THE SECRET 7 SACRED HERMETIC PRINCIPLE'S

THE SEVEN HERMETIC PRINCIPLES

    "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:
    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 Principle of Gender.
These Seven Principles will be discussed and explained as we proceed with these lessons. A short explanation of each, however, may as well be given at this point.
1. The Principle of Mentalism
    "THE ALL IS MIND; The Universe is Mental."--The Kybalion.
This Principle embodies the truth that "All is Mind." It explains that THE ALL (which is the Substantial Reality underlying all the outward manifestations and appearances which we know under the terms of "The Material Universe"; the "Phenomena of Life"; "Matter"; "Energy"; and, in short, all that is apparent to our material senses) is SPIRIT which in itself is UNKNOWABLE and UNDEFINABLE, but which may be considered and thought of as AN UNIVERSAL, INFINITE, LIVING MIND. It also explains that all the phenomenal world or universe is simply a Mental Creation of THE ALL, subject to the Laws of Created Things, and that the universe, as a whole, and in its parts or units, has its existence in the Mind of THE ALL, in which Mind we "live and move and have our being." This Principle, by establishing the Mental Nature of the Universe, easily explains all of the varied mental and psychic phenomena that occupy such a large portion of the public attention, and which, without such explanation, are non-understandable and defy scientific treatment. 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. The Hermetic Student is enabled to apply intelligently the great Mental Laws, instead of using them in a haphazard manner. With the Master-Key in his possession, the student may unlock the many doors of the mental and psychic temple of knowledge, and enter the same freely and intelligently. This Principle explains the true nature of "Energy," "Power," and "Matter," and why and how all these are subordinate to the Mastery of Mind. One of the old Hermetic Masters wrote, long ages ago: "He who grasps the truth of the Mental Nature of the Universe is well advanced on The Path to Mastery." And these words are as true today as at the time they were first written. Without this Master-Key, Mastery is impossible, and the student knocks in vain at the many doors of The Temple.
2. The Principle of Correspondence
    "As above, so below; as below, so above."--The Kybalion.
This Principle embodies the truth that there is always a Correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of Being and Life. The old Hermetic axiom ran in these words: "As above, so below; as below, so above." And the grasping of this Principle gives one the means of solving many a dark paradox, and hidden secret of Nature. There are planes beyond our knowing, but when we apply the Principle of Correspondence to them we are able to understand much that would otherwise be unknowable to us. This Principle is of universal application and manifestation, on the various planes of the material, mental, and spiritual universe--it is an Universal Law. The ancient Hermetists considered this Principle as one of the most important mental instruments by which man was able to pry aside the obstacles which hid from view the Unknown. Its use even tore aside the Veil of Isis to the extent that a glimpse of the face of the goddess might be caught. Just as a knowledge of the Principles of Geometry enables man to measure distant suns and their movements, while seated in his observatory, so a knowledge of the Principle of Correspondence enables Man to reason intelligently from the Known to the Unknown. Studying the monad, he understands the archangel.
3. The Principle of Vibration
    "Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates."--The
    Kybalion.
This Principle embodies the truth that "everything is in motion"; "everything vibrates"; "nothing is at rest"; facts which Modern Science endorses, and which each new scientific discovery tends to verify. And yet this Hermetic Principle was enunciated thousands of years ago, by the Masters of Ancient Egypt. This Principle explains that the differences between different manifestations of Matter, Energy, Mind, and even Spirit, result largely from varying rates of Vibration. From THE ALL, which is Pure Spirit, down to the grossest form of Matter, all is in vibration--the higher the vibration, the higher the position in the scale. The vibration of Spirit is at such an infinite rate of intensity and rapidity that it is practically at rest--just as a rapidly moving wheel seems to be motionless. And at the other end of the scale, there are gross forms of matter whose vibrations are so low as to seem at rest. Between these poles, there are millions upon millions of varying degrees of vibration. From corpuscle and electron, atom and molecule, to worlds and universes, everything is in vibratory motion. This is also true on the planes of energy and force (which are but varying degrees of vibration); and also on the mental planes (whose states depend upon vibrations); and even on to the spiritual planes. An understanding of this Principle, with the appropriate formulas, enables Hermetic students to control their own mental vibrations as well as those of others. The Masters also apply this Principle to the conquering of Natural phenomena, in various ways. "He who understands the Principle of Vibration, has grasped the scepter of power," says one of the old writers.

