TheEmerald Tablet, also known as theSmaragdine Table or theTabula Smaragdina,[a] is a compact and cryptic text traditionally attributed to the legendaryHellenistic figureHermes Trismegistus.[2] The earliest known versions are fourArabic recensions preserved in mystical and alchemical treatises between the 8th and 10th centuries CE—chiefly theSecret of Creation (Arabic:سر الخليقة,romanized: Sirr al-Khalīqa) and theSecret of Secrets (سرّ الأسرار,Sirr al-Asrār).[3] It was often accompanied by a frame story about the discovery of anemerald tablet in Hermes' tomb.
From the 12th century onward, Latin translations—most notably the widespread so-calledvulgate[4]—introduced the text to Europe, where it attracted great scholarly interest. Medieval commentators such asHortulanus interpreted it as a "foundational text" of alchemical instructions for producing thephilosopher's stone andmaking gold.[5] During the Renaissance, interpreters increasingly read the text throughNeoplatonic, allegorical, and Christian lenses;[6] and printers often paired it with an emblem that came to be regarded as a visual representation of theTablet itself.[7]Vernacular translations of the Latinvulgate also started to appear, such as an English translation prepared byIsaac Newton.[b][8]
Following the 20th-century rediscovery of Arabic sources byEric Holmyard andJulius Ruska,[9] modern scholars continue to debate its origins. They agree that theSecret of Creation, theTablet's earliest source and its likely original context, was either wholly[10] or at least partly[11] compiled from earlierGreek orSyriac materials. TheTablet remains influential in esotericism and occultism, where the phraseas above, so below (a paraphrase of its second verse) has become a popularmaxim. It has also been taken up byJungian psychologists, artists, and figures of pop culture, cementing its status as one of the best-knownHermetica.[12]
Beginning from the first century BCE onwards,[c] Greek texts attributed toHermes Trismegistus, asyncretic combination of the Greek godHermes and the Egyptian godThoth, appeared inGreco-Roman Egypt. These texts, known as theHermetica, are a heterogeneous collection of works that in the modern day are commonly subdivided into two groups: the technical Hermetica, comprisingastrological,medico-botanical, alchemical, andmagical writings; and the religio-philosophical Hermetica, comprising mystical-philosophical writings.[14]
These Greekpseudepigraphal texts found receptions, translations, and imitations inLatin,Syriac,Coptic,Armenian, andMiddle Persian prior to the emergence of Islam and theArab conquests in the 630s. These conquests brought about various empires in which a new group of Arabic-speaking intellectuals emerged. These scholars received and translated the aforementioned wealth of texts and also began producing Hermetica of their own.[15] By the tenth century, some Arabic-speakingMuslims had come to identify Hermes with the prophetIdris, thereby elevating the Hermetica to the level of other Islamic prophetic revelations.[16] Until the early twentieth century, only Latin versions of theEmerald Tablet were known in theWestern world, with the oldest dating back to the twelfth century.[17] The older (eighth-/ninth-century and later) Arabic versions were rediscovered byEric John Holmyard andJulius Ruska.[9]
The oldest version of theEmerald Tablet is found as an appendix in an encyclopaedic treatise on natural philosophy meant as acosmogony.[18] It is believed to have been compiled in Arabic in the late eighth or early ninth century.[d] The treatise bears the titleBook of the Secret of Creation and the Craft of Nature.[e][22] Some scholars consider it plausible that this work is a translation of a much olderGreek orSyriac original, although no such manuscript is known.[23] At the same time others think it is more likely that it was an original Arabic composition based on older materials.[24] The Arabic text presents itself as a translation of a work byApollonius of Tyana.[f]Pseudepigraphal attributions to Apollonius were common in medieval Arabic texts on magic, astrology, and alchemy.[g][29] If theTablet originally hailed from a pseudo-Apollonian context, it could be considered a text oflate antiquity, like other such works.[30]
This earliest known version reads as follows:
حقٌّ لا شكَّ فيه صَحيح، إنّ الأعلى من الأسفل والأسفل من الأعلى، عمل العجائب من واحد كما كانت الأشياء كلّها من واحد بتدبير واحد، أبوه الشمس، أُمّه القمر، حملته الريح في بطنها، غذته الأرض، أبو الطِّلسمات، خازن العجائب، كامل القوى، نار صارت أرضاً ٱعزِل الأرض من النار، اللطيف أكرم من الغليظ، برِفق وحُكم يصعد من الأرض إلى السماء وينزل إلى الأرض من السماء، وفيه قُوّة الأعلى والأسفل، لأنّ معه نور الأنوار فلذلك تهرب منه الظُّلمة، قُوّة القوى يغلب كلّ شيء لطيف، يدخل في كلّ شيء غليظ، على تكوين العالَم الأكبر تكوّن العمل، فهذا فَخْرِي ولذلك سُمّيتُ هرمس المثلَّث بالحكمة.
(a) truth; no doubt [it] is true indeed, the uppermost is from the lowermost and the lowermost is from the uppermost, [it] worked the wonders from one, (just) as all things come from oneby means of one plan/with one considered act, [its] father is the sun, [its] mother is the moon, the wind carried [it] in her womb, the earth fed [it], father of talismans, keeper of wonders, perfect in power, fire became earth, separate[h] the earth from the fire, thesoft/delicate/gentle/subtle is more noble than thecrude/rough/unintelligent/gross, with gentle-being and wisdom [it] ascends from the earth to the heaven and descends to the earth from the heaven, and in [it] is the power of the uppermost and the lowermost, since with [it] is the light of lights therefore the darkness escapes (away) from [it], power of powers it prevails over everythingsoft/delicate/gentle/subtle, enters into everythingcrude/rough/unintelligent/gross, against the creation of the macrocosm the work was created, this is my renown and therefore I am named Hermes the threefold with the wisdom.
—literal translation; multiple possible meanings have been given in italics; sinceArabic only has two grammatical genders and the translated pronoun is grammatically male, [it/its] can also be translated as [he/his/him].[i]
Nineteenth-century Arabic text of theEmerald Tablet and part of its frame story in theBook of the Secret of Creation. (man. Tehran, Majles Library,14456/IR1526).
