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.
The Hermetic doctrine that a masculine-feminine generative principle operates on every plane of being, not only the biological — present at all times as a structural feature of creation itself. Distinct from divine_marriage (a specific reunification event or symbol) and aeons (paired divine beings arranged in syzygies, not a universal structural claim).
The passage dedicates a significant section to the Principle of Gender, defining it as masculine and feminine principles manifesting on all planes.
The doctrine that human volition, cultivated by discipline and emancipated from passion and servitude, is the primary instrument of magical operation — will confirmed by persistent acts acquires causal power over self, others, and nature; distinct from faith and from mere desire.
The text emphasizes the use of Will to neutralize Rhythm and dominate moods and environment, distinguishing Masters from masses.
The Hermetic doctrine that apparent opposites are identical in nature but differ in degree — two extremes of the same scale (hot/cold, love/hate) — such that one pole can be shifted toward its opposite by a change of degree ('mental transmutation'). Distinct from opposites_transcended (a completion-state marking the path's end, not this doctrine's active technique) and magical_equilibrium (balance held BETWEEN two forces, not identity-by-degree of what looks like two forces).
The text references the Principle of Polarity closely studied alongside Rhythm and mentions polarizing oneself at a desired point.
The Hermetic doctrine of a measured swing or pendulum motion between poles — action and reaction, flow and outflow, rise and fall — operating in mental, physical, and cosmic-historical registers alike. Distinct from apocatastasis (cosmic-scale eschatological restoration after vast cycles) in naming a constant, ever-present oscillation rather than a singular restorative event.
The passage explicitly details the Principle of Rhythm as a pendulum swing between poles and describes methods to neutralize its effects.