4. The Principle of Polarity
    "Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its
    pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are
    identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet;
    all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be
    reconciled."--The Kybalion.
This Principle embodies the truth that "everything is dual"; "everything has two poles"; "everything has its pair of opposites," all of which were old Hermetic axioms. It explains the old paradoxes, that have perplexed so many, which have been stated as follows: "Thesis and antithesis are identical in nature, but different in degree"; "opposites are the same, differing only in degree"; "the pairs of opposites may be reconciled"; "extremes meet"; "everything is and isn't, at the same time"; "all truths are but half-truths"; "every truth is half-false"; "there are two sides to everything," etc., etc., etc. It explains that in everything there are two poles, or opposite aspects, and that "opposites" are really only the two extremes of the same thing, with many varying degrees between them. To illustrate: Heat and Cold, although "opposites," are really the same thing, the differences consisting merely of degrees of the same thing. Look at your thermometer and see if you can discover where "heat" terminates and "cold" begins! There is no such thing as "absolute heat" or "absolute cold"--the two terms "heat" and "cold" simply indicate varying degrees of the same thing, and that "same thing" which manifests as "heat" and "cold" is merely a form, variety, and rate of Vibration. So "heat" and "cold" are simply the "two poles" of that which we call "Heat"--and the phenomena attendant thereupon are manifestations of the Principle of Polarity. The same Principle manifests in the case of "Light and Darkness," which are the same thing, the difference consisting of varying degrees between the two poles of the phenomena. Where does "darkness" leave off, and "light" begin? What is the difference between "Large and Small"? Between "Hard and Soft"? Between "Black and White"? Between "Sharp and Dull"? Between "Noise and Quiet"? Between "High and Low"? Between "Positive and Negative"? The Principle of Polarity explains these paradoxes, and no other Principle can supersede it. The same Principle operates on the Mental Plane. Let us take a radical and extreme example--that of "Love and Hate," two mental states apparently totally different. And yet there are degrees of Hate and degrees of Love, and a middle point in which we use the terms "Like or Dislike," which shade into each other so gradually that sometimes we are at a loss to know whether we "like" or "dislike" or "neither." And all are simply degrees of the same thing, as you will see if you will but think a moment. And, more than this (and considered of more importance by the Hermetists), it is possible to change the vibrations of Hate to the vibrations of Love, in one's own mind, and in the minds of others. Many of you, who read these lines, have had personal experiences of the involuntary rapid transition from Love to Hate, and the reverse, in your own case and that of others. And you will therefore realize the possibility of this being accomplished by the use of the Will, by means of the Hermetic formulas. "Good and Evil" are but the poles of the same thing, and the Hermetist understands the art of transmuting Evil into Good, by means of an application of the Principle of Polarity. In short, the "Art of Polarization" becomes a phase of "Mental Alchemy" known and practiced by the ancient and modern Hermetic Masters. An understanding of the Principle will enable one to change his own Polarity, as well as that of others, if he will devote the time and study necessary to master the art.
5. The Principle of Rhythm
    "Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides;
    all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in
    everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the
    measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates."--The
    Kybalion.
This Principle embodies the truth that in everything there is manifested a measured motion, to and fro; a flow and inflow; a swing backward and forward; a pendulum-like movement; a tide-like ebb and flow; a high-tide and low-tide; between the two poles which exist in accordance with the Principle of Polarity described a moment ago. There is always an action and a reaction; an advance and a retreat; a rising and a sinking. This is in the affairs of the Universe, suns, worlds, men, animals, mind, energy, and matter. This law is manifest in the creation and destruction of worlds; in the rise and fall of nations; in the life of all things; and finally in the mental states of Man (and it is with this latter that the Hermetists find the understanding of the Principle most