By Ariana Clausen – Vélez
2013 July
“The Principles of Truth are Seven; he who knows these understandingly, possesses the Magic Key before whose touch all the Doors of the Temple fly open” The Kybalion.
The Seven Hermetic Principles, upon which the entire Hermetic Philosophy is based, are as follows: These principles are based on the Emerald Tablet and those things in which Thrice Greatest Hermes teaches.
I. The Principle of Mentalism
II. The Principle of Correspondence
III. The Principle of Vibration
IV. The Principle of Polarity
V. The Principle of Rhythm
VI. The Principle of Cause and Effect
- The Principle of Gender
The Emerald Tablet (Compiled from several early Latin and German versions)
- In truth, without deceit, certain, and most veritable. (Principle of Mentalism)
- That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that is Above corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracles of the One Thing. And just as all things have come from this One Thing, through the meditation of the One Mind, so do all created things originate from the One Thing, through Transformation. (Principle of Correspondence)
- Its Father is the Sun; its mother the Moon. The Wind carries it in its belly; its nurse is the Earth. It is the origin of All, the consecration of the Universe; its inherent Strength is perfected, if it is turned into Earth. (The Principle of Vibration)
- Separate the Earth from Fire, the Subtle from the Gross, gently and with great Ingenuity. It rises from the Earth to heaven and descends again to Earth, thereby combining within Itself the powers of both the Above and the Below. (Principle of Polarity)
- Thus will you obtain the Glory of the Whole Universe. All Obscurity will be clear of you. This is the greatest Force of all powers, because it overcomes every Subtle thing and penetrates every Solid thing. (Principle of Rhythm)
- In this way was the Universe created. From this come many wondrous Applications, because this is the Pattern. (Principle of Cause and Effect)
- Therefore am I called Thrice Greatest Hermes, having all three parts of the wisdom of the Whole Universe. Herein have I completely explained the Operation of the Sun. (Principle of Gender)
So what does any of this have to do with the Craft, the Old Religion, Christianity, Druidism, Muslim or any religion and the Law of Attraction for that matter? It has everything to do with it, it is the foundation of All. It is the foundation of magic and all in which we manifest into our lives for the good or the bad. It is the source to the All. To understand how one you have to understand the other. To begin the Law of Attraction is not a new thing, it is something that dates back to the beginning of humanity and the first incarnation of Hermes Trismegitus who was the author of the sacred texts Hermetic Corpus and was also known to the Egyptians as Thoth. Both Thoth and Hermes were gods of writing and of magic in their respective cultures. Thus, the Greek god of interpretive communication was combined with the Egyptian god of wisdom as a patron of astrology and alchemy. In addition, both gods were psychopomps; guiding souls to the afterlife. Hermes, Thoth, Mercury is the only God that can walk in both the underworld to guide those souls that have passed and the living world. He is life and death, light and dark.
The Craft is known as the Old Religion it has been around as long as the beginning of humanity. The Old Religion is not an easy path for anyone to follow, it comes with great sacrifice and solitary workings, it is however, the path in which focuses on the healing arts, astrology, alchemy and magic, which are the three main paths of a Hermetic teachings. All leading to the Mystic Will, the Law of Attraction, Manifestation of those things we desire the most to have in our lives be it for the spiritual or the material for they are both connected you cannot have one without the other. It is magic; it is of the mind of the All, One Mind created which is reached from the base of the One Thing.
However, to understand this you need to understand the Seven Hermetic Principles and how they work in our daily lives. We all do magic, be it in our words, thoughts, feelings, deeds, actions and reactions it is all magic as it comes from the soul which is the heart.
When the Craft is taught and practiced correctly you will find all of these principles embodied not only in the magic but in how you find that deeper connection to self from within, it is used to find inner healing, too communicate with those entities in other dimensions and realms, to guide us to a greater understanding and knowledge of the All that is within us all. The understanding of the stars and the planets in astrology, an understanding of the elements and how to transform them in alchemy and in that All magic exists, this is the Old Religion, the Craft of the Wise. When we do our work we tap into our mental universe to manifest it into matter.
We will begin by looking at the first Principle or Rubric; “The Principle of Mentalism”. “The All is Mind; The Universe is Mental.” This Principle embodies the truth that “All is Mind.” The mind creates everything and controls everything, it manifests from the subconscious to the conscious world whether you realise it or not, words do not matter in this case because when you think something for example you send out mentally that you are an amazing, beautiful, successful business man or woman you will materialise this into your life, this being the ride handed side which is of the material plane in where all things manifest into matter. Also, on the other hand if you are full of self-doubt and feel you are the worth nothing, this will manifest into your life, you will always fail at what you set out to do, be it in love, career, life “The Mind is All”. What you allow into it will manifest into your material world.
A quote from the Kybalion; “An understanding of this great Hermetic Principle of Mentalism enables the individual to readily grasp the laws of the Mental Universe, and to apply the same to his well-being and advancement.”
