The seven principles form the basis of Hermeticism, a branch of spiritual philosophy that originated in ancient Egypt. They are set out in texts such as the Emerald Tablet and the Corpus Hermeticum – attributed to the ancient sage Hermes Trismegistus – and are summarized in the nineteenth-century text known as The Kybalion. These seven principles represent the seven fundamental facts of reality.
1. Mentalism
“The All is spirit; the universe is mental.”
Everything in this universe is alive and conscious because it is all made of intelligent energy. We do not live in a physical world, but in the divine mind. As such, our thoughts influence the world ‘outside’ us, as what appears to be outside of us is merely an extension of the mind that we ourselves are.
Because of this principle we are able to communicate with any creature, plant, object or element. You can take on the consciousness of something or someone, and even parts of your own body. This is known as channeling, and it is not a unique gift, but something that anyone can do.
2. Correspondence
“As above, so below; as below, so above.”
Everything that happens on the physical level is a reflection of a spiritual event on a higher level of reality. So, by carefully examining your circumstances, you can discern the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that predominate in your consciousness and that these circumstances attract.
Conversely, you can predict future events by studying the spiritual influences that currently prevail, and you can manifest events by focusing on the frequencies that match your desire. Nothing that happens on the physical plane is without its vibratory, spiritual, or mental precipitator, nor does anything happen in a vacuum without being surrounded by influences consistent with its essential nature.
3. Vibration
“Nothing rests; everything moves; everything is shaking.”
Modern science has overtaken the teachings of ancient spirituality in concluding that matter is not matter at all, but energy. When we look at the microscopic level of a solid piece of oak wood, we find nothing solid, but a swirling, dynamic dance of atoms in constant motion. The distance between a nucleus and its orbiting electrons is proportional to the distance between the Earth and the Sun; the wood consists largely of empty space.
That which appears material is energy, and that which appears static is actually in constant transformation. Matter – and indeed emotions and thoughts – can only be captured by the mind; when we bring pure, open consciousness, we discover that nothing remains the same, but is constantly in flux.
4. Polarity
“Everything is twofold; everything has poles; everything has its few contradictions; fun and different are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are only half-truths; all paradoxes can be reconciled.”
Everything on the physical plane exists within a continuum of positive and negative charges, as in electromagnetism. In everything we can see either an active, transmitting, projective quality, or a passive, receptive, amplifying quality, and wherever we find the one, we will find the other.
Every quality, thought, person, attribute, situation, object and creature is at all times in a dynamic relationship with its opposite, and each end will be balanced by a compensatory function. If we wait long enough, over time we will see everything change for the contrary.
5. Rhythm
“Everything flows, outward and inward; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum movement manifests itself in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates.”
We have learned that everything is in motion and changes into its opposite; rhythm is the principle that regulates this transformation. From the cycle of the seasons, the moon, the generation of cells and the ages of an individual’s life we see that there is a pattern of unfoldment that belongs to nature and lives in all beings.
6. Cause and effect
“Every cause has its effect; every effect has its cause; everything is done according to the law; chance is just a name for law that is not recognized; there are many levels of causality, but nothing escapes the law.”
We live in an ordered universe, not a chaotic one. Everything happens for a reason, and nothing that happens is random or meaningless. Synchronicity is the name given to the principle of suprarational or supernatural causality; this principle puts forth the idea that two things or beings that coincide in place and time do so because of a shared essence, purpose, or quality. There is often no way to rationally or practically account for those ‘fortunate accidents’ or fortuitous turns that seem to have occurred under divine guidance – yet this is a case of causality all the same.
7. Gender
“Gender is in everything; everything has its masculine and feminine principles; gender manifests itself at all levels.”
Gender is not merely a biological thing; masculine and feminine are qualities that exist in spiritual realms. The sex organs, chromosomes, and other biological characteristics related to gender are merely manifestations of these principles, which are essential to creation itself and go far beyond the physical. In every place we can find manifestations of the feminine principle and manifestations of the masculine principle; this includes an individual consciousness, a group, a physical body, an ecosystem, a city, a government, and so on.
