Emerald Tablet

The Emerald Tablet, also known as Smaragdine Table, Tabula Smaragdina, or The Secret of Hermes, is an ancient text purporting to reveal the secret of the primordial substance and its transmutations. It claims to be the work of Hermes Trismegistus ("Hermes the Thrice-Great"), a legendary Egyptian sage or god, variously identified with the Egyptian god Thoth and/or the Greek god Hermes. This short and cryptic text was highly regarded by European alchemists as the foundation of their art, in particular of its Hermetic tradition.

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The tablet text

Newton's translation

One translation, by Isaac Newton, found among his alchemical papers:

1. Tis true without lying, certain & most true.

2. That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing.

3. And as all things have been & arose from one by the meditation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.

4. The Sun is its father, the moon its mother,

5. The wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nurse.

6. The father of all perfection in the whole world is here.

7. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.

7a. Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry.

8. It ascends from the earth to the heaven & again it desends to the earth and receives the force of things superior & inferior.

9. By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.

10. Its force is above all force, for it vanquishes every subtle thing & penetrates every solid thing.

11a. So was the world created.

12. From this are & do come admirable adaptations where of the means (or process) is here in this.

13. Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.

14. That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended.

Beato translation

Another translation from Aurelium Occultae Philosophorum by Georgio Beato:

1) This is true and remote from all cover of falsehood.

2) Whatever is below is similar to that which is above. Through this the marvels of the work of one thing are procured and perfected.

3) Also, as all things are made from one, by the consideration of one, so all things were made from this one, by conjunction.

4) The father of it is the sun, the mother the moon.

5) The wind bore it in the womb. Its nurse is the earth, the mother of all perfection.

6) Its power is perfected.

7) If it is turned into earth,

7) Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle and thin from the crude and coarse, prudently, with modesty and wisdom.

8) This ascends from the earth into the sky and again descends from the sky to the earth, and receives the power and efficacy of things above and of things below.

9) By this means you will acquire the glory of the whole world, and so you will drive away all shadows and blindness.

10) For this by its fortitude snatches the palm from all other fortitude and power. For it is able to penetrate and subdue everything subtle and everything crude and hard.

11) By this means the world was founded

12) And hence the marvelous cojunctions of it and admirable effects, since this is the way by which these marvels may be brought about.

13) And because of this they have called me Hermes Tristmegistus since I have the three parts of the wisdom and Philosophy of the whole universe.

14) My speech is finished which I have spoken concerning the solar work.

Latin text

Original edition of the Latin text. (Chrysogonus Polydorus, Nuremberg 1541): Verum, sine mendacio, certum et verissimum: Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius, et quod est superius est sicut quod est inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius. Et sicut res omnes fuerunt ab uno, meditatione unius, sic omnes res natae ab hac una re, adaptatione. Pater eius est Sol. Mater eius est Luna. Portavit illud Ventus in ventre suo. Nutrix eius terra est. Pater omnis telesmi^[1] totius mundi est hic. Virtus eius integra est si versa fuerit in terram. Separabis terram ab igne, subtile ab spisso, suaviter, magno cum ingenio. Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum. Sic habebis Gloriam totius mundi. Ideo fugiet a te omnis obscuritas. Haec est totius fortitudinis fortitudo fortis, quia vincet omnem rem subtilem, omnemque solidam penetrabit. Sic mundus creatus est. Hinc erunt adaptationes mirabiles, quarum modus est hic. Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Trismegistus, habens tres partes philosophiae totius mundi. Completum est quod dixi de operatione Solis.

Contemporary rendering of Latin text

1. True, without error, certain and most true

2. That which is above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is above, to perform the miracles of the one thing.

3. And as all things were from [the] one, by [means of] the meditation of [the] one, thus all things of the daughter from [the] one, by [means of] adaptation.