Within magic as well as the Law of Attraction we all whether we know it or not work with these principles, be it consciously or subconsciously, our mind is the one connection we have to the All, to everyone we are at some point of the same mind with, the same level or mental capabilities with and we draw to that energy and people, in that we are using the Law of Attraction to connect to those people who end up in our lives. It is that of mind and hearts all truth.
We take a stone which is a natural object of the earth, some would call this an amulet, a found object, now when you sit down and hold it in your hands and close your eyes you are taking the time to mentally connect to this object, how it was created, where it came from, the energies it will have that you connect to, to manifest that which you seek in your life. Let us say it is quartz, quartz is clear but within the family it has many colours, magical connections, healing connections, god and goddess connections, planetary connections, numerical vibrations and sounds that from the earth it has grown to carry within this small object that is literally of the earth. It began as a base object nothing but dirt or solid black stone and over time, many millions of years as it connected to the Mental the All it begins to take form and create its’ own unique shape it manifests into something amazing and beautiful and from that we can mentally connect to the beginning of this object. It starting out as nothing and ending up as something amazing and beautiful. This is the Law of Attraction, this is magic this is what we do in the Craft, the Old Religion, and all paths that are of healing, light of both the dark and light for from the darkness light manifests and creates something amazing and enlightened, illuminated when we allow what we want from within to create in our spiritual and material world.
From the Gnostic Bible, chapter the Paraphrase of Shem; Darkness sees the Spirit & Darkness Ejaculates Mind into the Womb of Nature; “When the darkness stirred, the light of the spirit appeared to him. When he saw it he was astonished. He did not know that another power was above him. And when he saw that his likeness was dark compared with the spirit, he felt hurt. And in him pain lifted up, above the height of the members of darkness, his mind, which was the eye of bitterness of evil. He caused his mind to take shape in a member of the portions of the spirit, thinking that, by staring down at his evil, he would be able to equal the spirit. But he was not able, for he wanted to do an impossible thing, and it did not take place. But in order that the mind of darkness, which is the eye of the bitterness of evil, might not be destroyed, since he was made partially similar, he arose and shone with a fiery light upon all of Hades, that the equality of the faultless light might become apparent. For the spirit benefited from every form of darkness because he appeared in his majesty.
And the exalted, infinite light appeared, for he was very joyful. He wished to reveal himself to the spirit. And the likeness of the exalted light appeared to the unconceived spirit. I appeared. I am the son of the incorruptible, infinite light. I appeared in the likeness of the spirit, for I am the ray of the Universal light. And his appearance to me was in order that the mind of darkness might not remain in Hades. For the darkness made himself like his mind in a portion of the members. When I, O Shem, appeared in the likeness, so that the darkness might become dark to himself, according to the will of the majesty, and so that the darkness might become devoid of every aspect of the power that he possessed, the mind drew the chaotic fire, with which it was covered, form the midst of darkness and the water. And from the darkness the water became a cloud, and from the cloud the womb took shape. The chaotic fire, which was a deviation, went there.
“And when the darkness saw the womb, he became unchaste. And when he had aroused the water, he rubbed the womb. His mind dissolved down to the depths of nature. It mingled with the power of the bitterness of darkness. And the womb’s eye ruptured at the wickedness of the order that she might not again bring forth the mind. For it was a seed of nature from the dark root. And when nature had taken to herself the mind by means of the dark power, every likeness took shape in her. And when the darkness had acquired the likeness of the mind, it resembled the spirit. For nature rose up to expel it; she was powerless against it, since she did not have a form from darkness. For she brought forth the cloud. And the cloud shone. A mind appeared in it like a frightful, harmful fire. The mind collided against the unconceived spirit, since it possessed a likeness from him, in order that nature might become empty chaotic fire.
And immediately nature was divided into four parts. They became clouds that varied in appearance. They were hymen afterbirth, power, and water. And the hymen and the afterbirth and the power were chaotic fires. And the mind was drawn from the midst of the darkness and the water – since the mind was in the midst of nature and the dark power – in order that the harmful waters might not cling to it. Because of this, nature was divided, according to my will, in order that the mind may return to its power, which the dark root, mixed with the mind, had taken from it. And the dark root appeared in the womb. At the division of nature the dark root separated from the dark power, which it possessed form the mind. The mind went into the midst of the power – this was the middle region of nature.
It all comes from the same place, the Law of Attraction is this, magic is this, Old Religion is this, as is everything in which we create from our mental universe.
When it comes down to it we all do magic no matter what path we may follow it all comes from the same place. Every principle is mentioned in the above paraphrases of Shem. Shem is the son of Anu the Sumerian God who is the Father of all and from him all things manifest from base to illumination.
The ancient philosophers knew this, Akhenaton, Balinas, Empedocles, Paracelsus, Socrates, Aristotle, Bruno, Galileo, Copernus, Hypatia and many, many more (the first two being the reincarnated Thoth). They knew that all was in the Mind and in the Universe and because of them we have the Law of Attraction as it is called today and it is used by Craft and everyone who truly understands what real magic is the mind and heart.