Full transcript
0:00- [Man Narrator] "These words of wisdom,
0:01"although written by my decaying hand,
0:04"shall remain imperishable through time.
0:07"May they be imbued
0:09"with the medicine of immortality."
0:13- [Woman Narrator] A few miles west of the Nile
0:14and just below the tip of its delta, lies Saqqara,
0:18the necropolis of ancient Memphis,
0:20center of lower Egypt from the days of the pharaohs
0:22through to the time of Egypt's Roman conquerors.
0:26The ibis, the graceful black and white bird
0:28in which the god Thoth showed himself,
0:30no longer visits the Nile at Memphis.
0:32But when the Ptolemies
0:33and their Roman successors drank from the holy river,
0:36the god's birds still came to its banks in great plenty.
0:40Wisdom is eternal,
0:41even if people are not.
0:43The "Kybalion" were only published in 1908;
0:46is a manuscript that claims to be the essence
0:48of the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus.
0:50Who as we've discussed before,
0:52is believed to be our old pal, Thoth.
0:55We should be clear
0:55that there are several different texts, here,
0:57worth exploring.
0:58There's the older "Corpus Hermeticum"
1:00which is a huge ancient body of work in itself,
1:03along with the "Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean"
1:05and the "Emerald Tablet of Hermes."
1:08But these writings do not actually make
1:09any specific references to the laws and principles
1:12that we're exploring today.
1:14And so, we have the "Kybalion,"
1:16which is supposedly based upon ancient hermeticism
1:19and is argued to be an elaboration
1:20of an ancient, unpublished hermetic text
1:23of the same name,
1:24one which humanity has not yet actually found.
1:27While it's healthy to approach it with some skepticism,
1:29the profound wisdom of this text needs
1:32to be taught and explained.
1:34The "Hermetica" speaks very highly of cosmic laws,
1:37critical to be understood
1:38in order for our own liberation and transcendence.
1:41And that's why we've created
1:42the "2021 Almanac of the New Age."
1:45If you're interested in connecting
1:46with the celestial and personal cycles
1:48in order to start the new year off
1:50with an exceptionally high vibration,
1:52check out this book.
1:53You'll find links in the description.
1:55And with that, let's now dive into the hermetic principles.
1:59(upbeat music)
2:11The "Kybalion" was written by unknown authors,
2:13known simply as the Three Initiates.
2:16But the most common theory is that it was authored
2:18by a man named William Walker Atkinson
2:20and some others;
2:21who was a famous American occultist
2:23and pioneer of the new thought movement.
2:25In the first couple of pages,
2:27it says that it will only appear to you
2:28when the time is appropriate
2:29and you're ready for its wisdom.
2:31So I guess that means we're ready for it in mass, huh?
2:33Because there's more than a few videos
2:35and articles talking about it, now.
2:36For the most part,
2:37it discusses the structure of the spiritual world
2:40and outlines the three great planes of existence:
2:43the physical plane, the mental plane,
2:45and the spiritual plane,
2:46all of which are broken down into several lesser planes
2:49which are kind of like astral black keys
2:51like the ones on a piano.
2:52Each having their own vibration and frequency,
2:55and are inhabited by different kinds
2:56of spirits and entities.
2:58Another aspect of the wisdom is found
3:00in its teachings of alchemy.
3:02It discusses aspects of spiritual and mental transmutation,
3:05and how you can alter your vibration or frequency
3:08to move into these higher realms,
3:10interact with spiritual entities,
3:12and attain the wisdom of Hermes himself.
3:15The subject that has made the "Kybalion,"
3:17a legendary book,
3:18is its discussion of the seven hermetic principles
3:21which are like the laws that govern the universe
3:23according to the Western mystery tradition;
3:25the foundation of many schools of esoteric thought, today.
3:29Much like how physicists observe the universe,
3:32to the hermetic mystics,
3:33they believed that the universe runs on natural laws;
3:36apples fall, birds fly, things live and die.
3:40But when we take time to understand these laws,
3:43we can use them.
3:44And in some cases, even leverage them
3:46to transform life as we know it.
3:48Perhaps one day we can push against gravity to fly
3:51or simply use the knowledge
3:53that one day we might die
3:54to live better lives.
3:56As it's described,
3:57whenever this wisdom resurfaces in culture,
3:59it acts as a catalyst for a creative Renaissance,
4:03revolutions, and cultural regeneration.
4:06These seven laws were some
4:07of the most influential systems of thought
4:09to the Renaissance and medieval philosophers;
4:12which even today, can expand horizons,
4:15broaden possibilities, and aid one in the pursuit
4:17of a fuller, happier, more meaningful, and longer life.
4:22And so, as we go through these principles,
4:24remember that they were potentially first thought of,
4:26thousands of years ago,
4:28despite only being codified recently in history
4:30before any modern science verified
4:32there are unusually accurate and esoteric claims.
