The most known line in The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus is commonly abbreviated to "As above, so below." This reflects the concept of macrocosm and microcosm, the idea that the structure and workings of the universe are mirrored in a variety of smaller systems, including the human form. Understanding of one helps you with understanding the other. This principle is particularly important in alchemy. Alchemists were not looking to get rich quick by transmuting lead into gold. Thy were attempting to find a process that transmuted a crude common things into a perfect, rare thing. It's a metaphor for elevating the soul, for becoming closer to God.
Text: THE EMERALD TABLET OF HERMES TRISMEGISTUS
True, without falsehood, 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 the performance of the miracles of the One Thing. And as all things are 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, and the Wind carries it in its belly, its nurse is the Earth. This is the father of all perfection, or consummation of the whole world. Its power is integrating, if it be turned into earth.
Thou shalt separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, suavely, and with great ingenuity. It ascends from earth to heaven and descends again to earth, and receives the power of the superiors and of the inferiors. So thou hast the glory of the whole world; therefore let all obscurity flee before thee. This is the strong force of all forces, 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 Hermes Trismegistus, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. What I have to tell is completed, concerning the Operation of the Sun.
No comments:
Post a Comment