The Emerald Tablet is the shortest and most famous text in alchemy: fourteen lines said to have been carved on a green stone by Hermes Trismegistus. It says that what is below is like what is above, that all things come from one thing, and that the fine must be separated from the coarse, gently and with great care. Nobody knows who really wrote it; it reached Europe through Arabic books around the 1100s.
The full text, in Isaac Newton’s translation
Isaac Newton wrote this translation out in his own hand in the 1680s. It is given here in his spelling.
Tis true without lying, certain & most true.
That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing.
And as all things have been & arose from one by the mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.
The Sun is its father, the moon its mother,
The wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nourse.
The father of all perfection in the whole world is here. Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
Seperate thou the earth from the fire, the subtile from the gross sweetly wth great indoustry.
It ascends from the earth to the heaven & again it desends to the earth and receives the force of things superior & inferior.
By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
Its force is above all force. ffor it vanquishes every subtile thing & penetrates every solid thing.
So was the world created.
From this are & do come admirable adaptations whereof the means (Or process) is here in this.
Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended.
What it means, line by line
Line 1: Hermes begins by swearing that what follows is true. The old writers often opened this way: a promise that this is not a story but something tested.
Line 2: The most quoted line in alchemy, usually shortened to “as above, so below”. The same pattern runs through everything: the heavens and the earth, the world and you. Change what is inside, and what is outside follows.
Line 3: Everything comes from one source and is shaped from one thing. You are not a collection of broken pieces; you are one thing, shaped in many ways.
Line 4: The “one thing” has the Sun for a father and the Moon for a mother: the bright, active side of you and the quiet, feeling side. Both are needed.
Line 5: The wind carried it and the earth fed it. What grows in you is carried by your breath and spirit, and fed by your body and daily life.
Line 6: Here is where all perfection begins. Its power becomes whole when it is “converted into earth”: an idea only becomes real when you put it into your life.
Line 7: The great instruction of the work: separate the fine from the coarse, gently and with patience. Sort what helps you from what weighs you down, kindly, not harshly. Newton writes “sweetly”.
Line 8: It rises to heaven and comes back down to earth, gathering the strength of both. Insight is not meant to lift you away from life, but to bring something better back into it.
Line 9: Do this, and you gain “the glory of the whole world”, and confusion leaves you. Clarity is the reward of the work.
Line 10: Its strength is above all strength because it is gentle: it gets through every subtle thing and every solid thing, the way water wears through stone.
Line 11: This is how the world was made. The alchemists believed the inner work copies creation itself.
Line 12: Wonderful changes come from this, and the way to them is right here, in what you have just read.
Line 13: Hermes “Trismegistus” means thrice-great: he was said to know the three parts of the wisdom of the whole world.
Line 14: The work of the Sun is finished. In alchemy the Sun stands for gold, and for the golden, finished self.
Where it comes from
The oldest known versions are in Arabic, and Latin translations spread through Europe from the 1100s, after which almost every alchemist quoted it. Its second line is the source of “as above, so below”, and its last lines name its author, Hermes Trismegistus.
In Lead to Gold
The Emerald Tablet in Newton’s translation is in Lead to Gold’s Library, with notes in plain words, beside the Golden Tractate of Hermes and Basil Valentine’s Twelve Keys.
Last updated October 24, 2026.
Lead to Gold: Shadow Work, on Google Play
The alchemists’ Great Work, made into ten quiet minutes a day: twelve gates, a private journal, and a line of wisdom from the old masters. Free to download, for Android.
What does “as above, so below” mean?: “As above, so below” comes from the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus. What the line really says, in Newton’s translation, and what it means for you.
Who was Hermes Trismegistus?: Hermes Trismegistus, “thrice-great Hermes”, is the legendary author of the Emerald Tablet and the Hermetic writings: who he was said to be, and what he taught.
What is the Golden Tractate of Hermes?: The Golden Tractate is a short alchemical book under the name of Hermes: a father teaching his son about the Stone, patience, and light out of darkness.