'AS ABOVE SO BELOW AND LIKE ATTRACTS LIKE' is a small part of "The Emerald
Tablet" (ultimate book of magick) that is believed to belong to Hermes. The tablet is
believed to be made of uat, "matrix emerald". It is said that it was all in one
piece, seamless, as if it were poured in a mold. See also,
emerald. | See another riddle. |
The "tablet" dates back to at least the 6th or 7th century AD. It is a
treasure house of images.
| One Accepted Translation | Harold's On-Going Translation |
| "True, true. Without doubt. Certain: |
Amen, Amen, Amen |
| The below is as the above, and the above is as the below, | The macrocosm reflects the microcosm |
| to perfect the wonders of the One. | the way we grow with God/dess through the mysterious ethers |
| And as all things came from the One, | The One without a Second created the universal building blocks (stone) of which all other things are made. |
| from the meditation of the One, | the secret fire of imagination springs from the silence of meditation. |
| so all things are born from this One by adaptation. | out of the aether (not what they put you to sleep with - we're talking fifth element) springs fire, water, and the interaction between these two creates air, and the interaction between these three create the earth (the element).And perhaps before aether: the cosmic fire stuff i.e the unconscious of C.Jung |
| Its father is the Sun, | From the Sun springs all energy on the planet Earth, and the seasons with a 364 1/4 day rhythm with a 12-hour day twice a year. The Sun's action creates the winds and weather and draws water up until it falls to Earth.Sol transforms soul/will/dark matter/mater. |
| its mother is the Moon; | From the Moon comes the reflected Sun, the tides and the 32-day rhythm.A famous symbol of the ocean of the subconscious. |
| the Wind carries it in its belly; | Moisture/Fluidity/thought |
| its nurse is the Earth. | Moisture/Fluidity? Dew? The belly? The womb?Individuality? Point of view... |
| It is the father of all the wonders of the whole world. | Dew/Water/Fluidity/ Salt of the earth (first matter). |
| Its power is perfect when it is transformed into Earth. | Water/Rain or extracting earth from fire. Do barriers have any use for "one thing"? |
| Separate the Earth from Fire | Hold a glass to a flame, lamp-black appears (a material example) Condensate? Ash? What thinks not, but knows? What is, but is not? What is Hermetic sealing? How is that possible considering something had to be unsealed at some point? As Channel 7 likes to say:"In time..." |
| and the subtle from the gross, cautiously and judicially. | What's important about fire is it's fluidity. The same with water and wind. Earth is not fluid yet it's symbol is salt. |
| It ascends from Earth to Heaven and then returns to the Earth, | Moisture from decay, the distillation process. Born of the process of the digestive system. Hint:do you consciously process your food? Time ends/ boundaries dissolve (solve). Dark soul/will....mater/matter...solve et coagula- |
| so that it receives the power of the upper and the lower. | The Sun and the Moon (like a well-matched pair of horses, harnessed, produce all true power). The heart and the belly? Figure /ground? Hint: artist without paint/brush/canvas...creates what?when? |
| Thus you will possess the brightness of the whole world, and all darkness will flee you. | The secret fire (imagination) the primal fire (aether's base) "Let there be light" in the collective unconscious.What is the imagination? |
| This is the force of all forces, for it overcomes all that is subtle and penetrates solid things. | Question: What forces are impossible to shield out? Do we have any idea why? Loosh? (Monroe Inst.) Does our point of view(hint:barriers) keep us from penetrating the mysteries? Drinking from a closed bottle ...he saw? |
| Thus was the world created. | "And the darkness was divided from the light" (binary: hint, hint ONE is not two. Waves in the ocean are the ocean, after all.) |
| From this, wonderful adaptations are perfected, and the means are given here. | All things are the same, in that they are not alike. The rough stone and the finished stone, are stone after all. |
| And Hermes Trismegistus is my name, | Indeed, thrice-greatest! |
| because I possess the three parts of the wisdom of the whole world." | Animal, Vegetable and Mineral. Body, Mind and Spirit. See table. |
Contemplating on this riddle will (yes. it will. honest) change you. As above, so
below, know yourself. Pay attention! This is part of alchemy.
| Another Riddle | Another Translation this will open in a new window |