Essay: As Above, So Below: The Emerald Tablet & the Architecture of Unseen Work
The phrase “as above, so below” has travelled centuries, migrating from esoteric text to cultural shorthand. It appears on jewellery, in novels, in leadership metaphors. Yet its origin lies in a compact and enigmatic Hermetic text known as the Emerald Tablet, traditionally attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.
To understand what this phrase offers the Cloacina Collective — and the work of unseen infrastructure — we need to return briefly to its roots.
What Is the Emerald Tablet?
The Emerald Tablet (or Tabula Smaragdina) is a short alchemical text that likely emerged in the early medieval period, though it claims ancient Egyptian origins. It is foundational within the Hermetic tradition — a body of philosophical and spiritual writing concerned with transformation, correspondence, and the nature of reality.
The most cited line reads:
“That which is below is like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below.”
In many translations (including the 20th-century Fulcanelli version), this principle suggests that the macrocosm and microcosm mirror one another. Outer structures reflect inner order. Visible forms express invisible architecture.
This is not simply mystical poetry. It is a theory of correspondence.
The Tablet proposes that reality is layered and relational. What manifests externally is shaped by what operates internally. Transformation, therefore, requires work at the level beneath appearance.
From Alchemy to Leadership
Alchemy is often misunderstood as a literal attempt to turn lead into gold. Symbolically, however, it is about refinement — purification, integration, maturation.
In alchemical philosophy, gold represents wholeness. Integration. Stability.
The transformation does not occur by polishing the surface. It occurs through heating, breaking down, separating, recombining. Through working with what is hidden.
The Cloacina Collective operates on this same principle.
In leadership and organisational life, what is “above” is visible:
Performance metrics
Strategy documents
Public statements
Organisational charts
Reputation
But beneath that lies what actually determines sustainability:
Emotional containment
Ethical restraint
Conflict navigation
Cultural maintenance
Boundary management
Shadow dynamics
If these lower systems are neglected, visible success eventually fractures.
As above, so below.
The Sewer as Hermetic Symbol
The Roman goddess Cloacina guarded the sewer system — the hidden infrastructure that prevented disease and structural collapse. The sewer cover marks the threshold between the visible city and the unseen system that sustains it.
It is an unlikely spiritual symbol. Which is precisely why it matters.
Cities do not fall because their facades are unattractive.
They fail when what runs beneath them is blocked.
Organisations do not collapse because leaders lack vision statements.
They fail when the unseen work of maintenance, repair, containment and integration is ignored.
The Emerald Tablet’s principle of correspondence illuminates this reality. The sewer is not separate from the city above it. It is the city’s condition of possibility.
Unseen Work as Structural Correspondence
Unseen work is not decorative. It is infrastructural.
It includes:
The quiet prevention of conflict escalation
The uncredited repair of strained relationships
The holding of moral standards when expedience tempts
The invisible preparation that makes competence appear effortless
The personal shadow work that prevents projection onto teams
When leaders neglect their inner architecture — their unresolved fears, ego defensiveness, unexamined assumptions — those patterns surface “above” in culture and performance.
When leaders strengthen internal coherence — clarity of values, emotional regulation, ethical grounding — the organisation reflects that stability.
The Emerald Tablet does not promise miracles through magical thinking. It proposes coherence through alignment.
“With This Knowledge Alone You May Work Miracles”
In some translations, the Tablet concludes with the bold claim that understanding this principle enables one to “work miracles.”
What might that mean in contemporary terms?
Not spectacle.
But prevention.
In human services, education, healthcare, and executive leadership, the miracle is often the crisis that never happens.
The staff member who stays.
The cultural fracture that is repaired early.
The ethical compromise that is resisted.
The burnout that is prevented.
Miracles, in this frame, are the result of unseen correspondence — when inner discipline shapes outer stability.
The Work of the Cloacina Collective
The Cloacina Collective exists at this intersection.
It does not focus solely on visible leadership behaviours. It works at the level beneath performance — the psychological, structural and ethical systems that determine whether leaders and organisations endure.
“As above, so below” is not decorative philosophy here. It is diagnostic.
If burnout is rising above, what is happening below?
If turnover is increasing above, what incentives exist below?
If culture feels brittle above, what tensions are unprocessed below?
The Collective asks leaders to lift the sewer cover — not to dwell in darkness, but to ensure flow.
Because avoidance does not protect reputation. It corrodes it.
A Contemporary Hermetic Practice
To apply this principle today is not to adopt esoteric ritual. It is to cultivate disciplined reflection:
Where am I projecting rather than examining?
What invisible labour am I carrying that needs design, not endurance?
What in my organisation is structurally unsustainable beneath the surface?
What correspondence exists between my inner state and my external leadership impact?
The Emerald Tablet offers a frame. Cloacina offers a symbol. The Collective offers a practice.
Above and below are not separate realms. They are mirrors.
And sustainable leadership begins where most people are unwilling to look.
Below the surface.
© Pamela Weatherill. Please cite the original source when sharing or referencing this work.
Dr Pamela-June Weatherill is the founder of The Cloacina Collective, a thought-leadership and practice platform dedicated to making visible the unseen work that sustains people, systems and cultures.