important). The Hermetists have grasped this Principle, finding its universal application, and have also discovered certain means to overcome its effects in themselves by the use of the appropriate formulas and methods. They apply the Mental Law of Neutralization. They cannot annul the Principle, or cause it to cease its operation, but they have learned how to escape its effects upon themselves to a certain degree depending upon the Mastery of the Principle. They have learned how to USE it, instead of being USED BY it. In this and similar methods, consist the Art of the Hermetists. The Master of Hermetics polarizes himself at the point at which he desires to rest, and then neutralizes the Rhythmic swing of the pendulum which would tend to carry him to the other pole. All individuals who have attained any degree of Self-Mastery do this to a certain degree, more or less unconsciously, but the Master does this consciously, and by the use of his Will, and attains a degree of Poise and Mental Firmness almost impossible of belief on the part of the masses who are swung backward and forward like a pendulum. This Principle and that of Polarity have been closely studied by the Hermetists, and the methods of counteracting, neutralizing, and USING them form an important part of the Hermetic Mental Alchemy.
6. The Principle of Cause and Effect
    "Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause;
    everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name
    for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation,
    but nothing escapes the Law."--The Kybalion.
This Principle embodies the fact that there is a Cause for every Effect; an Effect from every Cause. It explains that: "Everything Happens according to Law"; that nothing ever "merely happens"; that there is no such thing as Chance; that while there are various planes of Cause and Effect, the higher dominating the lower planes, still nothing ever entirely escapes the Law. The Hermetists understand the art and methods of rising above the ordinary plane of Cause and Effect, to a certain degree, and by mentally rising to a higher plane they become Causers instead of Effects. The masses of people are carried along, obedient to environment; the wills and desires of others stronger than themselves; heredity; suggestion; and other outward causes moving them about like pawns on the Chessboard of Life. But the Masters, rising to the plane above, dominate their moods, characters, qualities, and powers, as well as the environment surrounding them, and become Movers instead of pawns. They help to PLAY THE GAME OF LIFE, instead of being played and moved about by other wills and environment. They USE the Principle instead of being its tools. The Masters obey the Causation of the higher planes, but they help to RULE on their own plane. In this statement there is condensed a wealth of Hermetic knowledge--let him read who can.
7. The Principle of Gender
    "Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine
    and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all
    planes."--The Kybalion.
This Principle embodies the truth that there is GENDER manifested in everything--the Masculine and Feminine Principles ever at work. This is true not only of the Physical Plane, but of the Mental and even the Spiritual Planes. On the Physical Plane, the Principle manifests as SEX, on the higher planes it takes higher forms, but the Principle is ever the same. No creation, physical, mental or spiritual, is possible without this Principle. An understanding of its laws will throw light on many a subject that has perplexed the minds of men. The Principle of Gender works ever in the direction of generation, regeneration, and creation. Everything, and every person, contains the two Elements or Principles, or this great Principle, within it, him or her. Every Male thing has the Female Element also; every Female contains also the Male Principle. If you would understand the philosophy of Mental and Spiritual Creation, Generation, and Re-generation, you must understand and study this Hermetic Principle. It contains the solution of many mysteries of Life. We caution you that this Principle has no reference to the many base, pernicious and degrading lustful theories, teachings and practices, which are taught under fanciful titles, and which are a prostitution of the great natural principle of Gender. Such base revivals of the ancient infamous forms of Phallicism tend to ruin mind, body and soul, and the Hermetic Philosophy has ever sounded the warning note against these degraded teachings which tend toward lust, licentiousness, and perversion of Nature's principles. If you seek such teachings, you must go elsewhere for them--Hermeticism contains nothing for you along these lines. To the pure, all things are pure; to the base, all things are base.