The introduction to theBook of the Secret of Creation presents a narrative that outlines key philosophical and alchemical ideas. It explains that all things are composed of four elemental qualities—heat, cold, moisture, and dryness—drawn fromAristotelian theory. These elements and their combinations are said to determine the sympathetic or antagonistic relationships between beings. In theframe story, Balīnūs, a legendary figure known as theMaster of Talismans,[j] discovers a crypt beneath a statue of Hermes Trismegistus. Inside, he finds a tablet made ofemerald, held by an old man seated with a book.[k][34] The central part of the text is an alchemical treatise, notable for introducing—for the first time—the theory that all metals are formed from two basic substances:sulphur andmercury. This concept later became a foundational idea in medieval alchemy.[35]Emerald was the stone traditionally associated with Hermes, whilequicksilver was his metal andMercury his planet.Mars was associated with red stones andiron, andSaturn with black stones andlead.[36] People in antiquity thought of various green-coloured minerals—such as greenjasper and even greengranite—as emerald.[37]
The text of theEmerald Tablet appears in theBook of the Secret of Creation as an appendix. It has long been debated whether it is an extraneous piece, solely cosmogonic in nature, or whether it is an integral part of the rest of the work, in which case it could have had an alchemical significance from the outset.[38] It has been suggested that theEmerald Tablet was originally a text oftalismanic magic that was only later understood as being alchemical in nature.[39] This may have been due to it having been divorced from its original context in theBook of the Secret of Creation; and instead having been commonly transmitted through the alchemical treatise containing thevulgate.[40]
1620woodblock print of the beginning of theGuanzi section Tzu-Kung hypothesised to be the origin of theEmerald Tablet.
Julius Ruska observed that theTablet's cosmogony in theBook of the Secret of Creation seemed neither Islamic,Iranian, nor Christian. He speculated that it might reflectChaldean,Harranian, orgnostic ideas from the regions northeast of Iran, along theSilk Road.[41][l] Chang Tzu-Kung proposed an origin further east[43]—as he believed Hermes Trismegistus to have beenChinese.[44] He noted that Chineseaphorisms commonly hailed from legendary slabs and steles in caves and temples.[45] Tzu-Kung produced a speculative Chinese rendition of theTablet,[m][47] which he based onJohn Read'svulgate translation.[48] He then claimed theTablet's origin to be aHan dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE)Taoist text known as theGuanzi.[n]Joseph Needham rejected this theory as not yet having been sufficiently proved.[o][53]
Another early version of theEmerald Tablet is found in theSecond Book of the Element of the Foundation (Arabic:كتاب أسطقس الأسّ الثاني,romanized: Kitāb Usṭuqus al-Uss al-Thānī) attributed to the eighth-century alchemistJabir ibn Hayyan.[p][55] In this somewhat shorter version, lines 6, 8, and 11–15 as found in theSecret of Creation are missing. Other parts appear to be corrupt.[56] It reads:
حقا يقينا لا شك فيه إن الأعلى من الأسفل والأسفل من الأعلى عمل العجائب من واحد كما كانت الأشياء كلها من واحد وأبوه الشمس وأمه القمر حملته الأرض في بطنها وغذته الريح في بطنها نار صارت أرضا اغذوا الأرض من اللطيف بقوة القوى يصعد من الأرض إلى السماء فيكون مسلطا على الأعلى والأسفل
Truth! Certainty! That in which there is no doubt! That which is above is from that which is below, and that which is below is from that which is above, working the miracles of one [thing]. As all things were from One. Its father is the Sun and its mother the Moon. The Earth carried it in her belly, and the Wind nourished it in her belly, as Earth which shall become Fire. Feed the Earth from that which is subtle, with the greatest power. It ascends from the earth to the heaven and becomes ruler over that which is above and that which is below.
Fourteenth-century Arabic text of theEmerald Tablet from theSecret of Secrets (man. Berlin,Landberg 121).
Another text of theEmerald Tablet is found towards the end of the tenth-centurypseudo-Aristotelian work known as theSecret of Secrets.[q][r] This entire treatise is framed as apseudepigraphical letter fromAristotle toAlexander the Great during the latter's conquest of Persia and is introduced via a number of letters between the two.[s] It discusses politics, morality,physiognomy, astrology, alchemy, medicine, and more.[60]
It reads:
حقا يقينا لا شك فيه أن الأسفل من الأعلى والأعلى من الأسفل عمل العجائب من واحد بتدبير واحد كما نشأت الأشياء من جوهر واحد أبوه الشمس وأمه القمر حملته الريح في بطنها، وغذته الأرض بلبانها أبو الطلسمات، خازن العجائب، كامل القوى فان صارت أرضا اعزل الأرض من النار اللطيف أكرم من الغليظ برفق وحكمة تصعد من الأرض إلى السماء وتهبط إلى الأرض فتقبل قوة الأعلى والأسفل لأن معك نور الأنوار فلهذا تهرب عنك الظلمة قوة القوى تغلب كل شيء لطيف يدخل على كل شيء كثيف على تقدير العالم الأكبر هذا فخري ولهذا سمّيت هرمس المثلّث بالحكمة اللدنية[61]
Fourteenth-century depiction ofIbn Umayl's discovery story in a pyramid from manuscriptBook of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth. (man. Topkapı Palace Library, man.Ahmet III 2075).
Similarly, an Arabic treatise called theBook of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth[t] byIbn Umayl[u] reproduces a version of theTablet.[62] This treatise was translated asLatin:Tabula Chemica,lit.'Chemical Tablet'.[63] In this version of the frame story, an alchemical stone table is discovered, resting on the knees of Hermes Trismegistus[v] in the secret chamber of a pyramid. However, this table does not contain theTablet text which is repeated later in the treatise.[65] It is instead inscribed with writing described asArabic:بيرباوي,romanized: bīrbāwī,lit.'hieroglyphic; of the pyramid'.[w] Its "hieroglyphic" contents are then visually depicted together with an alchemical exegesis thereof.[67]
The literary theme of the discovery of Hermes' hidden wisdom can be found in other Arabic texts from around the tenth century. The introduction of the Book of Crates provides one such example. In the narrative a Greek philosopher named Crates[x] is praying in the templeSarapieion.[y] While in prayer he has a vision of the ancient sage.[72] It reads:
"Then I saw an old man, the most beautiful of men, seated on a chair. He was dressed in white garments and held in his hand a board attached to the chair, upon which rested a book. Before him were wondrous vessels, the most marvellous I had ever seen. When I asked who this old man was, I was told:He is Hermes Trismegistus, and the book before him is one of those that contain the explanation of the secrets he concealed from humankind."[73]
Text of theEmerald Tablet in its Latin translation byHugo of Santalla (man. Paris,Latin 13951).
