Gender — Seventh of the Seven Hermetic Laws

Saturday, October 25, 2008

"Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes." -- The Kybalion

This Principle embodies the truth that there is GENDER manifested in everything--the Masculine and Feminine Principles ever at work. This is true not only of the Physical Plane, but of the Mental and even the Spiritual Planes. On the Physical Plane, the Principle manifests as SEX, on the higher planes it takes higher forms, but the Principle is ever the same. No creation, physical, mental or spiritual, is possible without this Principle.

Everything, and every person, contains the two Elements or Principles, or this great Principle, within it, him or her. Every Male thing has the Female Element also; every Female contains also the Male Principle. If you would understand the philosophy of Mental and Spiritual Creation, Generation, and Re-generation, you must understand and study this Hermetic Principle.

Source: Link 1
Source: Link 2

Cause & Effect — Sixth of the Seven Hermetic Laws

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

"Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law." -- The Kybalion

This Principle embodies the fact that there is a Cause for every Effect; an Effect from every Cause. It explains that: "Everything Happens according to Law"; that nothing ever "merely happens"; that there is no such thing as Chance; that while there are various planes of Cause and Effect, the higher dominating- the lower planes, still nothing ever entirely escapes the Law. The Hermetists understand the art and methods of rising above the ordinary plane of Cause and Effect, to a certain degree, and by mentally rising to a higher plane they become Causers instead of Effects.

More information.

Complete information here.

Rhythm — Fifth of the Seven Hermetic Laws

Thursday, October 16, 2008

"Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates."

-- The Kybalion

This Principle embodies the truth that in everything there is manifested a measured motion, to and fro; a flow and inflow; a swing backward and forward; a pendulum-like movement; a tide-like ebb and flow; a high-tide and low-tide; between the two poles which exist in accordance with the Principle of Polarity described a moment ago. There is always an action and a reaction; an advance and a retreat; a rising and a sinking. This is in the affairs of the Universe, suns, worlds, men, animals, mind, energy, and matter. This law is manifest in the creation and destruction of worlds; in the rise and fall of nations; in the life of all things; and finally in the mental states of Man (and it is with this latter that the Hermetists find the understanding of the Principle most important).

More information.

The importance of this will be appreciated by any thinking person who realizes what creatures of moods, feelings and emotion the majority of people are, and how little mastery of themselves they manifest. If you will stop and consider a moment, you will realize how much these swings of Rhythm have affected you in your life-how a period of Enthusiasm has been invariably followed by an opposite feeling and mood of Depression. Likewise, your moods and periods of Courage have been succeeded by equal moods of Fear. And so it has ever been with the majority of persons-tides of feeling have ever risen and fallen with them, but they have never suspected the cause or reason of the mental phenomena. An understanding of the workings of this Principle will give one the key to the Mastery of these rhythmic swings of feeling, and will enable him to know himself better and to avoid being carried away by these inflows and outflows. The Will is superior to the conscious manifestation of this Principle, although the Principle itself can never be destroyed. We may escape its effects, but the Principle operates, nevertheless. The pendulum ever swings, although we may escape being carried along with it.

Complete information of this law.

Polarity — Fourth of the Seven Hermetic Laws

Sunday, October 12, 2008

"Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled."

-- The Kybalion.

It explains the old paradoxes, that have perplexed so many, which have been stated as follows: "Thesis and antithesis are identical in nature, but different in degree"; "opposites are the same, differing only in degree"

To illustrate: Heat and Cold, although "opposites," are really the same thing, the differences consisting merely of degrees of the same thing. Look at your thermometer and see if you can discover where "heat" terminates and "cold" begins! There is no such thing as "absolute heat" or "absolute cold"--the two terms "heat" and "cold" simply indicate varying degrees of the same thing, and that 'same thing" which manifests as "heat' and 'cold" is merely a form, variety, and rate of Vibration.

Complete article here.

And it is this fact that enables the Hermetist to transmute one mental state into another, along the lines of Polarization. Things belonging to different classes cannot be transmuted into each other, but things of the same class may be changed, that is, may have their polarity changed. Thus Love never becomes East or West, or Red or Violet-but it may and often does turn into Hate and likewise Hate may be transformed into Love, by changing its polarity. Courage may be transmuted into Fear, and the reverse. Hard things may be rendered Soft.

