"The principles of truth are seven: he who understands this perfectly has the magic key before which all the doors of the Temple will be opened wide."
The Seven Principles on which all Hermetic Philosophy is based are the following:
1. The Principle of Mentalism
2. The Principle of Correspondence
3. The Principle of Vibration
4. The Principle of Polarity
5. The Principle of Rhythm
6. The Principle of Cause and Effect
7. The Generation Principle
THE PRINCIPLE OF MENTALISM
"The ALL is Mind, the Universe is mental".
This principle contains the truth that "EVERYTHING IS MIND". He explains that the ALL, which is the substantial reality that is hidden behind all the manifestations and appearances that we know under the names of "material universe", "phenomena of life", "matter", "energy", etc., and in a word, everything that is sensitive to our material senses is spirit, which in itself is unknowable and indefinable, but that can be considered as an infinite, universal and living mind. It also explains that the entire phenomenal world or universe is a mental creation of the ALL in whose mind we live, move, and have our being.
THE PRINCIPLE OF CORRESPONDENCE
"As above is below, as below is above."
This principle contains the truth that there is always a certain correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various states of being and of life, and the ancient hermetic axiom refers precisely to this, and affirms: "As above, so below; as Down is up, "and understanding this principle provides a key to solving many of the darkest problems and paradoxes of Nature's mysterious secrets. There are many planes that we do not know, but when we apply that law of correspondence to them, much of what would otherwise be incomprehensible becomes clear to our conscience. This principle is of universal application in the various planes, mental, material or spiritual of the Kosmos: it is a universal law.
THE PRINCIPLE OF VIBRATION
"Nothing is immobile, everything moves, everything vibrates."
This principle contains the truth that everything is in motion, that nothing remains immobile, both things that modern science confirms, and each new discovery verifies and verifies it. And, despite everything, this hermetic principle was enunciated hundreds of years by the Masters of ancient Egypt. This principle explains the differences between the various manifestations of matter, of force, of the mind, and even of the same spirit, which are but the result of the various vibratory states. From the ALL, which is pure spirit, to the grossest form of matter, everything is in vibration: the higher it is, the higher its position on the scale. The vibration of the spirit is of infinite intensity; So much so that it can practically be considered as if it were at rest, in the same way that a wheel that spins very fast seems to be without movement.
THE PRINCIPLE OF POLARITY
"Everything is double; everything has two poles; everything, its pair of opposites: the similar and the antagonistic are the same; the opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; the extremes meet; all truths are half-truths; all paradoxes can be reconciled. "
This principle contains the truth that everything is dual, everything has two poles; all its pair of opposites, statements that are from many other hermetic axioms. Explains and elucidates the ancient paradoxes that have left so many researchers perplexed, and who literally said: "The thesis and the antithesis are identical in nature, differing only in degree"; "the opposites are actually identical, differing in their gradation"; "the pairs of opposites can be reconciled, the extremes meet"; "everything is and is not at the same time", "all truth is only half truth"; "all truth is half false", etc. This principle explains that in each thing there are two poles, two aspects, and that the "opposites" are not, in reality, but the two extremes of the same thing, the difference consisting simply in different degrees between the two.
THE PRINCIPLE OF RHYTHM
"Everything ebbs and flows; everything has its periods of advance and retreat; everything rises and falls. Everything moves like a pendulum; the measure of its movement to the right is the same as that of its movement to the left, the rhythm is compensation. "
This principle incorporates the truth that in everything there is manifested a measured motion, to one side and another; an ebb and flow; back and forth back and forth; a waning and a rising like a tide; high tide and low tide; between the two poles that exist according to the principle of polarity described just now. There is always an action and a reaction, an advance and a retreat, an Ascension and a descent. And this law applies to everything: suns, worlds, animals, mind, energy, matter. This law manifests itself in creation as well as in the destruction of worlds, in progress as well as in the decline of nations, in life, in all things and, finally, in the mental states of man, and it is with reference to the latter that the hermetists believe that this principle is the most important.
THE PRINCIPLE OF CAUSE AND EFFECT
"Every cause has its effect; every effect has its cause: everything happens according to Law; chance is nothing more than the name given to an unknown law; there are many planes of causality but nothing escapes the Law"
This principle contains the truth that every effect has its cause, and every cause its effect. He claims that nothing happens by chance and that everything happens according to the Law. Luck is a vain word, and although there are many planes of causes and effects, dominating the superiors to the inferiors, even so none escapes totally to the Law. they know the means and methods by which one can ascend beyond the ordinary plane of cause and effect, to a certain degree, and mentally reaching the higher plane they become cause rather than effect.
THE GENERATION PRINCIPLE
"The generation exists everywhere; everything has its masculine and feminine principles; the generation manifests itself on all planes."
This principle contains the truth that the generation manifests itself in everything, the masculine and feminine principles always being in action. This is true, not only on the physical plane, but also on the mental and spiritual. In the physical world, this principle manifests as "sex", and on the higher planes it takes higher forms, but the principle always remains the same. No physical, mental or spiritual creation is possible without this principle. The understanding of it illuminates many of the problems that have so confused men's minds. This creative principle always works in the sense of "generating", "regenerating" and "creating".
This information is taken from the book: The Kybalion, Three Initiates