The Emerald Tablet Part I

 The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Tablet or the Tabula Smaragdina (Latin, from the Arabic: لَوْح الزُّمُرُّذ, Lawḥ al-zumurrudh), is a compact and cryptic Hermetic text. It was highly regarded by Islamic and European alchemists as the foundation of their art. Though attributed to the legendary Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus, the text of the Emerald Tablet first appears in a number of early medieval Arabic sources, the oldest of which dates to the late eighth or early ninth century. It was translated into Latin several times in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Numerous interpretations and commentaries followed.

Medieval and early modern alchemists associated the Emerald Tablet with the creation of the philosophers' stone and the artificial production of gold.

It has also been popular with nineteenth and twentieth century occultists and esotericists, among whom the expression "as above, so below" (a modern paraphrase of the second verse of the Tablet) has become an often cited motto.

History

From the 3rd or 2nd century BC, Greek texts attributed to the mythical character Hermes Trismegistus, holder of all knowledge, began to appear in Hellenistic Egypt. These texts, known as the Hermetica, are a heterogeneous collection of works that encompass alchemical, magical, astrological, and medicinal elements. They culminate in the mystical-philosophical treatises of the Corpus Hermeticum from the 2nd or 3rd century. In one of these works, the Koré Kosmou (the "Pupil of the World"), Hermes engraves and conceals his teachings before ascending to the heavens "so that every generation born after the world should seek them".

In 640, Egypt, which had become Christian and Byzantine, was conquered by the Arabs, who perpetuated the Hermetic and alchemical tradition in which the Emerald Tablet is situated.

Until the early 20th century, only Latin versions of the Emerald Tablet were known, with the oldest dating back to the 12th century. The first Arabic versions were rediscovered by the English historian of science E.J. Holmyard (1891-1959) and the German orientalist Julius Ruska (1867-1949).

Arabic versions

The Emerald Tablet has been found in various ancient Arabic works in different versions. The oldest version is found as an appendix in a treatise believed to have been composed in the 9th century, known as the Book of the Secret of Creation, Kitâb sirr al-Halîka in Arabic. This text presents itself as a translation of Apollonius of Tyana, under his Arabic name Balînûs. Although no Greek manuscript has been found, it is plausible that an original Greek text existed. The attribution to Apollonius, though false (pseudonymous), is common in medieval Arabic texts on magic, astrology, and alchemy.

The introduction to the Book of the Secret of Creation is a narrative that explains, among other things, that "all things are composed of four elemental principles: heat, cold, moisture, and dryness" (the four qualities of Aristotle), and their combinations account for the "relations of sympathy and antipathy between beings." Balînûs, "master of talismans and wonders," enters a crypt beneath the statue of Hermes Trismegistus and finds the emerald tablet in the hands of a seated old man, along with a book. The core of the work is primarily an alchemical treatise that introduces for the first time the idea that all metals are formed from sulfur and mercury, a fundamental theory of alchemy in the Middle Ages. The text of the Emerald Tablet appears last, as an appendix. It has long been debated whether it is an extraneous piece, solely cosmogonic in nature, or if it is an integral part of the rest of the work, in which case it has an alchemical significance from the outset. Recently, it has been suggested that it is actually a text of talismanic magic and that the confusion arises from a mistranslation from Arabic to Latin.

Emerald is the stone traditionally associated with Hermes, while mercury is his metal. Mars is associated with red stones and iron, and Saturn is associated with black stones and lead. In antiquity, Greeks and Egyptians referred to various green-colored minerals (green jasper and even green granite) as emerald, and in the Middle Ages, this also applied to objects made of colored glass, such as the "Emerald Tablet" of the Visigothic kings or the Sacro Catino of Genoa (a dish seized by the Crusaders during the sack of Caesarea in 1011, which was believed to have been offered by the Queen of Sheba to Solomon and used during the Last Supper).

Another version is found in an eclectic book from the 10th century, the Secretum Secretorum (Secret of Secrets, Sirr al-asrâr), which presents itself as a pseudo-letter from Aristotle to Alexander the Great during the conquest of Persia. It discusses politics, morality, physiognomy, astrology, alchemy, medicine, and more. The text is also attributed to Hermes but lacks the narrative of the tablet's discovery.

The literary theme of the discovery of Hermes' hidden wisdom can be found in other Arabic texts from around the 10th century. For example, in the Book of Crates, while praying in the temple of Serapis, Crates, a Greek philosopher, has a vision of "an old man, the most beautiful of men, seated in a chair. He was dressed in white garments and held a tablet on the chair, upon which was placed a book [...]. 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 has hidden from men.'". A similar account can be found in the Latin text known as Tabula Chemica by Senior Zadith, the Arabic alchemist Ibn Umail, in which a stone table rests on the knees of Hermes Trismegistus in the secret chamber of a pyramid. Here, the table is not inscribed with text but with "hieroglyphic" symbols.

