Hermetic principles · 7 September 2026 · Charlotte Himsworth
The Seven Hermetic Principles: An Introduction
Seven short sentences, first gathered in 1908, that still offer one of the clearest maps for understanding ourselves.
In 1908 a small book appeared in Chicago under the pen name “Three Initiates”. Called The Kybalion, it set out seven principles it attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary sage of ancient Egypt and Greece. Historians see the book as a product of its own time, the New Thought movement, rather than a lost ancient text. Yet more than a century later, its seven short axioms still feel remarkably alive.
They are worth knowing not because they are old, but because they are useful. Each one names something we can notice in our own lives, today.
The seven, in brief
Mentalism: “The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental.” Our inner world comes first, and shapes how we meet the outer one.
Correspondence: “As above, so below; as below, so above.” Patterns repeat at every level, so our outer results often mirror our inner state.
Vibration: “Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.” Our moods and energy are never fixed.
Polarity: everything has its pair of opposites, and opposites are two ends of one thing. Fear and courage live on the same line.
Rhythm: everything flows out and in, like the tides. Every low passes.
Cause and Effect: every cause has its effect. Our thoughts and actions are causes.
Gender: creation needs both an active, directing energy and a receptive, nurturing one, within every person.
Why they matter for change
Whether you are working on your mindset or caring for your body, change follows the same pattern. You choose what to hold in mind. You notice where your life mirrors it. You move gently from one pole towards its opposite. You keep going through the dips. And you become the cause of your results, rather than their effect.
The Kybalion called this “mental transmutation”: turning the lead of old habits into gold. It is not magic. It is practice, repeated with feeling, until it becomes who you are.
A gentle way to begin
Choose one principle each week. Read its axiom each morning, and notice where it appears in your day. Over seven weeks you will have walked the whole circle, and you may find that these old words have quietly become your own.
In the articles that follow, we look at each principle in turn.