BLACK HERMAN - SHADOW MASTER

Yvonne P. Chireau

For early-twentieth-century American audiences hungry for entertainment variety, what could be more novel than an elegantly dressed black man, at the center of his own spectacular universe—pontificating on his success and performing marvelous stunts? Black Herman fit the bill. A magician and illusionist who successfully effaced the boundaries between theater, folk religion, and entrepreneurship, the mythology surrounding his person was to expand even further after his untimely death. Some seized upon his legacy by impersonation, adopting titles like “Black Herman the Second” and “The Original Black Herman,” and continuing, uninterrupted, the popular act that had made him famous. Indeed, it seems that the mystique of Black Herman was willed into perpetuity, sometimes by the name alone. To take two examples: he was reborn as Herman “Sonny” Blount, who had been named for Black Herman, and who was eventually apotheosized as the avant-garde jazz musician Sun Ra of the eclectic Philadelphia-based band Arkestra. Later, black Herman made an appearance as a neo-hoodoo detective-sidekick in Ishmael Reed’s 1972 novel Mumbo Jumbo. Could it be, as Black Herman himself once cryptically prophesied, that he would “come through once every seven years” to stake his claim to immortality—if only by the forces of history and memory? 


Black Herman’s origins lay in the South. He was born Benjamin Rucker in Virginia in 1892 and came of age in the shadow of an itinerant African American showman and street peddler by the name of Prince Herman (Alonzo Moore), who took in Rucker as an apprentice at the age of sixteen. By the time of Prince Herman’s death, Rucker had fine-tuned his own skills at reading cards, divining fortunes, and cooking up healing elixirs, so much so that he was able to make his own way around the circuit of traveling faith healers who hustled material goods and spiritual assurances from town to town in Black Belt communities. Eventually the harbingers of poverty and racial discrimination pushed Rucker out of the South and toward Chicago, where in the late 1910s he launched an independent career, assuming a new biography and name borrowed from his old friend and mentor: henceforth he would be known as Black Herman.


Black Herman was a master of conventional magic techniques and legerdemain, but he also drew from black vernacular traditions. Although he claimed to have been born in “the dark jungles of Africa,” he was not the first person of African descent to utilize the medium of magic in public performance. Richard Potter, the son of a slave, had gained distinction in the early 1800s by cultivating his talents as a ventriloquist and sleight-of-hand artist. William Carl, known as the “Black Dante” or “Creole Mahatma” in the American vaudeville era, identified the “Orient” as his source of magical knowledge, thereby assuming a new and exotic racial personality. Apart from the professional career entertainers of the stage, there also existed a class of black spiritual magicians who were known as Conjurers, Hoodoos, and Root Doctors. These mystically inclined men and women culled ancient religious resources in order to produce a kind of therapeutic thaumaturgy that thrived within slave communities for over two centuries. In the popular imagination, fragments of this sacred worldview metamorphosed into “Negro superstitions” and “Voodoo.” In reality, however, African American spiritual magicians synthesized the most powerful elements of their tradition into charming and healing practices. The echoes of this mysterious, powerful constellation of folk supernaturalism, occult arts, and ancestral religiosity can be discerned in Black Herman’s performative style. A resourceful showman who engaged secular techniques of magic, he simultaneously reinterpreted the broader universe in which African American spiritual practices had been incubated, utilizing conjure healing, divination, and Hoodoo practices as part of his repertoire. His appropriation of both worlds was as resonant with audiences as it was profitable for him.


Black Herman’s characteristic self presentation as a master of spiritual and material mysteries. Cover of Black Herman’s Secrets of Magic-Mystery & Legerdemain, 1938. Courtesy The Magic Circle Library, London.

