as above, so below

these were the first words
my dear friend loel said to me
as i walked into her room to see her
upon my arrival from the north..this past decembre.
loel is the mother of my very good pal, b.r.s.
and somewhat like a 2nd mother to me..

loel passed away only two months ago
yet with all the flurry of the worlds these days,
it feels a long, long time without her on the planet..
she was always one to renounce the weight
of the world with her insights and wisdom..
she was on the bead..

in the short time i had left with her,
she often repeated these words to me..
as above, so below
adding..many times..like an edict..
i know you know this, dunja

HA!

here is the teaching in full..

the emerald tablet
by hermes trismegistus

as above so below

truly, without deceit,
certainly and absolutely:

that which is below corresponds
to that which is above,
and that which is above corresponds
to that which is below,
in accomplishment of the miracle
of the one thing.
and just as all things have come from one,
through the mediation of one,
so all things follow from this one thing
in the same way.

its father is the sun;
its mother is the moon.
the wind has carried it in his belly.
its nourishment is the earth.
it is the father of every completed thing
in the whole world.
its strength is intact
if it is turned towards the earth.
separate the earth by fire:
the fine from the gross,
gently and with great skill.

it rises from earth to heaven,
and then it descends again
to the earth,
and receives power from above
and from below.
thus you will have the glory
of the whole world.
all obscurity will be clear to you.
this is the strong power of all power
because it overcomes everything fine
and penetrates everything solid.

in this way was the world created.
from this there will be amazing applications,
because this is the pattern.
therefore am i called
thrice greatest hermes,
having the three parts
of the wisdom of the whole world.

herein have i completely
explained the operation of the sun.


some history:
the emerald tablet of hermes is the source
of hermetic philosophy and alchemy.
according to one legend,
the text was carved by hermes on tablets of emerald;
then placed in the king’s chamber
of the great pyramid of cheops in egypt!

although there is some doubt about the original language,
it is in latin that the emerald tablet rose in fame
to claim the key to the primary mysteries of nature.

a recipe for the preparation
of the philosopher’s stone, perhaps outwardly,
it seems that the process described
might well have a more universal application.
nothing less than the process of change itself through which -
nature strives toward perfection. aristotle


SOLVE ET COAGULA
(separate and join together/dissolve and coagulate)

AH!
of course, this is none other than
the wisdom and practice of yoga.
( ie: yoga vasistha, et al. )

OM TAT SAT..
as above, so below..

high praise to loel and her final teaching to me...
i aim to perfect it!

loel b. shuler
d. anniversary
22 january 2011

"it is time to perceive ourselves
as spiritual beings with physical experiences
rather than
physical beings with spiritual experiences."
~ stephen levine - who dies?