The Emerald Table (of Hermes)
A brief document believed to be the earliest statement of the
principles of spiritual alchemy, ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus,
after whom alchemy has been named the hermetic art.
Hermes Trismegistus is a shadowy figure, possibly mythical.
The old alchemists believed him to have been an Egyptian living
about the time of Moses; others have claimed him to have
been a personification of Thoth, the Egyptian god of learning.
There is a legend that the Emerald Table (also known as the
Smaragdine Table) was discovered by Alexander the Great in
the tomb of Hermes in a cave near Hebron.
The earliest printed version in Latin dates from an alchemical
work of 1541, but a commentary on it was known three centuries
earlier, and the table might well be ancient. The original
was believed to have been inscribed on emerald (smaragdine)
in Phoenician letters, later translated into Greek and Latin. It
has been translated into English as follows
True, without error, certain and most true; that which is
above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that
which is above, for performing the miracles of the One Thing;
and as all things were from one, by the mediation of one, so all
things arose from this one by adaptation; the father of it is the
Sun, the mother of it is the Moon; the wind carries it in its belly;
the nurse thereof is the Earth. This is the father of all perfection,
or consummation of the whole world. The power of it is
integral, if it be turned into earth. Thou shalt separate the
earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gently with much
wisdom; it ascends from earth to heaven, and again descends
to earth; and receives the strength of the superiors and of the
inferiorsso thou hast the glory of the whole world; therefore
let all obscurity flee before thee. This is the strong fortitude of
all fortitudes, overcoming every subtle and penetrating every
solid thing. So the world was created. Hence were all wonderful
adaptations of which this is the manner. Therefore am I called
Thrice Great Hermes, having the Three Parts of the philosophy
of the whole world. That which I have written is consummated
concerning the operation of the Sun.
This statements theme of as above, so below became a
keystone of occult philosophy.
Sources
Hauck, Dennis William. The Emerald Tablet Alchemy for Personal
Transformation. New York PenguinArkana, 1999.
Mead, G. R. S., ed. Thrice-Greatest Hermes. 3 vols. London
J. M. Watkins, 1964.