Black Herman found his place as the self-proclaimed “world’s greatest magician” in Harlem, the African American mecca during the Jazz Age. It was here, at the cosmopolitan center of a dazzling culture industry where all roads to fortune and fame converged, that Herman mass-marketed the act for which he became best known, a combination of stage craft, comedy, vaudeville theater, religious oratory, and mind-reading tricks. His crowning achievement was a headlining show at Marcus Garvey’s four-thousand-seat Liberty Hall in 1923. Herman sold out the hall for a month at a venue that had previously housed rallies of Harlem’s favorite race heroes and pan-African radicals. His shows were hugely appealing to an emerging urban audience, a highly mixed demographic that included blacks, whites, society members and other elites, and men and women of the working classes. 


Black Herman’s self-presentation as a master of arcane mysteries justified his use of prestigious titles such as “Professor” and “Doctor,” which adorned his books, magazines, and promotional literature. Such credentials were often adopted by African American religious figures and occultists as emblems of intellectual respectability in an era when positive representations of black male identity were openly contested in the public sphere. Equally at home as a merchant of conjuring implements and as a storefront impresario, Herman set up shop as an authorized seller of mail order courses, lucky numbers, and health tonics until he was arrested in 1925 and sent to Sing Sing on a charge of fraud. Prison did not dissuade him from his true calling, however, and by the end of the decade he had returned to the stage and his extraordinarily lucrative career. 


Black Herman’s public career came to an abrupt end when he collapsed onstage after a show at the Palace Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1934. Few persons who were present at the time could determine whether his departure was part of the act or not. After all, one of his most famous tricks involved the staging of his own burial and resurrection, a feat of great daring that he had perfected after years of traveling on road tours. We see, in an undated photograph, a throng of enthusiastic fans pressing against a platform: “Look! Look! Buried Alive!” a banner compels those who would be first to see him rise from his “Private Graveyard.” When Black Herman’s body was ultimately laid to rest at New York’s Woodlawn cemetery, newspapers reported that scores of visitors gathered in anticipation of his final appearance. 


Thus ended the life of one of the most successful African American magicians of the twentieth century. Black Herman had tapped a wellspring of indigenous spiritual traditions that held broad appeal among black Americans, utilizing these alternative idioms to connect with diverse audience members. Delighted to be part of the fun, spectators responded as with a single voice.

Yvonne P. Chireau teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Her most recent work is Black Magic: Religion and the African American Conjuring Tradition (University of California Press, 2003). She is currently writing a book on second-generation practitioners of African religions in the United States.

HIGH PRIESTESS LUISAH TEISH and HONORING THE ORISHA

LUISAH TEISH grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, and spent many hours along the banks of the Mississippi River. As you know this area is rich in folklore, music and mystery. As a child, She was surrounded by a community of elders who maintained centuries old stories and traditions. She also found that any question she posed was met with a proverbial answer. "Don't be like the bulldog in the hay!" she was told.

She soon learned that her intelligence was measured by her ability to decipher proverbs and to glean life-guidance from the content of stories.

This influence awakened a creativity that led to Luisah gathering materials (both oral and written). She has since become a professional storyteller, writer, and community activist for more than forty years now.

On this page she offer's you some of her favorite proverbs, jokes and sayings. They are drawn from cultures all over the world. Read them, consider them, and respond if you like.

But most importantly enjoy them.

A List of Proverbs



A world begins with One. Can you be The One who makes this place a better world?

Rocks on the path may be picked up or kicked off. If you kick them aside, you create obstacles for others. If you pick up the stones, you can use them to build a fortress. What will you do?

The earlly bird catches the worm and the night owl feasts on mouse. Everyone has their turn in Time. How do you use your time?

Do you argue vigorously with a fool. This endeavor makes a wise person foolish. 

Open your eyes wide! Look! See the world before you. Close your eyes. Breathe! And see the light within you.

Flies cannot enter a closed mouth. Curses are accrued by a wagging tongue.

Bush and Dick give genitalia a bad name. 

Cure illness with stillness. Meditate daily. 