Early Latin versions and medieval commentaries

Latin versions

The Secretum Secretorum was translated into Latin in a shortened version by Johannes Hispalensis or Hispaniensis (John of Seville) around 1140, and then in a longer version by Philip of Tripoli around 1220. It became one of the most famous books of the Middle Ages.

A third Latin version can be found in an alchemical treatise dating probably from the 12th century (although no manuscripts are known before the 13th or 14th century), the Liber Hermetis de alchimia (Book of Alchemy of Hermes). This version, known as the "vulgate," is the most widespread. The translator of this version did not understand the Arabic word tilasm, which means talisman, and transcribed it into Latin as telesmus or telesmum (which became télesme in French), and it was variously interpreted by commentators, becoming "one of the most characteristic - and most vague - terms in alchemy".

Latin and French texts

Tabula smaragdina Hermetis Trismegisti

"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 omnes res fuerunt ab uno, mediatione unius, sic omnes res natae fuerunt ab hac una re, adaptatione. Pater ejus est Sol, mater ejus Luna; portavit illud Ventus in ventre suo; nutrix ejus Terra est. Pater omnis telesmi totius mundi est hic. Vis ejus integra est si versa fuerit in terram. Separabis terram ab igne, subtile a spisso, suaviter, cum magno ingenio. Ascendit a terra in Caelum, 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 est hic. Itaque vocatus sum Hermes Trismegistus, habens tres partes philosophiae totius mundi. Completum est quod dixi de operatione Solis."

The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, Father of Philosophers (translated by L'Hortulain)

"True, without falsehood, certain, and most true: What is below is like what is above, and what is above is like what is below, to accomplish the miracles of one thing. And as all things were derived from one by the meditation of one, so all things are born from this one thing by adaptation. The Sun is its father, the Moon is its mother, the Wind has carried it in its belly, its nurse is the Earth. The father of all telesma of the whole world is here. Its power is whole if it is converted into Earth. You will separate the Earth from the Fire, the subtle from the dense, gently and with great skill. It ascends from Earth to Heaven, and then it descends again to Earth, and receives the power of the superiors and the inferiors. Thus, you will have the glory of the whole world; and all darkness will flee from you. This is the strong force of all forces, overcoming every subtle thing and penetrating every solid thing. Thus, the world was created. From this, marvelous adaptations will arise, of which the manner is here. Therefore, I am called Hermes Trismegistus, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. What I have said about the operation of the Sun is accomplished and ended."

Comments

The discovery of the Emerald Tablet in Aurora consurgens.

The Table of Emerald and its legendary discovery are mentioned for the first time in De essentiis (1143) by Herman of Carinthia, a friend of Robert of Chester, who translated in 1144 the Liber de compositione alchimiae, considered the first treatise on alchemy in the West.

 

An anonymous commentator from the 12th century explains that "the father of all telesma" means "of all secrets." Indeed, divination among the Arabs is called "telesma"; thus, this divination is superior to all others. Later, only the meaning of secret was retained.

It is found in Albertus Magnus' De mineralibus around 1256.

Around 1275–1280, Roger Bacon translated and commented on the Secret of Secrets, and through a completely alchemical interpretation of the Emerald Tablet, made it an allegorical summary of the Great Work.

The most well-known commentary is that of Hortulanus, an alchemist about who very little is known, in the first half of the 14th century:

I, Hortulanus, that is to say, gardener... I have wanted to write a clear explanation and certain explanation of the words of Hermes, father of philosophers, although they are obscure, and to sincerely explain the entire practice of the true work. And certainly, it is of no use for philosophers to want to hide the science in their writings when the doctrine of the Holy Spirit operates.

This text is in line with the symbolic alchemy that developed in the 14th century, particularly with the texts attributed to the Catalan physician Arnau de Vilanova, which establish an allegorical comparison between Christian mysteries and alchemical operations. In Ortolanus' commentary, devoid of practical considerations, the Great Work is an imitation of the divine creation of the world from chaos: "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 and the moon represent alchemical gold and silver. Hortulanus interprets "telesma" as "secret" or "treasure": "It is written afterward: 'The father of all telesma of the world is here,' 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 all the secret or all the treasure of the entire world, that is to say, of every stone discovered in this world.".

The Tabula Chemica by Ibn Umail, in which the table is engraved with symbols, is translated as early as the 12th or 13th century. Starting from 1420, extensive excerpts are included in an illuminated text, the Aurora consurgens, which is one of the earliest cycles of alchemical symbols. One of the illustrations shows the discovery of Hermes' table in a temple surmounted by Sagittarius eagles (representing the volatile elements). This motif is frequently used in Renaissance prints and is the visual expression of the myth of the rediscovery of ancient knowledge—the transmission of this knowledge, in the form of hieroglyphic pictograms, allows it to escape the distortions of human and verbal interpretation.