More information here.

Vibration — Third of the Seven Hermetic Laws

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Vibration — Third of the Seven Hermetic Laws
by Bruce Rawles

"Listen-perhaps you catch a hint of an ancient state not quite forgotten; dim, perhaps, and yet not altogether unfamiliar, like a song whose name is long forgotten; and the circumstances in which you heard completely unremembered. Not the whole song has stayed with you, but just a little wisp of melody, attached not to a person or a place or anything particular. But you remember, from just this little part, how lovely was the song, how wonderful the setting where you heard it, and how you loved those who were there and listened with you."

— from The Forgotten Song (Chap. 21) from the text of A Course In Miracles

The Law of Vibration (Light, Sound, and other Senses … and Stillness) — Keyword: Strength

The third of the seven laws or principles is given the name Vibration in the Kybalion, along with the phrase "Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates." — The Kybalion

Physics teaches us that all of our senses have a vibrational aspect in one way or another. Sound and light are the obvious examples as they correspond to the spectra of acoustical pressure and electromagnetic energy — we hear about 10 octaves and see about 1 octave respectively, out of what are probably infinite spectra. The other three senses of taste, smell and touch also (when analyzed in terms of the biochemistry involved) can be thought of in terms of vibratory phenomena, harmonics, overtones and phase relationships and amplitudes, just as our two primary senses are. We typically spend most of our time involved with our sensory world, in one form or another, yet the evidence from the biological and physical sciences tell us that all of our perceptions are quite limited (1 tiny octave or 10 out of an infinite number) and unreliable (just look at the wide assortment of optical illusions for example.) Perceptions also can vary widely from person to person — the classic story of the Blind Men and the Elephant comes to mind, where each describes a different portion, but no partial examination reveals the whole story. More importantly, the meaning and interpretations we give our perceptions literally fabricate our model of an external world. Perhaps trees falling in forests with no one around really don't make a sound!

The law of Vibration, combined with the laws of Mentalism and Correspondence covered in the previous chapters, brings us the understanding that the realm of mind — our thoughts, feelings and attitudes — all have a vibrational counterpart. Our outer vibratory state also can correspond to our inner vibratory state… but doesn't always necessarily. We may not get to choose what our external senses appear to deliver to us, but we certainly have a choice of whether we are the puppets of what impinges on our senses (the vibrations that seem to influence us) … or whether we proactively choose to recognize the dreamlike quality of our external experience and not make it our master.

• Complete article here.
• The Kybalion.

Correspondence — Second of the Seven Hermetic Laws

Friday, October 3, 2008

"As above, so below; as below, so above." -- The Kybalion.

This Principle embodies the truth that there is always a Correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of Being and Life. The old Hermetic axiom ran in these words: "As above, so below; as below, so above." and the grasping of this Principle gives one the means of solving many a dark paradox, and hidden secret of Nature. There are planes beyond our knowing, but when we apply the Principle of Correspondence to them we are able to understand much that would otherwise be unknowable to us. This Principle is of universal application and manifestation, on the various planes of the material, mental, and spiritual universe--it is an Universal Law. The ancient Hermetists considered this Principle as one of the most important mental instruments by which man was able to pry aside the obstacles which hid from view the Unknown. Its use even tore aside the Veil of Isis to the extent that a glimpse of the face of the goddess might be caught. Just as a knowledge of the Principles of Geometry enables man to measure distant suns and their movements, while seated in his observatory, so a knowledge of the Principle of Correspondence enables Man to reason intelligently from the Known to the Unknown. Studying the monad, he understands the archangel.

Source, for the complete information: http://www.kybalion.org/kybalion.asp?chapter=II

For the purpose of convenience of thought and study, the Hermetic Philosophy considers that the Universe may be divided into three great classes of phenomena, known as the Three Great Planes, namely:

I.	The Great Physical Plane.
II.	The Great Mental Plane.
III.	The Great Spiritual Plane.

Planes of correspondence...