Most of the translations of the Emerald Tablet contain two essential keys of interpretation for the tablet. These two statements occur at the first and last lines
Verum, sine Mendacio, certum et verissimum…
…Completum est quod dixi de Operatione Solis.
The first statement usually rendered
“True, without error, certain and most true…”
And the last statement says:
“What I have said concerning the operation of the Sun has been completed.”
I have read the first statement as a clue to the entire work, as something that has objective reality—i.e. the tablet is outlining something that is true in the most literal sense. The reiteration verum…certum et verissimum, should be an indication that though the Emerald Tablet is true in a literal sense, it can also be as true in the figurative sense—due to the very unity of the nature described. So that it cannot be true if either facets of meaning (literal and figurative) are false.
That which is verum, sine mendacio, certum et verissimum is the creation of all matter ex sol solis. That is that all elements found on all terrestrial bodies (including the earth) are made of matter fused in a star (sun). All matter is the prima material (proton-neutron isolates) which have “three parts of the philosophy” existed prior to nucleosynthesis or have been “transmuted” by the “operatio solis.” So all matter in the universe is made of the same electron-proton-neutron triad of which “by adaptation” are modified to different elements in the periodic table. The “fire of the philosophers” or “fire of the sages” being that field which binds together the “three-parts-one” atom.
Which brings the third hermetic key:
Haec est totius fortitudinis fortitudo fortis, quia vincet omnem rem subtilem, omnemque solidam penetrabit.
“This is the whole of the strength of the strong force, because it overcomes all fine things, and penetrates all the complete.” A bit redundant in Latin, however Arabic texts have used “force of forces.” The third hermetic key basically provides an ancient description of a unified field theory. Perhaps it is only a coincidence that the force that binds nuclei is called the “strong” force.
The Fourth key: provided by the ancient statement alluding to the separation of the nuclei formed by the operation of the Sun (nucleosynthesis) – “its power is perfected if turned into earth” “Separate the earth from the fire, the fine from the dense, delicately [also rendered ‘carefully], by [means of/to] the great [together] with capacity.” The separation of fissionable materials must be taken with great care, because the practitioner is literally unlocking the energy in matter (dark sun) that was stored by fusion in another star. Einstein’s famous equation sums up this key:
Energy (Fire) = Mass (Earth) * Speed of Light2
Fifth Key:
“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.”
All things occur in one substance or field—and the translation seems to indicate that this field comes from an active goal-seeking agent or intelligence. Mass and energy, being “interchangeable” – i.e. energy can transmute to mass and vice versa. This is the fundamental transmutation that accounts for all processes in the cosmos. The fifth key provides use with a way of thinking—a thinking that there must be some kind of unity in diverse things. Maxwell’s contribution unified electricity and magnetism; Relativity asserted facts that must be true if the laws of nature were universal. The current 20th century paradigm of physicalism (the unification of all physical laws into one framework) most likely has its roots in this key.
Sixth Key:
“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].”
Stellar evolution. All matter is reintegrated into the stellar evolution process—older stars and star fragments contribute to the matter which accumulates in newer stellar nurseries (which the earth--terrestrial solids-- nourishes the “dark sun” or in modern terms the trapped energy in matter). So the superior (the stellar agora) and the inferior (the clumps of matter) are created over and over again, the power and energy of nuclear fusion and fission exists in the superior and inferior. “Retaking” has the notion of “reversing” what has occurred—one instance:
Convection, plays a role on many levels of interpretation, both the stellar convection for mixing elements in a star fusing elements, or in the overall convection of matter between terrestrial and stellar forms. As in when one star explodes and creates additional “seed” core fragments for the next solar system that evolves elsewhere in another nebula. One can see how large fragments of an exploded supernova can seed a nearby nebula—as in when an aircraft “seeds” a cloud to create rain, which gives us our next and final key
Quod est Inferius est sicut quod est Superius,
et quod est Superius est sicut quod est Inferius,
ad perpetranda Miracula Rei Unius.