TheBook of the Secret of Creation was translated into Latin[z] inc. 1145–1151 byHugo of Santalla.[75][aa] This text does not appear to have been widely circulated.[78] Its translation of theTablet reads as follows:
Superiora de inferioribus, inferiora de superioribus, prodigiorum operatio ex uno, quemadmodum omnia ex uno eodemque ducunt originem, una eademque consilii administratione. Cuius pater Sol, mater vero Luna, eam ventus in corpore suo extollit: Terra fit dulcior. Vos ergo, prestigiorum filii, prodigiorum opifices, discretione perfecti, si terra fiat, eam ex igne subtili, qui omnem grossitudinem et quod hebes est antecellit, spatiosibus, et prudenter et sapientie industria, educite. A terra ad celum conscendet, a celo ad terram dilabetur, superiorum et inferiorum vim continens atque potentiam. Unde omnis ex eodem illuminatur obscuritas, cuius videlicet potentia quicquid subtile est transcendit et rem grossam, totum, ingreditur. Que quidem operatio secundum maioris mundi compositionem habet subsistere. Quod videlicet Hermes philosophus triplicem sapientiam vel triplicem scientiam appellat.[79][ab]
TheTablet was also translated into Latin as part of the thirteenth-century translation of theSecret of Secrets (Latin:Secretum Secretorum) byPhilip of Tripoli. This entire treatise has been called "the most popular book of the Latin Middle Ages".[81][ac] Its translation of theTablet differs significantly from both Hugo of Santalla's version and thevulgate translation. InRoger Bacon's 1255 edition it reads:
Veritas ita se habet et non est dubium, quod inferiora superioribus et superiora inferioribus respondent. Operator miraculorum unus solus est Deus, a quo descendit omnis operacio mirabilis. Sic omnes res generantur ab una sola substancia, una sua sola disposicione. Quarum pater est Sol, quarum mater est Luna. Que portavit ipsam naturam per auram in utero, terra impregnata est ab ea. Hinc dicitur Sol causatorum pater, thesaurus miraculorum, largitor virtutum. Ex igne facta est terra. Separa terrenum ab igneo, quia subtile dignius est grosso, et rarum spisso. Hoc fit sapienter et discrete. Ascendit enim de terra in celum, et ruit de celo in terram. Et inde interficit superiorem et inferiorem virtutem. Sic ergo dominatur inferioribus et superioribus et tu dominaberis sursum et deorsum, tecum enim est lux luminum, et propter hoc fugient a te omnes tenebre. Virtus superior vincit omnia. Omne enim rarum agit in omne densum. Et secundum disposicionem majoris mundi currit hec operacio, et propter hoc vocatur Hermogenes triplex in philosophia.[84]
Fifteenth-century Latin text of the vulgateEmerald Tablet (man. British Library,Arundel 164, folio 155r).[85]
A third Latin version can be found in an alchemical treatise likely from the twelfth century.[ad] This latter, most circulated version is called thevulgate, as it was widespread and formed the subsequent basis for all later editions and translations into European vernacular languages.[ae][86] It is found in an anonymous compilation of commentaries on theEmerald Tablet, translated from a lost Arabic text–variously called theBook of Hermes on Alchemy,[af] theBook of Dabessus,[ag] or theBook of theRebis.[ah][87] Its translator has been tentatively identified asPlato of Tivoli, who was active inc. 1134–1145.[ai][89] However, this is merely conjecture, and although it can be deduced from other indices that the text dates to the first half of the twelfth century, its translator remains unknown.[aj][90]
Verum sine mendacio, certum, certissimum. Quod est superius est sicut quod inferius, et quod inferius est sicut quod est superius. Ad preparanda miracula rei unius. Sicut res omnes ab una fuerunt meditatione unius, et sic sunt nate res omnes ab hac re una aptatione. Pater ejus sol, mater ejus luna. Portavit illuc ventus in ventre suo. Nutrix ejus terra est. Pater omnis Telesmi tocius mundi hic est. Vis ejus integra est. Si versa fuerit in terram separabit terram ab igne, subtile a spisso. Suaviter cum magno ingenio ascendit a terra in celum. Iterum descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorem atque inferiorem. Sicque habebis gloriam claritatis mundi. Ideo fugiet a te omnis obscuritas. Hic est tocius fortitudinis fortitudo fortis, quia vincet omnem rem subtilem, omnemque rem solidam penetrabit. Sicut hic mundus creatus est. Hinc erunt aptationes mirabiles quarum mos hic est. Itaque vocatus sum Hermes, tres tocius mundi partes habens sapientie. Et completum est quod diximus de opere solis ex libro Galieni Alfachimi.
True it is, without falsehood, certain and most true. That which is above is like to that which is below, and that which is below is like to that which is above, to accomplish the miracles of one thing. And as all things were by contemplation of one, so all things arose from this one thing by a single act of adaptation. The father thereof is the Sun, the mother the Moon. The wind carried it in its womb, the earth is the nurse thereof. It is the father of all works of wonder throughout the whole world. The power thereof is perfect. If it be cast on to earth, it will separate the element of earth from that of fire, the subtle from the gross. With great sagacity it doth ascend gently from earth to heaven. Again it doth descend to earth, and uniteth in itself the force from things superior and things inferior. Thus thou wilt possess the glory of the brightness of the whole world, and all obscurity will fly far from thee. This thing is the strong fortitude of all strength, for it overcometh every subtle thing and doth penetrate every solid substance. Thus was this world created. Hence will there be marvellous adaptations achieved, of which the manner is this. For this reason I am called Hermes Trismegistus, because I hold three parts of the wisdom of the whole world. That which I had to say about the operation of Sol is completed.
