Pendulum and swing

Use in the book

II places the pendulum beside tides and other recurrent motions. VII applies its return to cosmic evolution. XI brings the image into mental life, where a mood can carry the person toward a contrasting state. The clock pendulum also illustrates the asserted equality of compensating excursions.

The proposed art of neutralization changes the person's relation to this motion. XI says that the swing continues on a lower plane while consciousness no longer accompanies it. XV adds the counterweight: an opposing cause balances the pendulum rather than abolishing the law.

Places to read

1. II The Seven Hermetic Principles · Block 18“"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” …
2. VII THE ALL in All · Block 10… “is regarded as the beginning of the return swing of the pendulum of Rhythm—a "coming home" idea being held in all of the Hermetic Teachings.”
3. XI Rhythm · Block 7… “to the higher plane and thus escape the swing of the Rhythmic pendulum which manifested on the lower plane. In other words, the swing of the pendulum occurred on the Unconscious” …
4. XI Rhythm · Block 10“The Law of Compensation is that the swing in one direction determines the swing in the opposite direction, or to the opposite pole-the one balances, or counterbalances, the other. On the” …
5. XV Hermetic Axioms · Block 11… “states, are due to the backward and forward swing of the mental pendulum, which carries us from one extreme of feeling to the other. The Hermetists also teach that the Law” …
6. XV Hermetic Axioms · Block 12“Remember always, however, that you do not really destroy the Principle of Rhythm, for that is indestructible. You simply overcome one law by counter-balancing it with another and thus maintain an” …

In this edition

Swing, return, tide, and pendulum keep their local meanings. The lexicon distinguishes the visible model from the broader law the author illustrates through it.

Reading the argument

Actual pendulums, seasons, emotions, and cosmic histories do not become one physical mechanism merely because they can be described with the same image. The book uses the pendulum to organize these domains by correspondence. Its account of mental compensation is a further claim.

pendulum

“pendulum” — 26 occurrences in 13 text blocks: II.18–19; VII.10; VIII.30; XI.1–2, 4–5, 7–8, 10, 15; XV.11.

pendulum-swing

“pendulum-swing” — 2 occurrences in 2 text blocks: II.18; XI.1.

swing

“swing” — 40 occurrences in 17 text blocks: II.18–19; VII.10–11; VIII.30; XI.1–2, 4–5, 7, 9–10, 12–15; XV.11.

tides

“tides” — 5 occurrences in 5 text blocks: II.18; XI.1, 5, 8, 10.