As Above, So Below

There is a sentence carved into the oldest layer of Western esoteric thought, attributed to a teacher who may never have existed, written in a language that was already ancient when it was translated. It reads, in the old rendering: That which is below is like that which is above, and that which is above is like that which is below, to accomplish the miracle of the one thing. We have shortened it. We say: as above, so below. I want to take this sentence seriously without becoming foolish about it. That is the whole discipline of this book. There is a way to read "as above, so below" that turns you into a person who sees faces in clouds and …