The translator of this version did not understand theArabic:طلسم,romanized: ṭilasm,lit.'enigma; talisman' and therefore merely transcribed it into Latin astelesmus ortelesmum. This accidental neologism was variously interpreted by commentators, thereby becoming one of the most distinctive, yet ambiguous, terms of alchemy. The word is of Greek origin, fromAncient Greek:τελεσμός,romanized: telesmos.[al] The obscurity of this word's meaning brought forth many interpretations.[93] In theBook of Hermes on Alchemy the cryptictelesmus line was left out entirely. The vulgate's final line referring to theoperation of Sol is commonly interpreted as a reference to the alchemicalGreat Work.[94] TheEmerald Tablet was seen as a summary of alchemical principles, wherein the secrets of thephilosopher's stone were thought to have been described. This belief led to its consequent popularity and the wide array of European translations of and commentaries on the text, beginning in theHigh Middle Ages and persisting to the present.[95]
Herman of Carinthia was one of a few European twelfth-century scholars to cite theEmerald Tablet. He did so in his 1143 treatiseOn Essences,[am] where he also recalled the frame story of the tablet's discovery under a statue of Hermes in a cave, from theBook of the Secret of Creation. Carinthia was a friend ofRobert of Chester, who in 1144 translated theBook on the Composition of Alchemy, which is generally considered to be the first Latin translation of an Arabic treatise on alchemy.[96] An anonymous twelfth-century commentator tried to explain the aforementioned neologismtelesmus in the phraseLatin:Pater omnis telesmi,lit.'Father of all telesms' by claiming it is synonymous withLatin:Pater omnis secreti,lit.'Father of everything secret'. The translator followed this claim with the assertion that a kind of divination, which is "superior to all others" among the Arabs is calledLatin:Thelesmus.[an] In subsequent commentaries on theEmerald Tablet only the meaning ofsecret was retained.[97]On Minerals[ao] written around 1250 byAlbertus Magnus comments on the vulgate[ap]Tablet.[98]Roger Bacon translated and annotated theSecret of Secrets around 1275–1280. He thought it an authentic work of Aristotle and it greatly influenced his thought.[aq] He cited it constantly, from his earliest writings to his last.[99] The most widespread commentary accompanying the text of theEmerald Tablet is that ofHortulanus. He was an alchemist, who was likely active in the first half of the fourteenth century, about whom very little is known except for what he states about himself in the introduction of the text.[ar][101] Hortulanus, like Albertus Magnus before him, saw the tablet as a cryptic recipe that described laboratory processes using "deck names". This was the dominant view held by Europeans until the fifteenth century.[102] In his commentary, Hortulanus, again like Albertus Magnus, interpreted the sun and moon to represent alchemical gold and silver.[as][104] Hortulanus translated "telesma" as "secret" or "treasure".[at][106]
Discovery of the Emerald Tablet in a Pyramid shown in theRising Dawn.[107]
A serpentine Mercury beheads the Sun and Moon; golden and silver blossoms sit in a glass vessel over a flame. From the same manuscript (Zurich,Rheinau 172).[108]
From around 1420, theRising Dawn[au] introduced one of the earliest European cycles of alchemical imagery, combining complex metaphors with the motif of glass vessels. Its illustrations depict symbolic operations such asputrefaction,sublimation, and the union of opposites through figures like Mercury, the sun and moon, dragons, and eagles. These images reflect philosophical principles including "two are one" and "nature vanquishes nature". Drawing on late antique traditions preserved inIbn Umayl'sBook of the Silvery Water and the Starry Earth, the manuscript visualises the myth of the rediscovery of Hermetic knowledge, portraying hieroglyphic signs as divinely instituted symbols immune to verbal distortion. TheRising Dawn thus helped establish the Renaissance notion of alchemical imagery as a medium for transmitting original wisdom through visual, rather than textual, means.[109]
First alchemical emblem fromFleeing Atalanta:the wind hath carried it in its belly.
Second alchemical emblem:the earth is its nurse.
During theRenaissance, Hermes Trismegistus was widely regarded as the founder of alchemy and native toBabylon. He was thought to be a contemporary ofNoah orMoses and his legend became intertwined with biblical narratives.[110] One illustrative example of the belief that Hermes invented alchemy is found in the anonymous textWho Were the First Inventors of this Art,[av] extracted from a gloss of the fourteenth-centuryTextus Alkimie.[aw][112] This text or a later French one, incorporating much of its narrative, influenced another discovery legend claiming the tablet (and itsemblem) to have been discovered after theBiblical Flood inHebron Valley.[113]
The narrative further evolved via Hieronymus Torrella's 1496Splendid Work of Astrological Images.[ax] In it,Alexander the Great discovers aLatin:tabula zaradi,lit.'zaradi tablet'[ay] in Hermes' tomb while travelling to theOracle of Amun in Egypt. This story is repeated in 1617 byMichael Maier inSymbols of the Golden Table,[az] referencing aBook of Chymical Secrets[ba] attributed to, but likely not written by,Albertus Magnus.[115] That same year, he publishedFleeing Atalanta.[bb] It was illustrated byMatthaeus Merian the Elder, possibly with cooperation from his cousinTheodor de Bry,[bc] with fifty alchemical emblems, each accompanied by a poem, the score of afugue, and alchemical and mythological explanations. Among them were ones depicting verses from theTablet.[118]
By the early sixteenth century, the writings ofJohannes Trithemius marked a shift away from a laboratory interpretation of theEmerald Tablet, to a metaphysical approach. Trithemius equated Hermes' "one thing" with themonad ofPythagorean philosophy and theanima mundi. This interpretation of the Hermetic text was adopted by alchemists such asJohn Dee,Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, andGerhard Dorn.[121] In 1583,Dorn publishedOn the Light of Physical Nature[be] by Christoph Corvinus. ThisParacelsian treatise drew up a detailed parallel between the Emerald Tablet and theGenesis creation narrative.[122]
From the late sixteenth century onwards, theEmerald Tablet was often accompanied by a symbolic figure calledLatin:Tabula Smaragdina Hermetis,lit.'Emerald Tablet of Hermes'. This figure is encircled by anacrostic inLatin:Visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultum lapidem,lit.'Visit the interior of the earth, and by rectifying, you will find the hidden stone' whose seven initials form the wordOld French:vitriol,lit.'sulphuric acid'. At the top, the sun and moon pour into a cup above theplanetary symbol ☿ representing Mercury. Surrounding this mercurial cup are the four other planets, representing the classic association between the seven planets and the seven metals. Though, many of the extant copies of the emblem are not set in colour, it was originally polychrome[bf]—linking each planetary-metallic pair with a specific colour, thus rendering: gold–Sol-gold, silver–Luna–silver, grey–Mercury–quicksilver, blue–Jupiter–tin, red–Mars–iron, green–Venus–copper, and black–Saturn–lead. At the centre are a ring and aglobus cruciger; at the bottom, the celestial and terrestrial spheres. Threecharges represent, according to the accompanying poem, thethree principles[bg] of Paracelsian alchemical theory: the eagle signifying quicksilver and the spirit, the lion signifying sulphur and the soul, and the star signifying salt and the body. Finally, twoSchwurhands appear alongside the image, affirming the creator's veracity.[123]
