Firstly lets discuss the meaning behind the word “Nous”. here is a good definition I found on in the Britannica Encyclopedia

nous, (Greek: “mind” or “intellect”) in philosophy, the faculty of intellectual apprehension and of intuitive thought. Used in a narrower sense, it is distinguished from discursive thought and applies to the apprehension of eternal intelligible substances and first principles. It is sometimes identified with the highest or divine intellect.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Often when reading the translations of the Corpus Hermeticum, you will see “mind” or “intellect” as a result of the translation for the word “Nous”. Now it’s important to note that when the Mind is being spoken of in the Hermetica, they are talking about a divine faculty unique to the human soul. Rather than the mind, we use to operate our bodies. One of the best places to get a better idea of what Hermes is talking about when he says things about mind or nous is CH XI – XIII.

If we examine this passage listed in the first few paragraphs of CH XI it says that Mind/Nous is the energy of god

“Hear how it is with god and the universe, my child.”
“God, eternity, cosmos, time, becoming.”
“God makes eternity; eternity makes the cosmos; the cosmos makes time; time makes becoming. The essence (so to speak) of god is [the
good, the beautiful, happiness,] wisdom; the essence of eternity is identity; of the cosmos, order; of time, change; of becoming, life and death.
But the energy of god is mind and soul; the energy of eternity is permanence and immortality; of the cosmos, recurrence and counter recurrence; of time, increase and decrease; of becoming, quality (and
quantity). Eternity, therefore, is in god, the cosmos in eternity, time in
the cosmos, and becoming in time. And while eternity has stood still in
god’s presence, the cosmos moves in eternity, time passes in the cosmos,
but becoming comes to be in time.”

HERMETICA
The Greek Corpus Hermeticum, BRIAN P. COPENHAVER, CH XI.2

There is an earlier discourse between Hermes and Poimandres in CH I that kind of makes a similar distinction about mind or nous being in unison or a direct faculty of God. Here Poimandres is saying Nous or Mind is God or The Father and that they are not divided from each other.

[6] Poimandres said to me, “Have you understood what this vision means?”
“I shall come to know,” said I.
“I am the light you saw, mind, your god,” he said, “who existed before the watery nature that appeared out of darkness. The light giving word
who comes from mind is the son of god.”
“Go on,” I said.
“This is what you must know: that in you which sees and hears is the
word of the lord, but your mind is god the father; they are not divided
from one another for their union is life.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Understand the light, then, and recognize it.”

HERMETICA
The Greek Corpus Hermeticum, BRIAN P. COPENHAVER, CH I.6

Now if we go to the next verse, in CH I.8-9 we can see that Nous replicated itself in some degree and created a new Nous, like how Poimandres is telling Hermes how the craftsmen, the creator of material world, is brought into existence by the logos or words of nous of god in the following passage

The elements of nature – whence have they arisen?” I asked.
And he answered: “From the counsel of god which, having taken in
the word and having seen the beautiful cosmos, imitated it, having
become a cosmos through its own elements and its progeny of souls. [9]
The mind who is god, being androgyne and existing as life and light,
by speaking gave birth to a second mind, a craftsman, who, as god of
fire and spirit, crafted seven governors; they encompass the sensible
world in circles, and their government is called fate.”

HERMETICA
The Greek Corpus Hermeticum, BRIAN P. COPENHAVER, CH I.8-9

So we can see that this mind can create something from itself that is formless through divine logos. We can also see how the Nous more directly differs from god in this passage found in CH.2, which says that god is NOT mind which may seem contradictive to earlier information. Instead, god is more so the cause of mind, it’s a faculty of god rather than a separate force or entity, a faculty that originates from god and is expressed through god as an energy of god as it listed in CH XI and CH XII in the following passages.

