The Emerald Tablet is the subject of a mysterious text, dating to about the ninth century, which details the discovery of a tablet of emerald discovered in a cave, which bears a message from The Egyptian/Greek syncretic deity Hermes Tismigestus:

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, to perform the miracles of the One Thing.

And as all things were from One, by the meditation of One, so from this One Thing come all things by adaptation. Its father is the Sun, its mother is the Moon, the wind carried it in its belly, the nurse thereof is the Earth.

It is the father of all perfection and the consummation of the whole world. Its power is integral if it be turned to Earth.

Thou shalt separate the Earth from the Fire, the subtle from the coarse, gently and with much ingenuity. It ascends from Earth to heaven and descends again to Earth, and receives the power of the superiors and the inferiors.

Thus thou hast the glory of the whole world; therefore let all obscurity flee before thee. This is the strong fortitude of all fortitude, overcoming every subtle and penetrating every solid thing. Thus the world was created. Hence are all wonderful adaptations, of which this is the manner.

Therefore am I called Hermes the Thrice Great, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. That is finished which I have to say concerning the operation of the Sun.

The text is the cornerstone (no pun intended) of the Hermetic Tadition of philosophy, magic, and alchemy.

An imagining of the Emerald Tablet from Manly Hall

See Also:

• The Emerald Tablet: An introduction to Hermetic Philosophy
• Hermes Trismegistus

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