The oldest known printed reproduction of this emblem is found in theGolden Fleece,[bh] attributed toSalomon Trismosin—likely apseudonym employed by a GermanParacelsian. Wherein the image was accompanied by a didactic alchemical poem in German titledAußlegung und Erklerung des Gemelds oder Figur (lit.'Interpretation and Explanation of the Painting or the Figure').[bi] This poem explained the emblem's symbolism in relation to theGreat Work and the classical goals of alchemy: wealth, health, and long life. The emblem is largely derivative. The colours, symbols and associations are all found in different Paracelsian works from the same period and unlikely to be influenced by theTablet itself. The association with the cryptic text might have served primarily as a legitimation for an artwork also meant to be read metaphorically. Additionally, the image first spread in the circle ofKarl Widemann, a known Paracelsian mystifier.[125] Initially, the image was presented alongside theEmerald Tablet as a merely ancillary element. However, in printed editions of the seventeenth century, the poem was omitted, and the emblem came to be known as the symbolic or graphical representation of theEmerald Tablet. The emblem proliferated quickly, was frequently reproduced, and gained narrative antiquity. From Ehrd de Naxagoras in his 1733Supplement to the Golden Fleece[bj] came an example of such a narrative. In the aforementioned discovery legend a woman named Zora finds "a precious emerald plaque" engraved with this emblem in Hermes' grave inHebron Valley.[126] The emblem thus came to be conceptualised of as part of the esoteric tradition of interpreting Egyptian hieroglyphs. It also came to serve as an example of the Renaissance-Platonic and alchemical belief that "the deepest secrets of nature could only be appropriately expressed through an obscure and veiled mode of representation".[127]
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 totius mundi est hic. Vis eius integra est, si versa fuerit in terram. Separabis terram ab igne, subtile ab spisso, suaviter cum magno 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 hic est. Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Trismegistus, habens tres partes philosophiae totius mundi. Completum est, quod dixi de operatione Solis.
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.
C'est un point aſſuré plein d'admiration, Que le haut & le bas n'est qu'une meſme choſe: Pour faire d'une ſeule en tout le monde encloſe, Des effects merveilleux par adaptation.
D'un ſeul en a tout fait la meditation, Et pour parents, matrice, & nourrice, on luy poſe, Phœbus, Diane, l'air, & la terre, ou repoſe Cette choſe en qui gist toute perfection.
Si on la mue en terre elle a ſa force entiere: Separant par grand art, mais facile maniere, Le ſubtil de l'eſpais, & la terre du feu.
De la terre elle monte au Ciel; & puis en terre, Du Ciel elle deſcend, Recevant peu à peu, Les vertus de tous deux qu'en ſon ventre elle enſerre.
It's a sure point, full of admiration, That the high and the low are but one same thing: To make from one alone, enclosed in the whole world, Marvelous effects by adaptation.
Meditation has made all things of this single one, And for its parents, matrix, and nurse, they place it: Phoebus, Diana, the air, and the earth on which That thing reposes in which all perfection lies.
If you change it into earth, it has its full force: Separating by great art, yet in an easy manner, The subtle from the dense, and the earth from the fire.
From the earth it ascends to Heaven; and then, into earth From Heaven it descends, receiving little by little The virtues of both, which in its womb it encloses.
Beginning of the tractateOn the Authorship of the Emerald Tablet from theEgyptian Oedipus vol. 2 no. 1.
From the dawning seventeenth-centuryEnlightenment onward, a number of authors began to issue challenges to the attribution of theEmerald Tablet to Hermes Trismegistus. Chronologically first among them was the former alchemist Nicolas Guibert. He believed the ancients had never mentioned alchemy by name and the practice of identifying gold and silver by the names of planets was an idea first advanced byProclus. He argued, therefore, that theEmerald Tablet must be inauthentic.[129] These attacks were supported by a rising spectre of doubt surrounding all things Hermetic, following a linguistic analysis byIsaac Casaubon, calling into question the authenticity of theCorpus Hermeticum and Hermes himself.[130] The most prominent attack came fromAthanasius Kircher in hisEgyptian Oedipus. Kircher rejected theEmerald Tablet's attribution to Hermes Trismegistus, as it did not support his interpretation of hieroglyphs; he argued that the Tablet's "barbaric" Latin[bk] betrayed a much later, post‐classical origin. Additionally, he pointed out that no ancient Greek philosophers ever mention it—a silence he took as evidence of forgery. Further, he associated it with a group of alchemists he considered delusional[bl] and rejected the story of its discovery in Hermes' tomb as a pure figment of their imagination. He applied critical arguments he otherwise rejected—for example when defending the legitimacy of theCorpus Hermeticum—when the text in question conflicted with his aims.[133] Kircher's critique was forceful enough to draw out a response from the Danish alchemistOle Borch in his 1668On the Origin and Progress of Chemistry.[bm] In which Borch sought to distinguish genuinely ancient Hermetic writings from later forgeries and to re‐value theEmerald Tablet as truly Egyptian in origin.[134] Amid this climate of inquiry and doubt a 1684 tractate byWilhelm Christoph Kriegsmann [de] deployed linguistic analysis—incorporating Hebrew—to assert that Hermes Trismegistus was not the EgyptianThoth but the PhoenicianTaaut—whom Tacitus identifies asTuisto, the legendary divine progenitor of the Germanic peoples.[135] The debate continued and both Borch's and Kriegsmann's treatises were reprinted (alongside many others) inJean-Jacques Manget'sCurious Chemical Library.[136]
TheEmerald Tablet was still translated and commented upon byIsaac Newton, who rendered the reconditeLatin:telesmus as "perfection".[137] But the result of this age of upheaval and inquiry was the gradual decline of alchemy during the eighteenth century. The hardest blow to alchemy's legitimacy was the advent of modern chemistry and the work ofLavoisier—with the 1720s marking the turning point when alchemy lost the trust of the emergent chemical community.[138] The emerging category of modernscience fundamentally conflicted with the practical and theoretical traditions of alchemy. It left no room for alchemists within the new definition of the scientist, leading to a sharp decline in alchemical works after the 1780s.[139]
TheEmerald Tablet continued to interestesotericists—and beginning in the 1850s and lasting up to the 1920s the newly emergingoccultist current. In France the first occultist,Éliphas Lévi,[140] considered it the most important magical text.[bn] Additionally, figures likeStanislas de Guaïta andPapus spent little time engaging with the broader Hermetic tradition but focused much of their efforts onto exegesis of theTablet. In ItalyGiuliano Kremmerz authored a long commentary on it.[142] English scholars such asJohn Chambers initiated the academic study of the Hermetica. However, the most influential figure in this endeavor wasGeorge R.S. Mead. He began his examinations in theTheosophical Society, but broke with it in 1879. From thereon he developed a scholarly objectivity when engaging with the material while not concealing his personal occultist beliefs.[bo][144]
The co-founder of the Theosophical Society,Helena Blavatsky produced exegetical interpretations of theTablet.[145] She also popularized a paraphrase of the second verse of thevulgate: "as above, so below".[146] This use—along with that in theKybalion[bp][148]—propelled it to become an oft-cited motto. Later in the twentieth century, it would rise to particular prominence inNew Age circles.[149] This led to its adoption as a title forvarious works of art.