[12] “Your reasoning is irrefutable, Trismegistus. So what have we said of the place in which the universe is moved?”
“That it is incorporeal, Asclepius.”
“What is the incorporeal, then?”
“Mind as a whole wholly enclosing itself, free of all body, unerring, unaffected, untouched, at rest in itself, capable of containing all things and preserving all that exists, and its rays (as it were) are the good, the truth, the archetype of spirit, the archetype of soul.”
“What, then, is god?”
“God is what does not subsist as any of these since he is the cause of their being, for all of them and for each and every one of them that
exists. [13] And he has left nothing else remaining that is not-being, for all things are those that come to be from things that are, not from those
that are not. Things that are not do not have a nature that enables them to come to be; their nature is such that they cannot come to be anything. Things that are, on the other hand, do not have a nature that prevents
them from ever existing.” [14] {(What do you mean by what never exists!)}
“God is not mind, but he is the cause of mind’s being; he is not spirit, but the cause of spirit’s being; and he is not light, but the cause of light’s
being. Hence, one must show god reverence with those two names assigned to him alone and to no other. Except god alone, none of the
other beings called gods nor any human nor any demon can be good, in any degree. That good is he alone, and none other. All others are
incapable of containing the nature of the good because they are body and soul and have no place that can contain the good.

HERMETICA
The Greek Corpus Hermeticum, BRIAN P. COPENHAVER, CH II.12-14

In conclusion with these passages alone, I think it’s safe to say that Nous is operating on a level of reality that doesn’t serve fate, providence, or necessity i.e it’s outside the cosmos. Because it already is within all things as it is said to not be separate from god and god is in all things, thus it is too. Even though all things are within the manifestation of mind and god it doesn’t mean that all things are directly impartial to god. As it was listed that Mind, Light, Life, and Spirit came from god as the cause for these things, yet they are not the god in their own right, but more so direct expression of god itself. God is more directly described as “The Good” which we will get into “The Good” later as it is not what it seems at face value, and it differs from our current perspective of moral good and is rather a philosophical good that doesn’t have passions, and doesn’t increases or decreases in quantity and quality (Read Polyphanes Article on Hermeticism and morality here for more information).

Next, we can examine how the Nous is relevant to us as humans in the following passage found in CH XII.2. It speaks of mind from the human soul as divine and says the minds of animals serve natural impulse as opposed to reason or logos, which makes the human nous unique and god-like.

Where soul is there also is mind, just as there is soul wherever
life is. But the soul in unreasoning animals is life devoid of mind. Mind
is a benefactor of human souls; it works on them for good. In things
without reason, mind assists the natural impulse arising from each, but it opposes this impulse in human souls. Every soul, as soon as it has
come to be in the body, is depraved by pain and pleasure. For in a composite body pain and pleasure seethe like juices; once immersed in
them, the soul drowns.”

HERMETICA
The Greek Corpus Hermeticum, BRIAN P. COPENHAVER, CH XII.2

Here’s a little diagram I made on the relationship between the human soul, mind, and god.

The mind or nous in the soul is like that of gods, it’s eternal, it’s timeless, it’s formless. Mind is said to be integrated into the human body through the soul, which is made of the finest air which air is made of the finest matter as per this passage

“The matter composed of the finest particles is air, but air is soul,
soul is mind, and mind is god”

HERMETICA
The Greek Corpus Hermeticum, BRIAN P. COPENHAVER, CH V.11

We can understand Nous to us as humans as our ability to communicate with God, although this communication is without a word or symbol. It’s what connects us to our divinity.

To wrap it all up for this discourse on Nous. Nous isn’t separate from god, but Nous in and of itself isn’t God, but rather a faculty or expression of god. Like rays of sunlight from the sun, the sunlight isn’t the sun but operates in unison with the sun. Mind or Nous is not god. but operate in unison with god. And we as humans have Nous and through it we come to know our truest self. The self that is outside our egos, our identities and body.

This discourse on Nous may seem incomplete and it is, there will be further developments on the topic in the future.