a ritual), while ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''[='=]s Caster is so good as a mage that she can spam spells that would require long rituals, like her trademark [[FrickingLaserBeams Rain of Light]] (a normal mage would need a magic circle, a ten-count aria and a full minute, or thirty seconds if the mage's very good, to cast a single beam of light, she needs a single word to fire thousands of them). She can do this by speaking [[LanguageOfMagic Divine Words]], which modern humans are physically incapable of pronouncing.

* Naturally, the Hermetic Society in ''VideoGame/CrusaderKings II'' is all about this. [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane It's not clear if they're achieving anything]] -- only the Potion of Eudaiomnia, able to clear a person of stress and depression, seems especially fantastic -- but the bonuses for their ritual are quite real, [[MagicFeather whatever their cause]].

* Black Angel from the ''Roleplay/GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' backs up his demonic powers with HermeticMagic. Its not too useful in direct combat, but it gets the job done when he needs it to.

These days, Hermetic magic is perhaps used/more likely found in anime than in Western works. Either to provide a comparatively exotic European flair to contrast with local mysticism... or just because [[FauxSymbolism it looks cool]], while in the West magic is often whitewashed to just a basic spell and effect with maybe one line of chanting and a circle of candles. This may be because talking about magic in too much detail might incite the MoralGuardians to launch a WitchHunt accusing you of Satanism, or just because Western media is more likely to be live action. It being a pain in the butt to depict those fancy geometric designs when you can't just [[StockFootage recycle animation]] and not end up with ObviousCGI. That said, Hermeticism has been around long enough to influence almost every aspect of Western magic, or at least share it with others such as use of pentagrams.

* ''Literature/MasterOfTheFiveMagics'' has, oddly enough, five different schools of magic, all of which are hermetic to some extent. Alchemy and magic (yes, "magic" is one of the five branches of magic) are both entirely based on following rituals, often very highly detailed and complex ones. The other three are less ritual-based, but still usually require a fair amount of planning and props. However, one of the themes of the book, and especially its sequels, is that these rules may actually be rather less strict than most people believe.

* ''ComicBook/{{Promethea}}'' is in essence what would happen if WonderWoman decided to devote her comic book to an explanation of Western magical traditions, including Hermetic Magic and Kabbalah. It's written by Creator/AlanMoore, a real-life practitioner, so it's to be expected

* In many ''Author/HPLovecraft'' works, spells and summonings involve exhaustive research, intricate methods, rare materials (Some of alien origin), specifics dates of preparation and some innate abilities that few people have. The complexity and obscurity of these procedures gives them an occultist and alchemist feel, as well as explaining why the Great Old Ones are so unknown to the public (In universe, of course). In fact, in this universe, magic is not presented as a separate issue from science, but more as an special form of it. Mixing sci-fi with occultism is one of the most characteristic elements of Lovecraftian literature and the Weird Science genre in general.

Hermeticism is a real-world [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetism philosophical, religious, and magical tradition]] ascribed to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus]], claimed to be the [[GodInHumanForm human incarnation]] of both the Egyptian god Thoth and the Greek god Hermes, a Coptic Egyptian gnostic who founded the theological and philosophical base of western alchemy. One of the oldest, most continuous, and pervasive of Western magical traditions, it also [[{{Irony}} widely influenced early scientific thought]] as late as such greats as devoted alchemist [[UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton Sir Isaac Newton]]. Alchemy in particular can be almost synomous with Hermetic traditions and depictions of European, Armenian, and Islamic alchemy will usually represent these as being the same as a comparatively easy way to have ShownTheirWork.

** ''Literature/ThievesWorld'' d20 supplements from Green Ronin use Ritual magic as an alternative -- usually the spell's casting time raises by an order of magnitude or so, but so does its duration and gathering enough of mana quickly obviously is less of a problem. [[UnEqualRites Different classes have different affinity]] to these approaches: mages prefer spellcasting, priests ritualcasting, witches balance them, and Godsworn advance only in ritual magic.

** Then there is Fifth Edition's Ritual Casting system, which you gain access to from either a number of class features or the 'Ritual Caster' feat. With it, you can cast spells without expending a spell slot or without even ''having'' spell slots, to begin with, with the downsides of a [[https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells?filter-class=0&filter-search=&filter-verbal=&filter-somatic=&filter-material=&filter-concentration=&filter-ritual=t&filter-sub-class=&filter-source=1 greatly decreased spell list]] and having to tack on ten minutes to the spell's casting time. This type of casting is explicitly meant for pure utility spells like ''[[UnknownItemIdentification identify]]'' or ''tiny hut''.

** Then there is Fifth Edition's Ritual Casting system, which you gain access to from either a number of class features or the 'Ritual Caster' feat. With it, you can cast spells without expending a spell slot or with even ''having'' spell slots, to begin with, with the downsides of a [[https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells?filter-class=0&filter-search=&filter-verbal=&filter-somatic=&filter-material=&filter-concentration=&filter-ritual=t&filter-sub-class=&filter-source=1 greatly decreased spell list]] and having to tack on ten minutes to the spell's casting time. This type of casting is explicitly meant for pure utility spells like ''[[UnknownItemIdentification identify]]'' or ''tiny hut''.

