Emerald Tablet

The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Table or Tabula Smaragdina, is a compact and cryptic piece of the Hermetica reputed to contain the secret of the prima materia and its transmutation.  It was highly regarded by European alchemists as the foundation of their art and its Hermetic tradition.  The original source of the Emerald Tablet is unknown.  Although Hermes Trismegistus is the author named in the text, its first known appearance is in a book written in Arabic between the sixth and eighth centuries.  The text was first translated into Latin in the twelfth century.  Numerous translations, interpretations, and commentaries followed.

That which is below is like that which is above and that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing

The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth is its nurse

The tablet text

2. Quod est inferius est sicut quod est superius, et quod est superius est sicut quod est inferius, ad perpetranda miracula rei unius.
   • That w^ch is below is like that w^ch is above & that w^ch is above is like y^t w^ch is below to do y^e miracles of one only thing
     • Isaac Newton (tr. c. 1680), found among his alchemical papers, currently housed in King's College Library, Cambridge University.
   • Whatever is below is similar to that which is above.  Through this the marvels of the work of one thing are procured and perfected.
     • M. Georgio Beato (tr.), Aureliae Occultae Philosophorum, later collected in Theatrum Chemicum Vol. IV (1613).

4. Pater eius est Sol.  Mater eius est Luna, portavit illud Ventus in ventre suo, nutrix eius terra est.
   • The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth is its nourse.
     • Isaac Newton (tr. c. 1680), found among his alchemical papers, currently housed in King's College Library, Cambridge University.
   • The father of it is the sun, the mother the moon.  The wind bore it in the womb.  Its nurse is the earth,
     • M. Georgio Beato (tr.), Aureliae Occultae Philosophorum, later collected in Theatrum Chemicum Vol. IV (1613).

8. Ascendit a terra in coelum, iterumque descendit in terram, et recipit vim superiorum et inferiorum.
   • It ascends from y^e earth to y^e heaven & again it descends to y^e earth & receives y^e force of things superior & inferior.
     • Isaac Newton (tr. c. 1680), found among his alchemical papers, currently housed in King's College Library, Cambridge University.
   • 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.
     • M. Georgio Beato (tr.), Aureliae Occultae Philosophorum, later collected in Theatrum Chemicum Vol. IV (1613).

External links

• Various translations of the Tablet
• Various pieces on the Emerald Tablet