READING
From The Tabula Smaragdina of Hermes Trismegistus.
- True, without error, certain and most true: that which is
above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as
that which is above, to perform the miracles of the One Thing.
- And as all things were from One, by the meditation of One,
so from this One Thing come all things by adaptation. Its father
is the Sun, its mother is the Moon, the wind carried it in its
belly, the nurse thereof is the Earth.
- It is the father of all perfection and the consummation of
the whole world. Its power is integral if it be turned to Earth.
- Thou shalt separate the Earth from the Fire, the subtle from
the coarse, gently and with much ingenuity. It ascends from Earth
to heaven and descends again to Earth, and receives the power
of the superiors and the inferiors.
- Thus thou hast the glory of the whole world; therefore let
all obscurity flee before thee. This is the strong fortitude
of all fortitude, overcoming every subtle and penetrating every
solid thing. Thus the world was created. Hence are all wonderful
adaptations, of which this is the manner.
- Therefore am I called Hermes the Thrice Great, having the
three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. That is finished
which I have to say concerning the operation of the Sun.
RESPONSORY
- (as appropriate)