You can't throw sugar on shit and call it ice cream.

A cow need her tail more than once to fan a fly. 

Two racehorses can have a conversation. But what can a jackass say?

Water drank from a clean cup does not sting the tongue. 

The tightrope walker is nervous. What if they ask her to dance?

When head, heart, and hands agree wonderful things can be done. 

Nobody knows what's at the bottom of the Ocean.

The One who is the head must never be the tail.

A hard head makes a soft behind. 

A bell rings loudest on its own front porch. 

If you push you luck, it might push back. 

The bigger they come the harder they fall. 

The bigger the family, the bigger the funeral. 

Beware the height of the pedestal. It matches the speed of the fall. 

A burnt child fears fire. 

When a king falls, a prince rises to the throne.

He who knows does not die like he who does not know.

Lessons can be learned in this life or the next.

A dog has four legs but can only run one way. Where are you going human?

The ears cannot grow above the head. 

Don't let your ass overload your underwear.

Can two rams drink from the same stream?

No one succeeds alone.

The ancestors and the womb live in the same place. 

Two long nosed people cannot kiss each other. 

Though eyes decieve, the mirror never lies. 

After the fat is fried, we will taste the grease. 

Bit by bit we eat the head of the rat. 

The parrot sings in the jungle and the pigeon in the city.

The needle carries the thread. 

Pretending to be crazy is crazy in itself.

Your best friend may be your worst enemy. 

The cheap is expensive in the end. 

He who rests under a strong tree benefits from the shadow.

A new broom sweeps clean.

When there is war, the warrior does not sleep. 

When it rains, the toad goes underneath the stone to take shelter.

Always practice what your heart says. 

Do not destroy with your tongue what you built with your head. 

The bandage in front of your eyes does not let you see in front of your nose.

JOURNEY ACROSS THE KINGS RIVER

THE FIRST INSIDER FILM ON
SACRED ETHNOMEDICAL YORUBA, DAGARA
AND SENEGALESE HEALING TRADITIONS

Across the King’s River is a visionary film inspired by the wisdom of Ifa and the challenge of finding and fulfilling your life’s purpose.

Producer James Weeks speaking about Across The King’s River at a Sacred Healing conference at Harvard University.

“A critically important project! One that is sure to receive critical acclaim!”
Dr. Robert Voeks, PhD, author, Sacred Leaves of Candomble.

“Powerful! A brilliant historical document!”
Carole Lee Dean, author, The Art of Film Funding.

“Timely and germane to the challenges of the 21st century!”
Dr. Charles Finch, M.D., author, The African 

Background of Medical Science.

Across the King's River is an upcoming documentary film that explores modern science and Yoruba and Senegalese healing and spiritual traditions. For more information visit: 
http://www.acrossthekingsriver.com

NOTHING WITHOUT OSUN...SHE IS EVERYTHING!!!

WILLPOWER AND MAGIK

WILLPOWER AND MAGIK

        Western magik has traditionally placed a great deal
of emphasis upon the use of willpower as a means of
development and self-mastery. But this may not be the best
method in the long run. Isaac Bonewitz describes how the
subconscious will sometimes rebel against willpower with
'spectacular results'. It is far better to run one's life
democratically.
        Hawaiian Kahuna magik describes the 'three selves',
ie. the lower self (or subconscious), the middle self (or
normal consciousness), and the high self (spirit or Holy
Guardian Angel). Enlightenment in the Hawaiian system
consists of unification of the three selves. They become
'buddies'. Enlightenment does not come from great change. It
comes from great acceptance. Continual effort at becoming
better takes you nowhere. For becoming it is not being it.
The unification is achieved by first developing
communication with the subconscious and later with the
high self also. Simple exercises with a pendulum, automatic
writing, raised finger responses, self hypnosis, recording
and analysis of dreams etc. facilitate communication with
the subconscious. At first communication with the high self
must be via the subconscious, but later it is possible to go
direct to it.