THE EMERALD TABLET

by Dennis William Hauck

The words preserved in the ancient Emerald Tablet contain the essence of the alchemical teachings. Ostensibly concerned with changing base metals into gold, alchemy is in fact dedicated to transforming the lead of self into the gold of spirit. This book traces the roots of alchemy to reveal a practical guide to spiritual growth with hands-on techniques, transformative exercises, and personal testimonials. Read an interview with the author.

What people are saying about this book:

“In the Hermetic tradition, the physical and metaphysical worlds are mirror images: the transformation of base metal into gold corresponds to the evolution of an ego-dominated person into one who possesses a permanent state of enlightened consciousness. Hauck’s elucidation of the laws governing this refinement of energy, such as the Doctrine of Correspondences, the Seven Steps of Transformation, and the Octave of Creation, will strike a chord with students of modern esoteric traditions (who) may find real gold in these teachings.” – Publishers Weekly (March 23, 1999)

“The influence of the Emerald Tablet on Western intellectual and spiritual development is an unquestionable fact. Hauck’s contribution reflects a serious effort to present this age-old wisdom in a form that is at once intelligible to the modern mind and faithful to its venerable past. Most importantly, Hauck makes an original contribution of personal anecdotes, exercises, and techniques that ultimately brings the Emerald Tablet to life as a practical guide to spiritual transformation on the cusp of the 21^st century.” – NAPRA Review (May/June 1999)

“The teachings of the Emerald Tablet have been a powerful force for transformation during crucial periods in Western culture. Now these deep insights are once again finding illumination through the scholarship of Dennis William Hauck. Every reader who gives this book the thoughtfulness it requires will discover a treasure of inner riches.” – Jeffrey Mishlove Ph.D. (Director of Intuition Network; host of PBS-TV’s “Thinking Allowed”)

“Hauck shares with his readers a remarkable path for spiritual change. THE EMERALD TALBLET combines esoteric wisdom with practical advice; its use of the metaphor of al-chemy to describe transformation follows in the tradition of Carl Jung’s depth psychology.” – Stanley Krippner Ph.D. (Director of Consciousness Studies, the Saybrook Institute)

“Hauck’s book is important to the future frontiers of both medicine and psychology. The material provides the basis for changing current health theories from an emphasis on path-ology to an emphasis on transformation. It explains in clear language with interesting examples the simple, yet complex, steps in transformation and achieving peak potential. It is my hope that providers of mind/body healing would use this information to stimulate their own growth and enhance their ability to practice healthcare.” – Marie DiCowden Ph.D. (Director of the Biscayne Institutes of Health)

“The author has done an immense amount of research to make the Emerald Tablet known and understood to those who seek an alchemical transformation into a higher state of consciousness. I cannot think of anything we need more than these time-tested methods to break through to an age of enlightenment and healing for both ourselves and the planet.” – Bernyce Barlow (Author, Ecologist, and Therapist)

“Dennis Hauck’s THE EMERALD TABLET is a must read for anyone who wants to journey into the mysteries and mysticism of our dormant powers. Use your own imagination while reading this book, and it will open a gateway to your inner soul and beyond.” – Uri Geller (Author and Psychic)

“Hauck is a wonderful writer. His writing style is friendly, easy to read, and actually fun!” – Athena Reviews

THE EMERALD TABLET: ALCHEMY FOR PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION

This bestselling book details the rediscovery of the mysterious artifact and reveals the chemical-spiritual formula hidden in its lines. Also contained are the alchemists’ startling predictions for the new millennium and chapters on the mystical and paranormal experiences that reflect the deep changes undergone by people who have actually seen the hidden reality of which the tablet speaks. Penguin 1999. ISBN 0140195718. Illustrated; indexed; 448 pp. Item #888. $16.95.

 

 

INTERVIEW with Dennis William Hauck

Question: Most people think of alchemy as an early form of chemistry or see it as part of the realm of magic. What is alchemy really?

D.W.Hauck: A single definition of alchemy is always hard to agree on, since it is a discipline that works on many different levels. We now understand that it was not only a precursor of chemistry but also of psychology, medicine, and even quantum physics. It’s been described as the Philosophy of Fire, the Art of Transformation, the Science of Soul, and in many other ways. Unquestionably, alchemy is the oldest science, yet it is also part of our religious and spiritual traditions. And it is magic too, just like any future science based on hidden principles would be magic to those not familiar with it.

Question: What first got you interested in alchemy?

D.W.Hauck: I was in graduate school in mathematics at the University of Vienna, when I came across a collection of old alchemy manuscripts in the library. Vienna and nearby Prague were centers for the study of alchemy in the sixteenth century and hundreds of alchemists migrated to the area. The first time I opened one of their dusty treatises, the ancient tradition seemed to come alive in me. I gave up my formal studies and spent my time translating alchemy books and meditating on the strange drawings they contained, which I felt carried profound meaning. I was convinced that the Great Work was the supreme truth in nature, and the alchemists were really explorers of consciousness far ahead of their time.

Question: You gave up a career in mathematics to pursue a defunct Medieval discipline?

D.W.Hauck: Not so hard to understand, really. I was fed up with American diploma mills in which math was like a competitive sport to see who could break chalk the fastest on blackboards! There is no beauty in math when it is nothing but technique and speed. I wanted to be a mathematician but I hated computers, so I went to Vienna to study mathematics in the intuitive tradition of Dr. Kurt Goedel. That is where I discovered that the alchemists were centuries ahead of modern mathematicians in their grasp of reality.

