These are the words which are said to have been written on the Emerald Tablet, by Hermes Trismegistus itself
True, true. Without doubt. Certain:
The below is as the above, and the above as the below,
to perfect the wonders of the One, so all things are born
from this one by adaptation.
It's father is the Sun, it's mother the Moon; the wind carries
it in it's belly; it's nurse is the Earth.
It is the father of all the wonders of the whole world. It's power
is perfect when it is transformed into Earth.
Seperate the Earth from Fire and the subtle from the gross,
cautiously and judiciously.
It ascends from Earth to Heaven and then returns back to the Earth,
so that it receives the power of the upper and the lower.
Thus you will possess the brightness of the whole world,
and all darkness will free you.
This is the force of all forces, for it overcomes all that is subtle
and penetrates solid things.
Thus was the world created.
From these wonderful adaptations are effected,
and the means are given here.
And Hermes Trismegistus is my name,
because I possess the three parts of knowledge
of the wisdom of the whole world.
This is the wisdom inherited by the Alchemists, many of whom
became lost on their searchings, and rather than look for the inner
secrets, the sought the outer. Falling into the trappings of gold and
immortality, whilst forgetting the essential, the inner meaning.