The Emerald Tablet
(Smaragdine Tablet of Hermes)


First in latin, than in english:

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 (also: penetranda, praeparanda) miracula rei unius.
Et sicut res omnes fuerunt ab uno, meditatione unius: sic omnes res natae fuerunt ab hac una re, adaptatione (adoptione).
Pater ejus est Sol, mater ejus est Luna.
Portavit illud ventus in ventre suo.
Nutrix ejus terra est.
Pater omnis Telesmi totius mundi est hic.
Virtus ejus integra est, si versa fuerit in terram.
Separabis terram ab igne, subtile ab spisso, suavitar, magno cum igenio.
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 (solidum) penetrabit.
Sic mundus creatus est.
Hinc erunt adaptationes mirabiles, quarum modus est hic.
Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Trismegistus, habens tres partes philosophiae totius mundi.
Completem est quod dixi de operatione Solis.

 

It is true, without lies and quite certain.
What is lower is just like what is higher, and what is higher is just like what is lower, for the accomplishment of the miracle of a thing.
And just as all things come from one and be mediation of one, thus all things have been derived from this one thing by adoption.
The father of it is the sun, the mother is the moon.
The wind has carried it in his belly.
The earth has nourished it. It is the father (the cause) of all completion of the whole world.
His power is undiminished, if it has been turned towards the earth.
You will separate the earth from the fire, the fine from the coarse, gently and with great skill.
It ascends from the earth to the sky, again descends to the earth, and receives the powers of what is higher and what is lower.
Thus you will have the glory of the whole world, and all darkness will depart from you.
It is the strength of all strength, because it will conquer all the fine and penetrate all the solid.
Thus the world was created.
From this will be wonderful applications of which it is the pattern.
And so I have been called Hermes, thrice greatest, possessing three parts of the knowledge of the whole world.
Finished is what I have said about the work of the sun.