4:36The "Kybalion" even devotes a chapter to each principle
4:39and goes into what it's really all about.
4:41And we especially recommend going deeper
4:43by reading this book if you haven't already.
4:45It's a favorite of ours.
4:48- [Man Narrator] Principle one: mentalism.
4:52- [Woman Narrator] Much like in the "Corpus Hermeticum,"
4:53this axiom embodies the idea
4:55that all is mind,
4:57something today we know as idealism.
4:59Basically, everything that happens is a result
5:01of a mental state which proceeds it.
5:04For anything to exist,
5:05thoughts had to form first,
5:07which then form physical reality or manifestation.
5:10But it goes even deeper than manifestation, though,
5:12for the principle of mind is rooted in the idea
5:15of the God mind;
5:16that the universe itself is the mind of God.
5:19Or going even bigger,
5:21that the universe is a thought in the mind of God.
5:24That all phenomena of life, matter,
5:27and energy of the material universe,
5:29are thoughts of an infinite and universal living mind,
5:32which means all things share a connection
5:34to the fact that they exist within the mind of God
5:37or the all.
5:38Perhaps this could take the form of a field
5:40as his thought of consciousness.
5:41In other words, when you view everything you think
5:44and therefore do as an interaction of a thought
5:47with another thought,
5:48you develop an understanding
5:49of the first principle of mentalism
5:51which allows you to grasp the laws of the mental universe.
5:55This law ultimately says that it is our consciousness
5:58that allows us to interact with reality.
6:02- [Man Narrator] Principle two: correspondence.
6:05- [Woman Narrator] This truth discusses the idea
6:07that there's always a correspondence and link
6:09between the events in the various planes of existence.
6:12In fact, this law is where we explore the legendary phrase,
6:16"As above, so below,"
6:18to much greater depths.
6:20In a nutshell, if something is happening
6:22on a physical level,
6:23chances are there is a relationship
6:25to a like energy on a higher frequency too.
6:28And if something occurs solely in the physical,
6:30if that's even possible,
6:31it will have an effect on the other planes of existence.
6:34By observing the principle of correspondence,
6:36we can come to know the whole of the universe
6:39by exploring the relationship between the higher
6:41and lower nature of things,
6:43and learn that harmony exists only
6:45when we have a good balance between all of the dimensions
6:48of our being.
6:51- [Man Narrator] Principle three: vibration.
6:55- [Woman Narrator] In short, nothing rests.
6:57Everything in existence is in a constant state
6:59of motion and vibration.
7:00Even things that appear motionless and still
7:03like a rock on the ground,
7:04is still moving at a molecular
7:06and atomic level, and beyond.
7:07To quote Walter Russell,
7:09"In the wave lies the secrets of creation."
7:13It explains that the distinction between manifestations
7:16of matter, energy, mind, and spirit,
7:18are all just the result
7:19of different vibrational frequencies.
7:21The higher a person or thing is on the scale,
7:24the higher the rate of vibration.
7:25In fact, spiritual alchemy in the "Kybalion"
7:27is described simply as the practical application
7:31of this principle.
7:32To change one's mental state is to change vibration.
7:35You can sometimes do this by an effort of will,
7:37by deliberately fixing the attention
7:39upon a more desirable state.
7:41Ultimately, even thoughts have their own rate of vibration
7:44and can be controlled like tuning an instrument
7:46to produce various results
7:47of self and environmental mastery.
7:50As your understanding of vibration, frequency, harmony,
7:53and resonance, gets better,
7:54so too, shall your power over yourself grow.
7:59- [Man Narrator] Principal four: polarity.
8:03- [Woman Narrator] Following in our last principle,
8:04this one says that everything has an opposite.
8:07While this might seem out of the ordinary
8:09for a spiritual text that talks about unity and one mind,
8:12this one refers to how the unity manifests through creation.
8:16The whole thing is like Newton's first law of motion
8:18that everything has an equal and opposite action,
8:21and reaction.
8:22All manifested things have two sides,
8:25two aspects, or two poles.
8:27Opposites are identical in nature,
8:29yet different in degree.
8:30Extremes meet and all paradoxes can be reconciled.
8:34An obvious example is a hot and cold tap.
8:37Both waters being aspects of temperature,
8:39varying only in degree,
8:41there's no clear crossover moment when hot stops being hot
8:44and starts being cold, and vice versa.
8:46With no absolutes on either end too,
8:48especially since the quality of hot and cold are relative
8:51to your own perception.
8:53If it's cold outside,
8:54jump in a freezing lake for a few minutes
8:56and get colder than the average temperature outside.
8:58Suddenly, that cold air is actually kind of feeling
9:00pretty warm to you.