A prominent academic reception of theTablet occurred inCarl Jung'spsychology of alchemy.[156] He saw it as the paramount text of alchemy and described Evola'sThe Hermetic Tradition as "a magisterial portrayal of hermetic philosophy".[br][157] Jung had readRuska 1926 and was familiar with the Arabic text of theBook of the Secret of Creation and the debates surrounding the text's age and original language. He focused his textual analysis mainly, however, on the Latinvulgate text.[bs][158] TheTablet's alchemical operations—most notably the "operation of the sun"—became, for Jung, powerful metaphors: the sun's "art" ofcreating gold is none other than consciousness splitting from a "primeval"archetypal source, working through the "prima materia" of the psyche, and reuniting to generate a transformed,individuatedself.[159]
At the beginning of the twentieth century, alchemy fascinated thesurrealistAndré Breton.[160] He believed the aim of surrealism should be to ascertain the point within the mind where life and death, real and imaginary, past and future etc no longer seem contradictory.[161] In the introduction of a 1942 essay, Breton directly referenced theEmerald Tablet's dictum "as above, so below" by invoking the image of a soaring bird and a lift descending into a mine-shaft clashing.[bt] The metaphor led up to hisfirst commandment: "Never believe in the interior of acave, always in the surface of an egg."[bu] Breton thereby employed an alchemical reading of theTablet to bind dichotomous forces into a seamless whole. He sawMax Ernst, who claimed to have been born from an egg, as that very "alchemical egg"—his birth myth and his art as having fused celestial and chthonic forces into that single whole.[163]
Jorge Ben released the studio albumA Tábua de Esmeralda ("The Emerald Tablet") in 1974. In it, he explored the theme of alchemy through tracks like "Os Alquimistas estão chegando Os Alquimistas," "Errare Humanum Est," and "Hermes Trismegisto e Sua Celeste Tábua de Esmeralda," using reiterated modal phrases that evoked a liturgical resonance. The album exemplified Ben's distinctive fusion ofsamba with elements ofjazz androck, shaped by his percussive, self-taught guitar technique and supported by musicians from across the spectrum ofMúsica popular brasileira. Some Música popular brasileira-traditionalists saw this as a concession to theUS garage rock-inspired style known asJovem Guarda.[164]
Manfred Kelkel composedTabula Smaragdina (Op. 24) between 1975 and 1977. Conceived as aballet hermétique, the work aimed to unite his passions for esotericism, alchemy, and music. Kelkel sought to render sound and thought visible through graphicmandalas, which mappedzodiac signs, planets, and thefour elements onto instruments, scales, and rhythms. During performance, twelve symbolic images were projected alongside a simplified conventional score—transforming each page of the work into both stage scenery and musical instructions. To structure the piece, Kelkel drew on sources such asChinese trigrams,fractal geometry, medievalmagic squares, and theharmony of the spheres. He created twelve successive movements, each named after a phase in the alchemical process—such asNuptiae chymicae andCoagulatio—and each possessing its own emblem and formal rules. The result was a codified "metamusic", designed to awaken hidden cosmic and psychological resonances through structured, alchemical transformations.[165]
In the 2010s Germantime travel television seriesDark, the mysterious priest Noah has a large image of a graphic depiction of an emerald tablet, featuring the text of theEmerald Tablet, tattooed on his back. The image, which stems fromHeinrich Khunrath'sAmphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom (1609), also appears on a metal door in the caves that are central to the plot. Several characters are shown looking at copies of the text.[166] A verse from the 1541 Nuremberg versionLatin:Sic mundus creatus est,lit.'So was the world created' plays a prominent thematic role in the series and is the title of the sixth episode of the first season.[167]
^Newton's translation reads as follows: "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." (Newton 2010).
^The earliest unambiguous evidence dates from the first century BCE, but some texts may go back as far as the second or third century BCE.[13]
^Arabic:كتاب سر الخليقة وصنعة الطبيعة,romanized: Kitāb Sirr al-Khalīqa wa-Ṣanʿat al-Ṭabīʿa also known as theكتاب العلل,Kitāb al-ʿilal,'Book of Causes'.
^Arabised nameBalīnūs (بلينوس) orBalīnās (بليناس).[25] In some manuscripts of theEmerald Tablet he is confused withSājiyūs (ساجيوس),[26] aNablusi priest who appears in theSecret of Creation as the supposed translator and commentator of Apollonius' book.Sājiyūs has sometimes been identified with the Christian Greco-Syriac translatorSergius of Reshaina (died 536 CE),[27] but this identification is uncertain.[28]
^A list of other Arabic texts attributed to Apollonius with brief discussions may be found inWeisser 1980, pp. 28–39.