** Similarly, ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' has the Tremere clan, who used to be ''House'' Tremere from ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'' until they realized that magic was fading, and with it, the immortality they'd purchased through alchemy. So, they corraled a bunch of vampires, forced them to Embrace, and got a new kind of immortality. They practice potent blood sorcery, but it's ultimately a bastardized version of the magic they practiced while alive. And if that weren't enough, most of vampire kind views them as utter dicks because one of the first things they did after their formation was to ensure the destruction of one of the most ''decent'' clans in all of history, and the Order of Hermes's general philosophy for dealing with "the betrayers" is to KillItWithFire. Ironically, Tremere was trying to ''legitimize'' his clan with the destruction of the Salubri; he thought if he could diablerize Saulot and claim his power, he could get a foothold in vampiric society. However, Tremere's entire life can be summed up with "It half-worked"...

Hermeticism is a real-world [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetism philosophical, religious, and magical tradition]] ascribed to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus]], claimed to be the [[GodInHumanForm human incarnation]] of both the Egyptian god Thoth and the Greek god Hermes, a Coptic Egyptian gnostic who founded the theological and philosophical base of western alchemy. One of the oldest, most continuous, and pervasive of Western magical traditions it also [[{{Irony}} widely influenced early scientific thought]] as late as such greats as devoted alchemist [[UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton Sir Isaac Newton]]. Alchemy in particular can be almost synomous with Hermetic traditions and depictions of European, Armenian, and Islamic alchemy will usually represent these as being the same as a comparatively easy way to have ShownTheirWork.

* The ''Franchise/StarOcean'' games have Heraldry/Symbology/Runology, which involves etching symbols, on nearby surfaces or on the caster themselves, which can then be used to create spells. It is revealed in ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' that [[spoiler: the symbols are in fact parts of programming code for the virtual universe the characters live in, and allow them to warp reality]]. ItMakesSenseInContext. One should also note that [[spoiler: it still works when the main character uses his (and his love interest's and cousin's) literal gamebreaking code to open a portal to the 4th dimension, that is, the real world, where they are part of a video game]].

* The "divine magic" used by the goddesses in ''Manga/AhMyGoddess''.
** Lampshaded in one episode, part of the reason spell names are recited is to warn folks that the Goddesses are casting it. In fact, outside of the more complex spells that require multiple casters and/or spell circles, they can cast most things instantly.
* Spellcasting in ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' is somewhere between Hermetic and Vancian models. The basic combat spellcasting is based on Vancian-type spells, but many mages use longer Hermetic rituals with magic circles and stuff (most often these are used for summoning demons and enchanting items).
** Furthered when a zoom-out reveals the entire city of Seyruun is built in the shape of a gigantic magic circle--made so in order to weaken any black magic used within the city's walls.

* Much of ''Franchise/YuGiOh'' (primarily the [[Anime/YuGiOh first series]]) deals with ancient Egyptian magic. During the Doma [[StoryArc arc]], Dartz, the BigBad for that part of the series, uses a unicursal hexagram called the "Seal of Orichalcos", which is seen inside a circle with the Enochian alphabet spelling "Oreichalkos" twice in the border.
** Unfortunately, in the Japanese version of the anime, the runes on the Orichalcos cards do not translate into actual words (a subverted BilingualBonus).

* This is the specific type of magic used in ''Comicbook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth''.

* Demon-summoning in Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy is ''extremely'' complicated, primarily involving magical circles and knowing the name of the demon, but also knowing dozens of other languages, candles, incenses, not leaving the circle until you are sure the demon won't hurt you, knowing how to play various music instruments well, among other things. And that's just the basics, as demon summoning just becomes more complex from there.

* In many ''Author/HPLovecraft'' works, spells and summonings involve exhaustive research, intricate methods, rare materials (Some of alien origin), specifics dates of preparation and some innate abilities that few people have. The complexity and obscurity of these procedures gives them an occultist and alchemist feel, as well as explaining why the Great Old Ones are so unknown to the public (In universe, of course).
** In fact, in this universe, magic is not presented as a separate issue than science, but more as an special form of it. Mixing Sci-fi with occultism is one of the most characteristic elements of Lovecraftian literature and the Weird Science genre.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''

** Similarly, ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'' have the Tremere clan, who used to be ''House'' Tremere from ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'' until they realized that magic was fading, and with it, the immortality they'd purchased through alchemy. So, they corraled a bunch of vampires, forced them to Embrace, and got a new kind of immortality. They practice potent blood sorcery, but it's ultimately a bastardized version of the magic they practiced while alive. And if that weren't enough, most of vampire kind views them as utter dicks because one of the first things they did after their formation was to ensure the destruction of one of the most ''decent'' clans in all of history, and the Order of Hermes's general philosophy for dealing with "the betrayers" is to KillItWithFire. Ironically, Tremere was trying to ''legitimize'' his clan with the destruction of the Salubri; he thought if he could diablerize Saulot and claim his power, he could get a foothold in vampiric society. However, Tremere's entire life can be summed up with "It half-worked"...
*** And in the ContinuityReboot, ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'', Tremere ''liches'' are an evil Legacy of mages that extend their lifespan by stealing souls. Same family, though. Turns out in [[TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness nWoD]], mixing your supernatural types is a bad idea, more so than before, when it was just SpecialSnowflakeSyndrome bait.
* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Thaumatology'' spends several pages listing all the Hermetic decans along with discussions of how they might be invoked.
** As did its predecessor, ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Cabal''

