Hermetic principles · 21 September 2026 · Charlotte Himsworth
Gender: The Active and the Receptive
The seventh principle is not about men and women. It is about two creative energies within every one of us.
“Gender is in everything; everything has its masculine and feminine principles.” The seventh Hermetic principle is the most often misunderstood. In The Kybalion it describes two complementary creative energies present in every person and every process, not a statement about men and women.
Two energies, one creation
One energy is active and directing: it chooses, initiates and sets out. The other is receptive and nurturing: it holds, gestates and allows things to grow. Creation needs both. A seed must be planted, and it must be given time in the dark soil.
Where we get stuck
Many of us lean heavily on one side. Some people are wonderful at beginnings but struggle to let things grow: they push, check and re-plan, never giving an idea time to settle. Others nurture beautifully but hesitate to choose and begin. Knowing which way you lean is a quiet form of self-knowledge.
In practice
Choosing a worthy ideal is the active side: a clear, deliberate decision. Reading it each morning and evening, and trusting it to take root in the deeper mind, is the receptive side. Thinking Into Results describes this partnership between the conscious and subconscious mind as the heart of lasting change.
The same is true of the body. Effort and rest, activity and recovery, are not opposites but partners.
A practice
Ask yourself: “Where am I pushing when I could be allowing?” and “Where am I waiting when I could be choosing?” Write one answer for each. This week, take one step on whichever side you tend to neglect.