^This translation was prepared by Wikipedia editors. A translation based on the superseded edition ofRuska 1926, pp. 158–159 may also be found inRosenthal 1975.[31]
Now I shall inform you of my origin and the cause of my wisdom. I was an orphan from among the people of Ṭuwāna (Arabic:طوانة), possessing nothing. In my city stood a statue of Hermes, erected upon a column of glass. Upon it was inscribed in the primordial tongue:"I am Hermes Trismegistus (Arabic:هرمس المثلث بالحكمة,romanized: Hirmis al-Muthallath bi-'l-Ḥikma). I manifested this sign openly, and veiled it through my wisdom, so that none may reach it except a sage like myself."And upon the front of the column was written:"Whosoever desires to know the Secret of Creation (Arabic:سر الخليقة,romanized: sirr al-khalīqa) and the Craft of Nature (Arabic:صنعة الطبيعة,romanized: ṣanʿa al-ṭabīʿa), let him look beneath my feet."
The people paid no attention to these words and merely gazed beneath the statue's feet, yet they saw nothing.As for me, I was weak in nature, but when I grew and my nature matured, and I read the inscription on the column, I grasped its meaning. I went and stood beneath the column, and behold—I discovered a dark subterranean passage, a lair (Arabic:سرب,romanized: sarab), into which no sunlight penetrated.
When I attempted to enter it, turbulent winds arose within, unceasing, so that I could not enter due to the darkness, and my flame would not remain lit because of the force of the wind.
This troubled me deeply, and sorrow filled my heart. Overcome by fatigue and reflection upon my hardship, I fell asleep, burdened and distressed.Then, in my dream, I saw an old man resembling me in form and appearance. He said to me: "O Balīnūs, arise and enter this lair, that you may reach the knowledge of the Secret of Creation and perceive the Craft of Nature."I said: "I cannot see in its darkness, and my fire does not remain lit because of the wind." He replied: "O Balīnūs, place your light in a clear vessel (Arabic:إناء صاف,romanized: ināʾ ṣāfin), so that the wind may not reach it. Thus, you will see by it in the darkness."
This delighted me, and I realised that I had attained my goal.I asked him: "Who are you, that you have bestowed this grace upon me?"He said: "I am your Perfect Nature (Arabic:طبيعتك التامة,romanized: ṭabīʿatuka al-tāmma)."
I awoke full of joy, placed my flame in a clear vessel as instructed, and entered the passage. There I saw an old man seated upon a throne of gold. In his hand was a tablet of green emerald (Arabic:زبرجد أخضر,romanized: zabarjad akhḍar orArabic:زمرذ أخضر,romanized: zumurrudh akhḍar), upon which was written: "This is the Craft of Nature." And in front of him lay a book bearing the inscription: "This is the Secret of Creation (Arabic:سر الخليقة,romanized: sirr al-khalīqa) and the Knowledge of the Causes of Things (Arabic:علم علل الأشياء,romanized: ʿilm ʿilal al-ashyāʾ)."
I took the book and the tablet with a tranquil heart and departed from the passage.From the book, I learned the Secret of Creation, and from the tablet, I comprehended the Craft of Nature. I acquired the Science of the Causes of Things (Arabic:علم علل الأشياء,romanized: ʿilm ʿilal al-ashyāʾ), and my name rose to prominence through wisdom. I created talismans and marvels, and came to understand the temperaments of the four natures (Arabic:الطبائع الأربع,romanized: al-ṭabāʾiʿ al-arbaʿ), their compositions, their oppositions, and their harmonies."[33]
^Along similar lines,Wilhelm Ganzenmüller [de] had argued that all of Arab alchemy was built on a mix of pre-Islamic traditions from north-eastern Iran and the land route to India, with other influences from gnostic Christians and ancient Egypt.[42]
^Chinese:管子,romanized: Guǎn Zǐ More specifically, Tzu-Kung believed to have found the origin of theTablet in chapter 49, called 'Inward Training' (內業,Nèiyè). This section is a text of rhymed prose onataraxy, cosmic harmony, and breathing aspects ofinternal alchemy.[49][50] There are, however, no direct parallelisms between this text and theTablet.
^However, he fundamentally agreed with the idea that theTablet could have some relation to Chinese thought.[51] Additionally, he suggested that other parts of theSecret of Creation might have Chinese origins, but he lacked access to the Arabic text to explore this further.[52]
^Commonly known in Europe by thelatinised nameGeber. On the dating of the texts attributed to Jābir, seeKraus 1943.[54]
^The introduction merely calls him "the sage" but it is later stated that Hermes has many names, a few of which are listed, the first being "the sage", the same identification is made again later in the text.[64]
^"We went towards the Pyramid (Birbāʾ) which the keepers opened, and I saw on the roof of the galleries1 of the Pyramid a picture of Nine Eagles with out-spread wings, as if they were flying, and with outstretched and open claws. In the claw of each of the eagles was a thing like the fully-drawn bow which is used by soldiers (Jund: MSS. P. and L.Ḵẖail 'cavalry'). On the wall of the gallery on the right side of any one entering the Pyramid, and on the left side, were pictures of people standing, most perfect in shape and beauty, wearing clothes of various colours and having their hands stretched out towards a figure seated inside the Pyramid, near the pillar of the gate of the Hall. The image was situated to the left hand of whoever desired to enter into the Hall, facing the person who entered from the gallery. The image was (seated) in a chair, like those used by physicians, the chair being separate from the figure. In its lap, resting on the arms—the two hands of the figure being stretched out on its knees—was a stone slab (balāṭah)—also separate—the length of which was about 1 cubit, and the breadth about 1 span. The fingers of both its hands were bent behind the slab, as if holding it. The slab was like an open book, exhibited to all who entered as if to suggest that they should look at it. On the side, viz., in the Hall (riwāq) where the image was situated, were different pictures, and inscriptions in hieroglyphic (bīrbāwī) writing. The tablet which was in the lap of the image was divided into two halves by a line down the middle: and on one half of it towards the bottom, was a picture of two birds having their breasts (contiguous) to one another. One of them had both wings cut off, and the other had both wings (intact). Each of them held fast the tail of the other by its beak as if the flying bird wished to fly with the mutilated bird, and the mutilated bird wished to keep the flying bird with itself. These two linked birds that were holding one another appeared like a circle, a symbol of 'Two in One'. Above the head of the one that was flying was a circle and, above these two birds, at the top of the tablet close to the fingers of the image (sic!), was the representation of the crescent moon (hilāl). At the side of the Moon was a circle, similar to the circle near the two birds at the bottom. The total (of these symbols) is Five—3 at the bottom,viz., two birds and the circle: and, above, the figure of the Crescent Moon and another circle."[66]
^Arabic:ساراوندين,romanized: Sārāwandīn.Faivre 1988 andHoudas 1893 merely translate this to mean theTemple ofSerapis.[70] But Ruska points out thatSārāwandīn is the Arabised version ofSarapieion and thatArabic:سَرافِيل,romanized: Sarāfīl is the Arabised version of Serapis—with the particleīl being reminiscent of the Arabisation of Hebrew angel names likeArabic:جبريل,romanized: Jibrīl,lit.'Gabriel'.[71]
^TitledLatin:Liber de secretis naturae,lit.'Book of the Secrets of Nature'; An edition of the text was published by Françoise Hudry.[74]
^Plato of Tivoli collaborated withAbraham bar Ḥiyya. One reason given for this speculative identification bySteele & Singer 1927 is the presence of Hebraised names in the text.[88]
^Extant manuscripts are listed inSteele & Singer 1927.[91] Their edition of theTablet itself is reproduced inMandosio 2004b.[92] A transcription of theTablet from the manuscriptArundel 164 is given bySelwood 2023—who erroneously believesSteele & Singer 1927's edition to be a mere transcript of a singular manuscript; his attribution of the text's origin to theSecret of Secrets is likewise incorrect.
