Philosophy The Emerald Tablet of Alchemy

Myst · Mar 23, 2024

Not to be confused with the Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean (1930), the work of 20th-century occultist Maurice Doreal.

The so-called Emerald Tablet or Tabula Smaragdina is a one paragraph long Hermetic text. It was a highly regarded foundational text for many Islamic and European alchemists. Though attributed to the legendary Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus, the text of the Emerald Tablet first appears in a number of early medieval Arabic sources, the oldest of which dates to the late eighth or early ninth century. It was translated into Latin several times in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Numerous interpretations and commentaries followed.

Medieval and early modern alchemists associated the Emerald Tablet with the creation of the philosophers stone and the artificial production of gold.

It has also been popular with nineteenth- and twentieth-century occultists and esotericists, among whom the expression "as above, so below" (a modern paraphrase of the second verse of the Tablet) has become an often cited motto.

Tis true without lying, certain and most true. That which is below is like that which is above and that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracle of one only thing And as all things have been and arose from one by the mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth is its nurse. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth. Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry. It ascends from the earth to the heaven and again it descends to the earth and receives the force of things superior and inferior. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world and thereby all obscurity shall fly from you. Its force is above all force, for it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing. So was the world created. From this are and do come admirable adaptations where of the means is here in this. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished and ended.
— English translation of the Emerald Tablet by Isaac Newton.

Myst · Mar 23, 2024

To further expand on the topic of alchemy and esoteric/hermetic text's, let us discuss the previously mentioned paraphrase: "as above, so below", among historians of philosophy and science, the verse is often understood as a reference to the supposed effects of celestial mechanic's upon terrestrial events. This would include the effects of the Sun upon the change of seasons, or those of the Moon upon the tides but also more elaborate astrological effects. According to another common interpretation, the verse refers to the structural similarities (or 'correspondences') between the macrocasm (from Greek mikros kosmos, "the small world"; the human being, understood as a miniature universe). This type of view is found in many philosophical systems world-wide, the most relevant here being ancient Greek and Hellenistic philosophy where notable proponents included Anaximander (c. 610 – c. 546 BCE), Plato (c. 428 or 424 – c. 348 BCE), the Hippocratic authors (late fifth or early fourth century BCE and onwards), and the Stoics (third century BCE and onwards).

"As above, so below...as within so without...the microcosm is the macrocosm is the microcosm. Create your life in love and joy and the ripples will be felt far and wide. This is how we change the world."