“That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below, to perform the miracles of the one thing.”
But of course, the “miracle” we are talking about is demonstrable by nature—and has been demonstrated for many millennia. Here’s where the analogic intuition can take us back to the moments when many scientists (Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Faraday, Maxwell, Einstein, etc) looked up at the stars and “beheld their hereditary skies (Ovid, “Metamorphoses”)
Emerald Tablet
1. True, without error, certain and most true
2. That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below, 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 initiates 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.
Was this an extra-terrestrial attempt to raise the consciousness of humanity? Certainly, any interstellar species with the technology to travel to other star systems would know this much detail concerning the “alchemy of the heavens.” This line of thinking is heaviest in assumptions and should be approached with caution to avoid the "Eric van Daniken fallacy"
Additional Questions:
Akhenaten cult of “aten” – was this an example of a pharaoh with a hermetic agenda? It stands to reason that the incubation of the unity in science would be preceded by a unification and abstraction of the pantheon. In like manner, as Hesiod’s “theogony,” provides us with evidence that the pre-socratic Greek mind was working on determining natural causes through the categories of the divine, perhaps this was an alarm bell—in order to work out the categories of existence in science and thus be open to data and observation. Monotheism appears to be a psychological pre-requisite for preparing the human mind for the 20th century programme of unification in science.
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Comments: 15
I've had similar doubts about the interpretation of line 7 (and even rendering line 4). So I will start with the varied renderings:
From Isaac Newton's translation (source: "Newton's Commentary on the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus" in Merkel, I. and Debus, A. G., Hermeticism and the Renaissance. Folger, Washington 1988.)
Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
Separate thou ye earth from ye fire, ye subtile from the gross sweetly wth great indoustry.
Beato:
Its power is perfected.
If it is turned into earth,
Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle and thin from the crude and coarse, prudently, with modesty and wisdom.
Ruska (from Arabic)
whose powers are perfect, and whose lights are confirmed (?),
a fire that becomes earth.
Separate the earth from the fire, so you will attain the subtle as more inherent than the gross, with care and sagacity.
Jabir ibn Hayyan:
as Earth which shall become Fire.
Feed the Earth from that which is subtle, with the greatest power.
Sigismund Bacstrom (probably spurious)
6a) Its power is perfect,
7) after it has been united with a spirituous earth.
7a) Separate that spirituous earth from the dense or crude by means of a gentle heat, with much attention [vegetative analogy--metals growing in veins in the earth from gentle heat--some alchemists realized this analogy was taken too far. E.g. "The Golden Tract" found in Waite's "The Hermetic Museum p20 and p28, 2nd paragraph].
Fulcanelli
6a) the eternal Will is contained in it.
7) Here, on earth, its strength, its power remain one and undivded.
7a) Earth must be separated from fire, the subtle from the dense, gently with unremitting care.
Fulcanelli (new translation)
Its force, or power, remains entire,
7) if it is converted into earth.
7a) You separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross, gently with great industry.
Idres Shah
6a) and its power is complete.
7) Throw it upon earth,
7a) and earth will separate from fire. The impalpable separated from the palpable.
Wordnet: 1. intangible, impalpable -- (incapable of being perceived by the senses especially the sense of touch; "the intangible constituent of energy"- James Jeans)
3. impalpable -- (not perceptible to the touch; "an impalpable pulse")
Hortulanus [commentary on #7]: The stone is perfect and complete if it is turned into earth "that is if the soul of the stone itself.... is turned into earth, namely of the stone and is fixed so that the whole substance of the stone becomes one with its nurse, namely the earth, and the whole stone is converted to ferment"
source of translation snippets: http://www.hermetics.org/pdf/ontablet.pdf
Remember, however that we are really talking about one thing in adaptation
"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."
