The Geographer's Library

The Geographer’ s Library
“True it is, without falsehood, certain and most true.
That which is above is like to that which is below, and that which is below
is like to that which is above, to accomplish the miracles of one thing.
And as all things were by the contemplation of one, so all things arose
from this one thing by a single act of adaption.
The father thereof is the Sun, the mother the Moon.
The Wind carried it in its womb, the Earth is the nurse thereof.
It is the father of all works of wonder throughout the whole world.
The power thereof is perfect.
If it be cast onto the Earth, it will separate the element of Earth
from that of Fire, the subtle from the gross.
With great sagacitie it doth ascend gently from Earth to Heaven.
Again it doth descend to Earth, and uniteth in itself the force
from things superior and things inferior.
Thus wilt thou possess the glory of the brightness of the whole world,
and all obscurity will fly far from thee.
The thing is the fortitude of all strength, for it overcometh every subtle thing
and doth penetrate every solid substance.
Thus was this world created.
Hence there will be marvellous adaptions achieved,
of which the manner is this.
For this reason I am called Hermes Trismegistus, because I hold
three parts of the wisdom of the whole world.
That which I had to say about the operation of Sol is complete.”
“What the fuck was that?” asked Joe, speaking for both of us.
“That was Holmyard’s translation of the Emerald Tablet, which is sometimes
also called the Emerald Table or the Tabula Smaragdina, and which
is one of the foundational texts of medieval alchemy. Stapled to this sheet
are translations into German, Farsi, Arabic, Hebrew, as well as sixteen lines
each in Cyrillic and in two Sanskrit-derived scripts, none of which I can
read, but all of which I assume are also translations of the Tablet. Items fifteen
through twenty-one, incidentally, if you are still keeping count.” The
professor sat with his hands flat on the table, looking from me to Joe and
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