^Which he mistakenly identifies as from theLatin:secretum secrelissimorum ie theSecret of Secrets.
^Particularly his belief in astrology and natural magic.
^"I, called Hortulanus, named from thehorti maritimi [incomprehensible term, later variants change it tonamed from the garden or from the seaside field], wrapped in Jacobin skin, unworthy to be called a disciple of philosophy. Moved by the love of my dear one. The most certain declaration of the speech of the father of philosophers, Hermes, I intend to speak. Which speech, although it may be hidden, nevertheless the exercise of the true work, in the fatigue of my fingers, has most truly declared the whole exposition. For the concealment of the philosophers in speeches profits nothing, where the doctrine of the Holy Spirit operates."[100]
^Ruska 1926 points out that this passage and interpretation bear great resemblance to a much earlier Hermetic work transmitted in Greek byZosimos of Panopolis.[103]
^"It is written afterward:Pater omnis telesmi totius mundi est hic — that is to say, in the work of the Stone is found the final path. And note that the Philosopher calls the operation "father of all telesma," that is to say, of every secret or of all the treasure of the entire world — that is, of every stone discovered in this world. It is here. As if he were saying: behold, I show it to you."[105]
^"Now the very first inventor of this science—or of the mechanical alchemical art, as one reads in several of his own books—was HERMES, who was surnamed Triplex. And this was so because in the threefold philosophy—namely in the mineral, the vegetable, and the animal—he was highest and most perfect in this art of archimia, whether conjointly or separately in the Operation of the Sun. Who, under another name and according to some, is called HERMES TRISMEGISTUS. And therefore he is called Trismegistus, because among these three—namely fluency (Latin:facundia), eloquence (Latin:eloquentia), and knowledge (Latin:scientia)—he was above all others in his day most eminent and perfect. And this same one—because he was the very first inventor of this alchemical art—is continually calledLatin:PATER NOSTER,lit.'OUR FATHER'."[111]
^Latin:Opus praeclarum de imaginibus astrologicis.
^Or in the work attributed toAlbertus MagnusLatin:tabula zatadi,lit.'zatadi tablet'. Meaning a tablet made of emerald but merely transliterating theArabic:زبرجدي,romanized: zabarjadī,lit.'(made of) emerald; peridot'.[114]
^The current scientific consensus favours Matthaeus Merian as the sole author.[116] A seventeenth-century text by Stanislas Klossowski de Rola asserts de Bry however, leadingGodwin 2007 to suggest that, if the busy de Bry had any role to play in the creation of the engravings, it most likely would have been the figures.[117]
^Referring to terms likeLatin:fatitudo fortis which is a corrupted variant ofLatin:fortitudo fortis,lit.'power of all powers' and also focussing in on the aforementionedLatin:tabula zatadi,lit.'zatadi tablet'.[131]
^He addressed them mockingly asLatin:Cimiastorum,lit.'(of) mixers' instead of the more neutralLatin:Alchemistarum,lit.'(of) Alchemists' in the tractate. In the preceding one he lampooned modern alchemists as describing thephilosopher's stone with "useless prolixity and a ludicrous structure" and generally being wrong and misguided about most things.[132]
^"Nothing surpasses, nor equals, as a synthesis of all the doctrines of the ancient world, those few sentences engraved on a precious stone by Hermes and known under the name of theEmerald Tablet; the unity of being and the unity of harmonies—whether ascending or descending—the progressive and proportional scale of the Word; the immutable law of equilibrium and the proportional advancement of universal analogies; the relation of the idea to the Word, establishing the measure of the relationship between creator and created; the mathematics of the infinite, demonstrated through the measures of a single corner of the finite—all of this is expressed in that single proposition of the great Egyptian hierophant: […] TheEmerald Tablet is all of magic in a single page."[141]
^Exhibiting a particular textual preference for the 1541 Nuremberg edition.
^"The bird's vertical flight and the lift sinking ever deeper down the mine-shaft, then rising to the surface again, determined between them a hitherto unsuspected meeting-place where there clashed and blended together the shapes of the sidereal bestiary, of germination, of mechanical traction, of blossoming crystals, as well as, devil take it, some designs from the wallpaper from my room and the bundle of shadows that falls from my hat.First Commandment: Everything should be freed from its shell (from its distance, its comparative size, its physical and chemical properties, its outward appearance). Never believe in the interior of a cave, always in the surface of an egg."[162]
^Referring to analchemical egg ie the sealed glass vessel in which the transmutation of metals is attempted by the alchemist.
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