Category Archives: Hermetica

Esoteric, Hermetica, History

The Forbidden Universe, Too Much In The Sun

‘TOO MUCH IN THE SUN’
As already mentioned, it is a misconception that the heliocentric theory in itself sparked off a notorious religious fervor. Although Copernicus dedicated his book to Pope Paul III, he was not, as many assume, simply boot-licking in an attempt to head off papal disapproval. After all, Paul was quite happy with Copernicus’ theories ten years before On the Revolutions was published. In the dedication, somewhat airily, Copernicus explained his reluctance to go public by saying he wanted
to avoid harsh words from lesser scholars: he was not concerned it might stir up theological controversy, let alone accusations of heresy.


Even the notorious preface, apologetically explaining that the ideas contained therein were just theories, no more valid than any other about the workings of the heavens, was designed to placate scholars. The preface was actually written by a Lutheran theologian, Andreas Osiander, who oversaw the printing of On the Revolutions after Copernicus’ death. But because Osiander didn’t make his

authorship clear, many readers assumed the preface expressed Copernicus’ own position. Georg Rheticus, the mathematician who persuaded Copernicus to go public with his theory, later threatened
to beat Osiander up for his audacity.

The heliocentric theory raised no major theological difficulties anyway. True, there are a handful of implications in the Old Testament concerning the immobility of the world. The First Book of Chronicles, for example, states that, ‘The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved’,38 and
Joshua is said to have convinced God to stop the sun in the sky, which implies that it was the sun, not the Earth, which moves.39 But in the end few churchmen thought Copernicus’ theory was worthy of oiling the rack and heating the pincers.


Ironically, any religious objections came not from the Vatican but from Protestants, although even the most hellfire-and-damnation regarded the theory as mere folly as opposed to blasphemy. Martin Luther himself ridiculed it, but mainly because he was aghast at the suggestion that astronomy could have got it so fundamentally wrong for so long.
This was also largely the position of scholars, who too were disturbed for another reason, which is less obvious today. Proposing that traditional astronomy was profoundly flawed seemed intimidating, since it implied that human understanding of the order of the universe, and the way one part influenced another, was seriously lacking. If Copernicus was right, then everything changed.


This was not yet the era of science as we know it in the modern sense. Even learned men such as Copernicus and Johannes Kepler believed that a greater understanding of the movements of the heavenly bodies would improve the accuracy not only of astronomy but also its esoteric twin, astrology. No astronomer at that time believed the workings of the universe were due to impersonal physical forces. To them, God had decreed that the universe should operate in the way it did. As such, discovering how it worked offered an insight into the divine mind, and might also throw light on God’s plan for all creation. This mindset drove the likes of Kepler who, building on Copernicus’ work, established the laws of planetary motion.


Kepler (1571–1630) was another great name of the scientific revolution who was steeped in the Renaissance occult tradition. He believed that the planets, including the Earth, are living entities with their own world souls and that the seat of the anima mundi is in the sun. As an astrologer he wrote that a new star that appeared in 1604 portended major changes on Earth.


Unsurprisingly, his writings also reveal a detailed knowledge of the Corpus Hermeticum.

SOURCE: The Forbidden Universe, The Occult Origins of Science and the Search for the Mind of God by Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince)

Hermetica

The Kybalion Summary

Seven Principles of the Kybalion

  • Mentalism: All is Mind
    • We are of One Whole and All is possible
  • Correspondence: As Above So Below
    • There is correspondence between the laws of phenomena of the various “planes” of being and life.
    • There is harmony, agreement and correspondence between the Physical, Mental and Spiritual Planes.
  • Vibration: Everything is Vibrating
    • Motion is manifest in everything in the Universe, that nothing rests, and everything moves, vibrates, and circles.
    • You can change vibration through Intent, Will and Focus.
  • Polarity: Everything is Dual, Everything has Two Extremes, and Everything has an Opposite.
    • All manifested things have two sides, two aspects, or two poles.
    • Everything “is” and “isn’t” at the same time, all truths are but half truths and every truth is half false, there are two sides to everything, opposites are identical in nature, yet different in degree, extremes meet, and all paradoxes may be reconciled.
  • Rhythm: Everything has Rhythm
    • Everything there is manifested a measured motion, a to and fro, a flow and inflow, a swing backward and forward, a pendulum-like movement.
    • There is rhythm between every pair of opposites, or poles, and is closely related to the Principle of Polarity.
  • Cause and Effect: Nothing is by Chance and Everything is subject to the Law of Compensation
    • There is a cause for every effect, and an effect for every cause.
    • There is no such thing as chance, that chance is merely a term indicating that the causes not recognized or perceived possibly because of the complexity of the contributing variables.
  • Gender: Positive-Negative, Masculine-Feminine
    • Gender aspect is necessary for generating, creating or manifestation and manifests itself on all planes.
    • Mastering or balancing of gender polarities within manifests as creative energies, balance and harmony.