We cannot assume that the alchemists completely understood all of the statements in the Emerald Tablet, we must remember that we are dealing with 14-16 century interpretations of a text that has sources prior to 1200 (and arabic sources back to 600-800). So I am currently trying to piece together the different "memes" that were propagated among alchemists (and mystics) after 1200.
Ruska's translation explicitly states "a fire that becomes earth" (another says "as Earth which shall become Fire."), which of course is literally true coupled with the operatio solis -- or the nuclear transmutation of elements via fusion, releasing massive amounts of energy in clumps of matter (a star will fuse elements from Hydrogen all the way to Iron--the rest of the elements are generated from s and p neutron capture processes which synthesize the heavier elements up to and past Uranium) which after the death of the sun either in the formation of a planetary nebula after helium ignition or (in the case of heavier stars) a supernova explosion, scatters the remnant stellar fragments into a nebula (read more about this in Allegre's excellent work "From Stone to Star: A View of Modern Geology" Harvard, 1992).
So all matter created (typed archaically as "earth") can then undergo "fission" depending on the stability of the nuclei, which releases the energies locked in the atom by some long dead star. Most likely, our own sun has a core fragment from an earlier dead star that exploded billions of years ago (read this article: "Scientist: Sun composed mostly of iron" - http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/space/07/23/sun.iron/index.html).
A quick note: the link to the cnn article probably overemphasizes the role of Iron in our sun. Obviously it does not "contradict" the view that layers of hydrogen plasma still accounts for our suns current energy output as a G type star. Probably the hypothetical "iron core" acted as a "seed" in a nebula where the first accretions occurred prior to proton-proton chain ignitions.
I think Emme has the right idea--the whole point of the 7th statement being a quick picture illustration of the mass-energy relationship. The role of "light" in this equation might be alluded in additional readings (and even in some of the later alchemist's commentaries) , but at this time I am still trying to search for evidence that the early alchemists inadvertently passed down memes alluding to nuclear transmutation in stars--a knowledge which wasn't necessarily understood.
Adam McLean (www.alchemywebsite.com) was quick to point out my overzealous attempts to "infuse my own 20th century understanding in the texts." I have tried to temper my enthusiasm a bit and look for hard evidence. Most of what I am discussing right now is very tenuous--so I have responded by questioning certain assumptions regarding textual interpretation (see my last two posts).
Interestingly enough, one finds strange (if not almost ridiculously coincidental) references to my interpretation of the Emerald Tablet. Here are some quick quotes.
“All corporeal things are an excrement or coagulated smoke…from the invisible stars...” Valentine Weigel (1533-1588)
(Source: Quoted in Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition by Glenn Alexander Magee, Cornell University Press: 2001. p35)
“And all the powers of the stars are the fountain veins of the natural body of God in this world” – Jakob Bohme (1575-1624)
(Source: Quoted in Hegel and the Hermetic Tradition by Glenn Alexander Magee, Cornell University Press: 2001. p39)
Hopefully most of this information will help.
Of everything you touch on this planet--all of its elements (after Hydrogen)--was created by a star. So the true meaning of "as above so below" becomes literally true .
So light plays an important part of the mediation between consciousness and the "other" in the world--a reality of force that permeate all things.
Remember that the double-slit experiment was repeated with matter particles like the electron, neutron and even small atoms--the same particle-wave duality paradox was found.
I think the "hermetic insight" currently driving current grand unified theory to its next level is the realization that the "particle" and "wave" phenomenon are really moments (facets) of one unified entity in time and space.
I am actually trying to show that every major advancement in the history of science has come about from the application of hermetic insight to a particular paradox or issue of the day.
I suspect that there is a direct causal reality link between the emergence of the hermetic tradition and the 2000 or so past years of accelerated scientific development.
It is only a matter of time--I welcome anyone to pick apart my thesis. I don't have much personal attachment to these views, because I am just as shocked of the implications.