4. Its father is the sun, its mother[,]the moon, the wind carried it in its belly, its nurse is the earth.

5. The father of all the looms of the whole world is here.

6. Its power is integrating if it be turned into earth.

7. Separate the earth from the fire, the fine from the dense, delicately, by [means of/to] the great [together] with capacity.

8. It ascends by [means of] earth into heaven and again it descends into the earth, and retakes the power of the superior[s] and of the inferior[s].

9. Thus[,] you have the glory of the whole world.

10. Therefore[,] may it drive-out by [means of] you of all the obscurity.

11. This is the whole of the strength of the strong force, because it overcomes all fine things, and penetrates all the complete.

12. Thus[,] the world has been created.

13. Hence they were wonderful adaptations, of which this is the manner.

14. Therefore[,] I am Hermes the Thrice Great, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.

15. What I have said concerning the operation of the Sun has been completed.

Textual history

The oldest documentable source for the text is the Kitab Sirr al-Asrar, a pseudo-Aristotelian compendium of advice for rulers authored by Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani in around 800 AD. This work was translated into Latin as Secretum Secretorum (The Secret of Secrets) by Johannes "Hispalensis" or Hispaniensis (John of Seville) ca. 1140 and by Philip of Tripoli c. 1243.

In the 14th century, the alchemist Ortolanus wrote a substantial exegesis on "The Secret of Hermes," which was influential on the subsequent development of alchemy. Many manuscripts of this copy of the Emerald Tablet and the commentary of Ortolanus survive, dating at least as far back as the 15th century.

The Tablet has also been found appended to manuscripts of the Kitab Ustuqus al-Uss al-Thani (Second Book of the Elements of Foundation) attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan, and the Kitab Sirr al-Khaliqa wa San`at al-Tabi`a ("Book of the Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature"), dated between 650 and 830 AD.

Influence

In its several Western recensions, the Tablet became a mainstay of medieval and Renaissance alchemy. Commentaries and/or translations were published by, among others, Trithemius, Roger Bacon, Michael Maier, Aleister Crowley, Albertus Magnus, and Isaac Newton.

C.G. Jung identified "The Emerald Tablet" with a table made of green stone which he encountered in the first of a set of his dreams and visions beginning at the end of 1912, and climaxing in his writing the Seven Sermons to the Dead in 1916.

Because of its longstanding popularity, the Emerald Tablet is the only piece of non-Greek Hermetica to attract widespread attention in the West. The reason that the Emerald Tablet was so valuable is because it contained the instructions for the goals of alchemists. It hinted at the recipe for alchemical gold, as well as how to set one's level of consciousness to a new degree.

The Emerald Tablet has influenced songs from many rock artists including Cirque du Soleil Dralion, the U.S. jazz duo Cahill & Delene, the German ambient music composer - Thomas Köner, the musical group Doleful Lions, and the progressive art rock/metal group Tool.

Today, the film and book titled, The Secret, (by creator Rhonda Byrne), uses the Emerald Tablet as historical support for the ideas expressed in the film.^[2]

Notes

References

• Holmyard, E.J. "The Emerald Table" Nature, No. 2814, Vol. 112, October 6th 1923, pp 525-6.
• Holmyard, E.J. Alchemy, Pelican, Harmondsworth, 1957. pp95-8.
• Needham, J. Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 5, part 4: Spagyrical discovery and invention: Apparatus, Theories and gifts. CUP, 1980.
• Ruska, Julius. Die Alchimie ar-Razi's. n.p., 1935.
• Ruska, Julius. Quelques problemes de litterature alchimiste. n.p., 1931.
• Stapleton, H.E., Lewis, G.L, Sherwood Taylor, F. "The sayings of Hermes quoted in the Ma Al-Waraqi of Ibn Umail. " Ambix, vol. 3, 1949, pp 69-90.
• M.Robinson. "The History and Myths surrounding Johannes Hispalensis," in Bulletin of Hispanic Studies vol. 80, no. 4, October 2003, pp. 443-470, abstract.