9:02This one is quite important since it suggests
9:04that we can change the polarity of a degree of emotion
9:07by recognizing it as a spectrum
9:09and choosing the degree which best suits our needs.
9:14- [Man Narrator] Principle five: rhythm.
9:17- [Woman Narrator] This one builds upon both the principles
9:19of vibration and polarity,
9:21as it states that everything is manifested
9:23as a measured motion; to and from, outflow and inflow,
9:27a swing backwards and a swing forwards,
9:29just like a pendulum.
9:31This law also reminds us that there is a rhythm
9:33between every pair of opposites or poles.
9:35Learning from this principle allows us
9:37to transition from one pole to the other
9:39and not necessarily need to go
9:40to poles of extreme opposites.
9:43It also arguably controls the cycle of life and death,
9:46creation and destruction, rise and fall,
9:48and of course, manifests in our mental states.
9:52Know that things you lose will come back
9:54and that things you own now will also one day disappear.
9:59- [Man Narrator] Principle six: causation.
10:03- [Woman Narrator] Again, we find ourselves overlapping
10:05with previous laws.
10:06And it makes sense that they'd fit together.
10:07This principle states that there's a cause for every effect
10:10and an effect for every cause.
10:13It also argues that there's no such thing
10:14as chance or coincidence;
10:17that it's merely a term indicating already existing causes
10:20that we can't recognize or perceive.
10:23The empowering use of this principle
10:25is to make the conscious choice
10:27to rise above the plane of thought you're currently on
10:29and become your own cause,
10:31and not just an effect of others
10:33and the situations you find yourself in.
10:36In other words, strive to act rather than react
10:39or be mindfully responsive at best.
10:42If you wanna be good at something,
10:43you need to practice it every day,
10:46as opposed to resigning yourself
10:47to merely reacting to the consequences
10:49of not having done any self-work,
10:51and then experiencing the problems
10:53that inevitably arise when you're not pursuing
10:55your highest calling.
10:58- [Man Narrator] Principle seven: gender.
11:01- [Woman Narrator] This principle explains
11:03how gender is manifested in everything.
11:05But this doesn't necessarily relate to sexual gender
11:08or how you identify yourself,
11:10it's more about the masculine and feminine energies
11:12that lead to creation and procreation in the universe.
11:15And if you haven't seen our episode on masculine
11:17and feminine energies, in general,
11:19you can always check that video out,
11:20right after this one.
11:21It doesn't refer to someone's physical sex
11:23nor does it suggest that someone of a certain sex,
11:26necessarily has a matching mental gender.
11:29In actuality, ideally, you would want
11:31to have a balanced mental gender,
11:33embodying both the sacred masculine and divine feminine.
11:36Gender and these two polarities of energy exist
11:39on all planes of existence
11:40and represents different aspects on different planes.
11:43Everything and everyone contains
11:45these two elements or principles.
11:48The "Kybalion" explains
11:49that the divine feminine is more receptive,
11:51facilitating new thoughts, concepts, and ideas,
11:54including the work of the imagination.
11:57The sacred masculine, on the other hand,
11:59works more by giving out or expressing,
12:01and rules over the will of an individual
12:03and helps put things into action.
12:05It is said that there must be a balance in these two forces.
12:08Without the feminine, the masculine will act
12:10without restraint, order, or reason,
12:12resulting in chaos.
12:14The feminine alone, on the other hand,
12:15will constantly reflect and fail to actually do anything,
12:18resulting in stagnation.
12:20With both the masculine and feminine working in conjunction,
12:23there's thoughtful action that breeds success,
12:26which tells us
12:26that both the feminine and the masculine fulfill each other.
12:30Ultimately, choosing the middle path between these extremes
12:32is the key to using all seven hermetic principles
12:35to full effect
12:36and achieving lasting self-mastery
12:38without straying too far from the path.
12:40At the same time, though,
12:42we must remember that these are only principles.
12:44By themselves, they're kind of useless.
12:46But when you creatively apply them in your life,
12:48you can achieve any endeavor you dedicate yourself to
12:51and have your own personal Renaissance.
12:54The best way to understand them
12:55is by experiencing them for yourself.
12:58And so, with that,
12:59thank you so much for joining us today.
13:01Remember to try and apply the wisdom
13:03of these teachings in your life,
13:04mostly by asking questions like,
13:06"Have I ever experienced mind over matter?
13:09"Have I ever attracted something into my life repeatedly
13:11"by obsessing over it?
13:12"Or have I ever dipped my fingers in water so hot
13:15"that it shocked my nerves
13:17"and felt cold at first?"
13:18All of these kinds of questions can be answered
13:20with the hermetic principles.
13:22So have fun trying them out.
13:23Until next time, toodles.
13:26(upbeat music)