"The Emerald Tablet"

[Grumpy]

"Sauron" posted this translation fo "The Emerald Tablet" a while back.

Any interpretations of it's meaning?

[hansvonlieven]

G'day all'

For an explanation of its origin and meaning see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeticism

Hans von Lieven

[Grumpy]

Thanks Hans.  I've never bothered to "google" it.

What is the "it" that Hermes speeks of?

Edit:

"Potential"?

Edit 2:

Hermes is talking about how to utilize "potential energy" - so many forms - all around us - everywhere - infinite quantity.

[hansvonlieven]

G'day Grumpy,

The "it" the tablet refers to is the lapis philosorum (philosopher's stone), the ultimate prize for any alchemist.

When reading the tablet don't forget that the planets referred to mean metals. For the alchemists the sun was gold, moon silver, venus copper, mars iron, mercury mercury, saturn lead and so forth.

What the tablet essentially is saying is that the philosopher's stone is everywhere but in an impure form, if you know how to separate the "subtle from the gross" and prepare it properly you will get there.

Don't forget that the alchemists held that everything is composed of three basic materials if you wish. Mercury, sulphur and salt in varying proportions. The substances referred to are NOT the common things we are used to but refer mostly to their essential qualities.

That means mercury represents liquid form, sulfur, because it does not condense into a liquid when heated but sublimates represents that in the face of the ever changing the essence stays the same and the salt represents the incorruptible, that which is left over after everything volatile has been driven off.

The philosopher's stone was in essence pure philosophic mercury, sulphur and salt combined and free of all corruption.

This is perhaps a poor explanation of alchemy, but then alchemy is a complex subject requiring a lifetime of study and is not easily expressed in a few sentences.

Understanding this you can now see that the emerald tablet is a recipe for the preparation of the philosopher's stone albeit in veiled form.

Hans von Lieven

[acerzw]

Grumps

not that it matters, but twas I who posted that... way back in LOTR...

Acerzw