From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment

During the Renaissance, the idea that Hermes Trismegistus was the founder of alchemy gained prominence, and at the same time, the legend of the discovery evolved and intertwined with biblical accounts. This is particularly the case in the late 15th century in the Livre de la philosophie naturelle des métaux by the pseudo-Bernard of Treviso: "The first inventor of this Art was Hermes Trismegistus, for he knew all three natural philosophies, namely Mineral, Vegetable, and Animal." After the flood, he found in the valley of Hebron, where Adam lived after being expelled from the earthly paradise, seven marble tablets on which the principles of the seven liberal arts are engraved. He wrote a brief work (which reproduces the beginning of the Emerald Tablet), which passed to his disciple Pythagoras, then to Plato, Aristotle, and finally to Alexander the Great. Thus, the ante-diluvian wisdom was transmitted, independently of the revelation made to Moses at Sinai.

It further evolves with Jérôme Torella in his book on astrology, Opus Praeclarum de imaginibus astrologicis (Valence, 1496), in which it is Alexander the Great who discovers a Tabula Zaradi in Hermes' tomb while traveling to the Oracle of Amun in Egypt. This story is repeated by Michael Maier, physician and counselor to the "alchemical emperor" Rudolf II, in his symbola aureae mensae (Frankfurt, 1617), referring to a Liber de Secretis chymicis attributed to Albertus Magnus. In the same year, he publishes the famous Atalanta Fugiens (Fleeing Atalanta), illustrated by Theodor de Bry with fifty alchemical emblems, each accompanied by a poem, a musical fugue, and alchemical and mythological explanations. The first two emblems depict a passage from the Emerald Tablet: "the wind has carried it in its belly; the earth is its nurse," and the explanatory text begins with "Hermes, the most diligent explorer of all natural secrets, describes in his Emerald Tablet the work of nature, albeit briefly and accurately."

The Emerald Tablet - Latin version, edition princeps - Excerpt from De Alchimia, Nuremberg 1541 - The Latin and Greek introduction says: "The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus on alchemy, by an unknown translator. Secrets of Hermes that were written on the emerald table found in his hands in a dark cave where his buried body was discovered"

The first printed edition appears in 1541 in the De alchemia published by Johann Petreius and edited by a certain Chrysogonus Polydorus, who is likely a pseudonym for the Lutheran theologian Andreas Osiander (Osiander also edited Copernicus' On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres in 1543, published by the same printer). This version is known as the "vulgate" version and includes the commentary by Hortulanus.

In 1583, a commentary by Gerard Dorn is published in Frankfurt by Christoph Corvinus. In De Luce naturae physica, this disciple of Paracelsus makes a detailed parallel between the Table and the first chapter of the Genesis attributed to Moses.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, verse versions appear, including an anonymous sonnet revised by the alchemical poet Clovis Hesteau de Nuysement [fr] in his work Traittez de l'harmonie, et constitution generalle du vray sel, secret des Philosophes, & de l'esprit universel du monde (1621):

It is a certain point full of admiration,

That the high and the low are but one same thing:

To make from a single thing enclosed in the whole world,

Marvelous effects through adaptation.

From one thing, all things have been made by meditation,

And for parents, womb, and nourisher, it is established:

Phoebus, Diana, air, and earth, where it rests,

This thing in which all perfection lies.

If you change it into earth, it retains its full power:

Separating by great art, but an easy manner,

The subtle from the dense, and the earth from the fire.

From earth it ascends to heaven, and then back to earth,

From heaven it descends, gradually receiving,

The virtues of both that it encloses in its belly.

However, from the beginning of the 17th century onward, a number of authors challenge the attribution of the Emerald Tablet to Hermes Trismegistus and, through it, attack antiquity and the validity of alchemy. First among them is a "repentant" alchemist, the Lorraine physician Nicolas Guibert, in 1603. But it is the Jesuit scholar and linguist Athanasius Kircher who launches the strongest attack in his monumental work Oedipus Aegyptiacus (Rome, 1652–1653). He notes that no texts speak of the Emerald Tablet before the Middle Ages and that its discovery by Alexander the Great is not mentioned in any ancient testimonies. By comparing the vocabulary used with that of the Corpus Hermeticum (which had been proven by Isaac Casaubon in 1614 to date only from the 2nd or 3rd century AD), he affirms that the Emerald Tablet is a forgery by a medieval alchemist. As for the alchemical teaching of the Emerald Tablet, it is not limited to the philosopher's stone and the transmutation of metals but concerns "the deepest substance of each thing," the alchemists' quintessence. From another perspective, Wilhelm Christoph Kriegsmann [de] publishes in 1657 a commentary in which he tries to demonstrate, using the linguistic methods of the time that the Emerald Tablet was not originally written in Egyptian but in Phoenician. He continues his studies of ancient texts and in 1684 argues that Hermes Trismegistus is not the Egyptian Thoth but the Taaut of the Phoenicians, who is also the founder of the Germanic people under the name of the god Tuisto, mentioned by Tacitus.