HERMETIC AXIOMS

“The possession of Knowledge, unless accompanied by a manifestation and expression in Action, is like the hoarding of precious metals–a vain and foolish thing. Knowledge, like Wealth, is intended for Use. The Law of Use is Universal, and he who violates it suffers by reason of his conflict with natural forces.“ –The Kybalion

“To change your mood or mental state–change your vibration.” –The Kybalion

“To destroy an undesirable rate of mental vibration, put into operation the Principle of Polarity and concentrate upon tile opposite pole to that which you desire to suppress. Kill out the undesirable by changing its polarity.” –The Kybalion

“Mind (as well as metals and elements) may be transmuted from state to state; degree to degree; condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration.”–The Kybalion“Rhythm may be neutralized by an application of the Art of Polarization.” –The Kybalion

“Nothing escapes the Principle of Cause and Effect, but there are many Planes of Causation, and one may use the laws of the higher to overcome the laws of the lower.“ –The Kybalion

“The wise ones serve on the higher, but rule on the lower. They obey the laws coming from above them, but en their own plane, and those below them, they rule and give orders. And, yet, in so doing, they form a part of the Principle, instead of opposing it. The wise man falls in with the Law, and by understanding its movements he operates it instead of being its blind slave. Just as does the skilled swimmer turn this way and that way, going and coming as he will, instead of being as the log which is carried here and there–so is the wise man as compared to the ordinary man–and yet both swimmer and log; wise man and fool, are subject to Law. He who understands this is well on the road to Mastery.“ –The Kybalion

“True Hermetic Transmutation is a Mental Art.” –The Kybalion

“THE ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental.” –The Kybalion.

THE KYBALION

“THE LIPS OF WISDOM ARE CLOSED, EXCEPT TO THE EARS OF UNDERSTANDING”

HERMES TRISMEGISTUS KNOWN BY THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AS “THE GREAT GREAT” AND “MASTER OF MASTERS”

There is no portion of the occult teachings possessed by the world which have been so closely guarded as the fragments of the Hermetic Teachings which have come down to us over the tens of centuries which have elapsed since the lifetime of its great founder, Hermes Trismegistus, the “scribe of the gods,” who dwelt in old Egypt in the days when the present race of men was in its infancy.

THE HERMETIC PHILOSOPHY.

“The lips of wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding.” –The Kybalion

“Where fall the footsteps of the Master, the ears of those ready for his Teaching open wide.” –The Kybalion

“When the ears of the student are ready to hear, then cometh the lips to fill them with Wisdom.” –The Kybalion

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 ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental.” –The Kybalion

“As above, so below; as below, so above.” –The Kybalion

“Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.” –The Kybalion

“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

“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

“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

“Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on all planes.” –The Kybalion

MENTAL TRANSMUTATION.

“Mind (as well as metals and elements) may be transmuted, from state to state; degree to degree; condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration. True Hermetic Transmutation is a Mental Art.” –The Kybalion

“The Universe is Mental” –The Kybalion

THE ALL.

“Under, and back of, the Universe of Time, Space and Change, is ever to be found The Substantial Reality–the Fundamental Truth.” –The Kybalion

“THAT which is the Fundamental Truth–the Substantial Reality–is beyond true naming, but the Wise Men call it THE ALL. “ –The Kybalion

“In its Essence, THE ALL is UNKNOWABLE.”–The Kybalion

“But, the report of Reason must be hospitably received, and treated with respect.” –The Kybalion

THE MENTAL UNIVERSE.

“The Universe is Mental–held in the Mind of THE ALL.” –The Kybalion

“THE ALL creates in its Infinite Mind countless Universes, which exist for aeons of Time–and yet, to THE ALL, the creation, development, decline and death of a million Universes is as the time of the twinkling of an eye.” –The Kybalion

“The Infinite Mind ‐of THE ALL is the womb of Universes.” –The Kybalion

“Within the Father‐Mother Mind, mortal children are at home.” –The Kybalion

“There is not one who is Fatherless, nor Motherless in the Universe” –The Kybalion

THE DIVINE PARADOX.

“The half‐wise, recognizing the comparative unreality of the Universe, imagine that they may defy its Laws–such are vain and presumptuous fools, and they are broken against the rocks and torn asunder by the elements by reason of their folly. The truly wise, knowing the nature of the Universe, use Law against laws; the higher against the lower; and by the Art of Alchemy transmute that which is undesirable into that which is worthy, and thus triumph. Mastery consists not in abnormal dreams, visions and fantastic imaginings or living, but in using the higher forces against the lower–escaping the pains of the lower planes by vibrating on the higher. Transmutation, not presumptuous denial, is the weapon of the Master.” –The Kybalion

“THE ALL” IN ALL.

“While All is in THE ALL, it is equally true that THE ALL is in All. To him who truly understands this truth hath come great knowledge.” –The Kybalion

THE PLANES OF CORRESPONDENCE.

“As above, so below; as below, so above” –The Kybalion

VIBRATION.

“Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.” –The Kybalion

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

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

CAUSATION.

“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

GENDER.

“Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifests on planes.” –The Kybalion