Question: How could the alchemists know more about reality than modern mathematics, the Queen of the Sciences?

D.W.Hauck: It is not generally known, but Professor Goedel proved that ultimately, logical thinking can never know truth. Without going into a lot of detail, he developed an introspective form of mathematics that used self-referencing propositions to expose fundamental problems in the foundations of mathematics. His Incompleteness Theorem demonstrated that no matter what “axiomatic system” or logical approach you take ¾ no matter how complicated ¾ you will never be able to explain the complexity of the universe. In other words, the idea of provability is a weaker notion that truth. I can show that right now, in fact. Just reflect on the following sentence: “This statement is false.” At first you think it is a false statement, but you realize if the statement is really false, then it must be a true statement; yet if it is a true statement, it cannot be a false statement. Try it! You get caught in what Goedel called a Strange Loop. So, there is something fundamentally flawed in our way of yes/no thinking, and that means there is something fundamentally wrong with binary logic itself, which is the heart of computers.

Question: What has that got to do with alchemy?

D.W.Hauck: The alchemists realized that within the Strange Loop is where ultimate truth lies. Most of their statements and drawings are actually Strange Loops that have confounded people ever since they were first created. In fact, the symbol for a Strange Loop is how the alchemists depicted the ultimate mystery of the universe: the Ouroboros, the snake eating its own tail. And the solution to any Strange Loop can be found in the caption the alchemists gave to their drawings of the Ouroboros. It read “All Is One.” Really, this is an ancient idea. It is what Socrates meant by “Know thyself,” although I believe that the earliest statement on this planet of that concept was given to us in the Emerald Tablet, which is the source and inspiration for all of alchemy. Every practicing alchemist had a copy of the tablet close at hand and constantly referred to the “secret formula” it contained.

Question: Isn’t the Emerald Tablet the source of the phrase “As Above, So Below?”

D.W.Hauck: Yes, though it really says “That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above corresponds to that which is Below.” That describes a much more dynamic system than just saying “As Above, So Below.” The Above and the Below are intimately related, constantly flowing into one another and eternally changing into one another. That’s the image of the Ouroboros. But the biggest mistake people make is to think of them as static concepts, such as seeing the Above as heaven or the Below as hell.

Question: How did the alchemists interpret the Above and the Below?

D.W.Hauck: Not only the alchemists but the ancients in general saw the Above as the realm of the One Mind, the unnamable creator. It is divine thought or Word seeking manifestation. The Below is the realm of the One Thing, the actual manifestation of divine thought. So the Above is full of the living light of Mind, while the Below is dark, static matter. Obviously, our notions of heaven and hell originated from these ideas, yet there are important differences in the way modern people see the Above and Below and the way the ancients saw them. For them, both heaven and hell (the Above and the Below) were close at hand. They felt they were surrounded by manifestations of the divine Mind, and the signature of God was in all created things. All they had to do was close their eyes to see into Above and meditate to be in the divine presence, for the light of the One Mind Above was reflected in the mind of man Below. Above and Below were not faraway places you went to after you died. The One Mind was considered the source of thought, imagination, and spirit, and it could be found in meditation and prayer; the One Thing was the source of sensation, feelings, and soul, and it could be found in the delights and terrors of physical existence.

Question: Where did the Emerald Tablet come from?

D.W.Hauck: In my latest book, I trace the tablet from the Egyptian inventor of math and science, Thoth, to the Pharaoh Akhenaten and Moses, then down to Alexander the Great and the first-century sage Apollonius of Tyana. There are tantalizing bits of evidence that suggest mysterious visitors came to Egypt over 12,000 years ago and brought with them a powerful spiritual technology, which they passed down to future generations in a time capsule of wisdom that became known as the Emerald Tablet. The Book of What Is In the Daat, the Book of the Dead and other Egyptian funerary texts, and numerous rebirth texts refer to a remote epoch known as the “Zep Tepi,” a time before the Great Flood when godlike beings known as the “Group of Nine” came to earth and established their kingdom in Egypt. They included Thoth, the “god” of thought, who is said to have written the Emerald Tablet and hid it in a pillar at Hermopolis to preserve it through the coming world deluge. It was passed down to the modern age through a number of enlightened leaders.

– From the Intelligencer (June 1999)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part I.  Understanding the Emerald Tablet

Chapter 1: Gift from the Gods

Chapter 2: Our Divine Legacy

Chapter 3: A Converstation with Hermes

Chapter 4: Miracles of the One Thing

Chapter 5: It Father Is the Sun

Chapter 6: Its Mother Is the Moon

Chapter 7: Separate the Earth from Fire

Chapter 8: The Greatest Force of All Powers

Chapter 9: This Is the Pattern

Part II.  Applying the Emerald Formula

Chapter 10: Seven Steps to Transformation

Chapter 11: Calcination: Burning Off the Dross

Chapter 12: Dissolution: Learning to Let Go

Chapter 13: Separation: Identifying Essences

Chapter 14: Conjuntion: Creating the Overself

Chapter 15: Fermentation: Fire in the Soul

Chapter 16: Distillation: Consecration of the Stone

Chapter 17: Coagulation: Ultima Materia of the Soul

Chapter 18: The Alchemy of Health and Longevity

Chapter 19: Message of the Caduceus

Chapter 20: The Chemistry of Miracles

Chapter 21: Using the Formula in Everyday Life

Part III.  What the Tablet Says About Our Future

Chapter 22: The Hermes Factor

Chapter 23: Alchemy of the Millennium

Chapter 24: Have You Seen the Stone?

Chapter 25: Emerald Insights to Live By