In the meantime, Kircher's conclusions are debated by the Danish alchemist Ole Borch in his De ortu et progressu Chemiae (1668), in which he attempts to separate the hermetic texts between the late writings and those truly attributable to the ancient Egyptian Hermes, among which he inclines to classify the Emerald Tablet. The discussions continue, and the treatises of Ole Borch and Kriegsmann are reprinted in the compilation Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa (1702) by the Swiss physician Jean-Jacques Manget. Although the Emerald Tablet is still translated and commented upon by Isaac Newton, alchemy gradually loses all scientific credibility during the 18th century with the advent of modern chemistry and the work of Lavoisier.

The Hermetic Emblem of the Tabula Smaragdina Hermetis

The Tabula Smaragdina Hermetis.

From the late 16th century onwards, the Emerald Tablet is often accompanied by a symbolic figure called the Tabula Smaragdina Hermetis.

This figure is surrounded by an acrostic in Latin "Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem" (“visit the interior of the earth and by rectifying you will find the hidden stone”), whose seven initials form the word VITRIOL (the ancient name for sulfuric acid). At the top, the sun and moon pour into a cup above the symbol of mercury. Around the mercurial cup are the four other planets, representing the classic association between the seven planets and the seven metals: Sun/Gold, Moon/Silver, Mercury/Mercury, Jupiter/Tin, Mars/Iron, Venus/Copper, Saturn/Lead, which were also connected by traditional colors (gold, silver, gray, blue, red, green, black) to the seven words of the acrostic in the early versions of the symbol. In the center, there are a ring and an imperial globe, and at the bottom, there are the spheres of the sky and the earth (alluding to the macrocosm and microcosm). Three escutcheons represent, according to the poem, the three principles (tria prima) of the alchemical theory of Paracelsus: Eagle/Mercury/Spirit, Lion/Sulfur/Soul, and Star/Salt/Body. Finally, two prophetic hands frame the image and "swear to the true foundation and true doctrine."

The oldest known reproduction is a copy dated 1588-89 of a manuscript that was circulating anonymously at the time and was likely written in the second half of the 16th century by a German Paracelsian. The image was accompanied by a didactic alchemical poem in German titled Du secret des sages, probably by the same author. The poem explains the symbolism in relation to the Great Work and the classical goals of alchemy: wealth, health, and long life. Initially, it was only accompanied by the text of the Emerald Tablet as a secondary element. However, in printed reproductions during the 17th century, the accompanying poem disappeared, and the emblem became known as the Tabula Smaragdina Hermetis, the symbol or graphical representation of the Emerald Tablet, as ancient as the tablet itself.

For example, in 1733, according to the alchemist Ehrd de Naxagoras (Supplementum Aurei Velleris), a "precious emerald plate" engraved with inscriptions and the symbol was made upon Hermes' death and found in the valley of Ebron by a woman named Zora. This emblem is placed within the mysterious tradition of Egyptian hieroglyphs and the idea of Platonists and alchemists during the Renaissance that the "deepest secrets of nature could only be expressed appropriately through an obscure and veiled mode of representation".

19th-20th Century: From Occultism to Esotericism and Surrealism

Alchemy and its alleged "foundational text" continue to interest occultists. This is the case with the mage Éliphas Lévi: "Nothing surpasses and nothing equals as a summary of all the doctrines of the old world the few sentences engraved on a precious stone by Hermes and known as the 'emerald tablet'... it is all of magic on a single page.". It also applies to the "curious figure" of the German Gottlieb Latz, who self-published a monumental work Die Alchemie in 1869, as well as the theosophist Helena Blavatsky and the perennialist Titus Burckhardt.

At the beginning of the 20th century, alchemical thought resonated with the surrealists, and André Breton incorporated the main axiom of the Emerald Tablet into the Second Manifesto of Surrealism (1930): "Everything leads us to believe that there exists a certain point of the spirit from which life and death, the real and the imaginary, the past and the future, the communicable and the incommunicable, the high and the low, cease to be perceived as contradictory. However, in vain would one seek any motive other than the hope for the determination of this point in surrealist activity.". Although some commentators mainly see the influence of the philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel in this statement, Hegel's philosophy itself was influenced by Jakob Böhme.