Seven Hermetic Principles

From the book

The Kybalion

Three Initiates · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Orientation

At a Glance

The wordThe seven principles are mentalism, correspondence, vibration, polarity, rhythm, cause and effect, and gender.
In The KybalionThe opening maxim associates knowledge of the seven with a magic key.
In this editionThe names and order of the seven are preserved.
A place to readII.1: “"The Principles of Truth are Seven; he who knows these, understandingly, possesses the Magic Key before” …

Meaning

The seven principles are mentalism, correspondence, vibration, polarity, rhythm, cause and effect, and gender. They form this book's organising scheme and are introduced together in II.

Use in the book

The opening maxim associates knowledge of the seven with a magic key. The chapter's list then supplies a map for the rest of the work. III introduces the practical art that the principles are meant to explain, and IV-VII develop mentalism before the detailed chapters on the other principles.

VIII emphasizes that the principles operate across planes rather than in isolated domains. XV gathers their practical applications and ends by returning to the first principle. The sequence is therefore both a classification and an argument about how the later teaching depends on mentalism.

Places to read

II The Seven Hermetic Principles · Block 1“"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.”
II The Seven Hermetic Principles · Block 3“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” …
III Mental Transmutation · Block 14… “a consideration of the first of the Hermetic Seven Principles—the Principle of Mentalism, in which is explained the truth that "THE ALL is Mind; the Universe is Mental," in the words” …
VIII Planes of Correspondence · Block 31… “Below; as Below, so Above," all of the Seven Hermetic Principles are in full operation on all of the many planes, Physical Mental and Spiritual. The Principle of Mental Substance of” …
XV Hermetic Axioms · Block 19“"THE ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental."—The Kybalion.”

In this edition

The names and order of the seven are preserved. Cause and effect in the list corresponds to the chapter headed Causation.

Reading the argument

The book calls the scheme Hermetic, but does not identify an ancient manuscript containing this precise list. Its literary claim to inherited authority should be distinguished from evidence for the historical age of the list.

“Seven Hermetic Principles” — 3 occurrences in 3 text blocks: II.2; III.6; VIII.31.

Seven Principles

“Seven Principles” — 3 occurrences in 3 text blocks: II.4; III.14; VI.14.

Principles of Truth

“Principles of Truth” — 1 occurrence in 1 text block: II.1.