“Tis true without error, certain & most true. / That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing. / And as all things have been & arose from one by the mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation. / The Sun is its father, the moon its mother, the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth is its nurse. / The father of all perfection in the whole world is here. / Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth. / Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry. / It ascends from the earth to the heaven & again it descends to the earth & receives the force of things superior & inferior. / By this means you shall have the glory of the whole world & thereby all obscurity shall fly from you. / Its force is above all force. For it vanquishes every subtle thing & penetrates every solid thing. / So was the world created. / From this are & do come admirable adaptations whereof the means (or process) is here in this. / Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. / That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished & ended.”
Hermes Trismegistus (translated by Isaac Newton)