In the end all I want to know is the truth--and if the Emerald Tablet and hermetic tradition plays an even larger role in the exopolitical affairs of our planet, I think this would represent an important development in our knowledge.
Here's something else I discovered recently:
Here's your recipe for a "wow" moment:
Go read Agrippa's (1486-1536) "The Occult Philosophy"
Note the divisions of his "Celestial Magic" - write them down.
Then go to the "astronomical spectroscopy" entry at wikipedia.
If you want to extend the "wow" moment -- then go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallax
Correlate this to one of Agrippa's categories in his Celestial Magic section of "The Occult Philosophy"
Then go to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_evolution
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_nucleosynthesis
And finally, re-read the lines of the Emerald Tablet ;)
(1) I am injecting 20th century presuppositions into an older text. That is I am "reading into" the text certain elements of 20th century understanding (correct or otherwise) into the alchemists, ascribing notions that were incongruous to the time.
(2) I have not read "enough" alchemical literature, and do not understand the historical context.
(3) I am following the lazy path--meaning that it is far easier to inject one's own views into a text than it is to simply allow the text and historical context to "speak for itself."
(4) I have committed a "van Daniken" error--which is a natural product of my incorrect modern assumptions coupled with a refusal to fully examine the texts within their historical context.
(5) I am merely backing my claims with pure rhetoric--not logic, reason or science.
Some have said that my model doesn't quite fit with the interpretations and commentaries of the alchemists. But I think it would be naive to assume that the medieval alchemists understood the traditions that were passed to them. More likely, a subset of phrases, memes, images and concepts would be passed down from one generation to the next, with each generation trying as best they can to understand and resolve the mystery. Certain "treasure hunters" may have some desire for a real "physical alchemy" that gives the practitioner longevity and riches. Others may opt for a "spiritual alchemy" that gives empowerment to one assurance and direction in their own self-actualization. While I don't disagree with these facets of understanding in this tradition, neither should I ignore the most obvious and true interpretation.
In fact, I don't even believe that Agrippa completely understood the implications of his categories in the "Celestial Magic" (see homework). To say that we should ignore our own 20th century understanding (bias) is to assume that, for instance, a 12th century or 14th century understanding, is a better "bias" to internalize toward a proper interpretation.
We cannot assume that all memetic forms in writing and communication are properly known only in the illocutionary domain as restricted by the meta-communicative "historical context." If the element of locution is a reconfigured fragment of an earlier illocutive moment, then we must inquire as to the possibility of an overarching perlocutionary goal. Religious texts are proof that human beings understood the technology of memetics (in a rudimentary form). Writing provided a transport over time and space for the vast domain of performative (and informative) locutionary moments. So if human beings can do this to themselves, why not the same from an earlier more evolved race? Or perhaps even from Extraterrestrials in our local neighborhood of 1000 or so stars that are within 100 light-years away?
In fact, if you look at the language of the Bible, it is an unapologetic narration of human beings on this planet with respect to beings that are not from this world. In fact, all religions are a narration of ancient extra-terrestrial (in the strictest sense of the word) apocalyptic (revelation) events to humanity.
"Wars in the heavens" (Biblical, Vedic, etc)
"Angels"
"Demons"
"Gods"
"Demigods"
"Flying cities" - i.e. in the Vedas and in the Bible (Revelations).
"Cities landing on the earth"
"Heavenly beings"
"Fire bolts from cities in the sky" -- Vedic and Biblical
Now what if a certain race of interstellar beings wanted to help push human understanding forward. Well, the first thing I would want to explain to a lesser evolved species is the role of the star in the development of the cosmos. Perhaps it might take a few thousand years (i.e. compared to the 50,000-100,000 years of the existence of humans).
Agrippa's Celestial Magic
Astronomical Spectroscopy
Parallax
Stellar Evolution
Stellar Nucleosynthesis
MY own unbidden mystical experiences seem to have given me the same higher truths you are expressing involving the three in the one.
Hang in there!
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