The secret work of the hermetic philosophy and alchemy. Wherein the secrets of nature and art concerning the matter of creating the philosophers' stone and the elixir of life are explained in an authentic and orderly manner. Hermeticism, also called Hermetism, is a religious and philosophical tradition based primarily upon writings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus ("Thrice Great").These writings have greatly influenced the Western esoteric tradition and were considered to be of great importance during both the Renaissance and the Reformation. The tradition claims descent from a prisca theologia, a doctrine that affirms the existence of a single, true theology that is present in all religions and that was given by God to man in antiquity.