THE MOST FAMOUS ANCIENT ALCHEMIST
And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, (OldT:Deuteronomy 33:14)
When today we speak of something being hermetically sealed, we use the name
of Hermes Trismegistos, who in a special process cemented and rendered
airtight by sealing with clay the Philosopher's Egg,
the vessel in which the transformation of gold was said to take place.
But it is not only such technical chemical terms, terms that have passed
into everyday speach, that remind us of Hermes Trismegistos. A bit of his
philosophy, a reference, some think, to his method of transformation of gold,
has come down to us. It is the Tabula Smaragdina, the Emerald Table.
There are said to have been engraved on a green table saying that have been
preserved to this day in various versions. Here is one of the versions:
"It is true, without lying, certain, and veracious: That which is above is as
that which is here below. It is as that which is there above, that tells us
the wonder of one single thing."
"As all matters are of one single matter, through uniform observation, so all
matters come from one matter through preparation."
"The father of this matter is the sun, the mother of this matter is the moon.
The wind brought it in its belly. The nourisher and milk-giver of this
matter is the earth. And this matter is the father of all perfection of
this world. It power remains perfect when it is transformed into material."
"Separate the earthly from the fire. With wisdom and patience
separate the vapourizing and the expiring from the tough and the coarse.
From the earth it then rises to the height, and falls down again to the
earth. It thus takes up the strength of the matters that are above, and the
strength of the matters that are below. So shalt thou receive the honour of
the world and darkness shall move away from thee."
"This is the power and strength of all power and strength, because it will
banish the spiritually hovering matters and will penetrate the solid
matters."
"The world, too, was so created. And so proceed the wonderful processes of
which this is one. I have been called Thrice Greatest Hermes because I
possessed three parts of wisdom. And now is ended that which I have said of
the preparation of gold."
[From The Goldmakers, by K. K. Doberer; pages 17 to 19.]
External Link: Emerald Tablet of Hermes.