* The ''Franchise/StarOcean'' games have Heraldry/Symbology/Runology, which involves etching symbols, on nearby surfaces or on the caster themselves, which can then be used to create spells. It is revealed in ''VideoGame/StarOceanTillTheEndOfTime'' that [[spoiler: the symbols are in fact parts of programming code for the virtual universe the characters live in, and allow them to warp reality]]. ItMakesSenseInContext.
** One should also note that: [[spoiler: It still works when the main character uses his (and his love interest's and cousin's) literal gamebreaking code to open a portal to the 4th dimension, that is, the real world, where they are part of a video game]].

* Where other RealTimeStrategy games have buildings and other structures, ''VideoGame/GrimGrimoire'' has Lillet inscribing various magic circles from which she [[SummonMagic summons]] demons, ghosts, and other units to overwhelm her enemy with.
** In general RTS have hints of it if they have a middle age theme and require certain buildings to cast advanced spells.

** It should be noted that in the classical ("Solomonic") Western Esoteric tradition from which many of these examples (directly or not) derive from, there generally wasn't an expectation that the ritual alone could cause the spell to work; rather, practitioners believed that the ritual would [[SummonMagic summon a spirit]] that the magician would then order about.

The origin of the phrase "As above, so below" the tradition makes ''extensive'' use of SympatheticMagic, often in more abstract ways. Thus it is heavily reliant on either visual/material symbolism or even [[MagicalIncantation spoken]] forms. Other important core elements are seeking to understand Astrology, Alchemy as previously mentioned, and [[FunctionalMagic Theurgy]]. For some of the more common imagery check out a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rider-Waite_tarot_deck Rider-Waite]] set of Tarot cards. This makes Hermeticism often a long drawn-out affair with lots of potentially flashy elements (or in other words, a very rich source of mystical imagery with at least some grounding in real beliefs).

Hermeticism is a real-world [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetism philosophical, religious, and magical tradition]] ascribed to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus]], claimed to be the [[GodInHumanForm human incarnation]] of both the Egyptian God Thoth and the Greek God Hermes, a Coptic Egyptian gnostic who founded the theological and philosophical base of western alchemy. One of the oldest, most continuous, and pervasive of Western magical traditions it also [[{{Irony}} widely influenced early scientific thought]] as late as such greats as devoted alchemist [[UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton Sir Isaac Newton]]. Alchemy in particular can be almost synomous with Hermetic traditions and depictions of European, Armenian, and Islamic alchemy will usually represent these as being the same as a comparatively easy way to have ShownTheirWork.

* Katsumi Liqueur's wizardry in ''Manga/SilentMoebius''.

* It should be noted that in the classical ("Solomonic") Western Esoteric tradition from which many of these examples (directly or not) derive from, there generally wasn't an expectation that the ritual alone could cause the spell to work; rather, practitioners believed that the ritual would [[SummonMagic summon a spirit]] that the magician would then order about.

* It should be noted that in the classical ("Solomonic") Western Esoteric tradition from which many of these examples (directly or not) derive from, there generally wasn't an expectation that the ritual alone could cause the spell to work; rather, practitioners believed that the ritual would summon a spirit that the magician would then order about.

* Symbols of some sort light up on Mikoto's sword Miroku in ''Anime/MaiHime''.

* Alchemy in ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' is Hermetic, though usually in a ''much'' different way than how ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' uses it.

* Homura and his followers at the end of the first Manga/{{Saiyuki}} anime.

* So does ''Anime/TsukuyomiMoonPhase''.
* And ''Anime/AyakashiAyashi''.

* ''Manga/PeacockKing''.

Hermeticism is a real-world [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermetism philosophical, religious, and magical tradition,]] ascribed to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus,]] claimed to be the [[GodInHumanForm human incarnation]] of both the Egyptian God Thoth and the Greek God Hermes, a Coptic Egyptian gnostic who founded the theological and philosophical base of western alchemy. One of the oldest, most continuous, and pervasive of Western magical traditions it also [[{{Irony}} widely influenced early scientific thought]] as late as such greats as devoted alchemist [[UsefulNotes/IsaacNewton Sir Isaac Newton]]. Alchemy in particular can be almost synomous with Hermetic traditions and depictions of European, Armenian, and Islamic alchemy will usually represent these as being the same as a comparatively easy way to have ShownTheirWork.

Expect to see The Seal of Solomon, the [[SpellMyNameWithAnS Qabbalah]], [[TarotMotifs Tarot cards]], and the Enochian alphabet in works featuring Hermetic magic (the Paracelsian Alphabet of the Magi, less known by name, is nevertheless also likely to make an appearance).