Finally--a really well-researched response to "The Secret." The authors point out that the law of attraction is only one of seven Hermetic laws, and present the other six. Plus they give a ton of info on the roots of so-called New Age thinking.

I just now (like ten minutes ago) checked out a copy from the library--will report more next week.

Meanwhile, any fans of Hermes Trismagistus, check in.

Are these the seven laws? These laws came from a 1900 book called the Kyballion, which was supposedly created by three initiates of Hermes. The only problem I have with this is ANYBODY can claim to be initiates of a person who died...

1. The Law of Mentalism: ''The All Is Mind; The Universe Is Mental.''

2. The Law of Correspondence: ''As Above, So Below;As Below, So Above."

3. The Law of Vibration: ''Nothing Rests; Everything Moves; Everything Vibrates''

4. The Law of Polarity: Polarity = "Everything Is Dual; 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.''

5. The Law of 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; Ryththm Compensates''

6. The Law of Gender: ''Gender Is In Everything; Everything Has Its Masculine And Feminine Principle; ''

7. The Law of Cause and Effect: "Every Cause Has Its Effect; Every Effect Has Its Cause; Everything Happens According To The Law; Chance Is A Name For The Law Not Recognized; The Are Many Planes Of Causation, But Nothing Escapes The Law.''

^Yep--you got it in one. The Kybalion is where the authors got their versions of the Hermetic laws.

I think that some others have written on their own translations or interpretations of the laws.

Laws 2, 3, (I don't really understand 4) 5, 7, and arguably 1, all work well with the wave structure of matter world view. I've been doing a lot of research into it for the past couple of days and it matches the way I've always thought the Universe worked, but they explain it all scientific like. It's much simpler and makes much more sense than the current model.

If you're interested - (Youtube "wave structure of matter" and watch some of the videos. Then once you have a better understanding, either look into the (more info) section and explore the links, or google it.)

Any other book recommendations on the Hermetic Laws?

[QUOTE=Vanhalla;10069824]Laws 2, 3, (I don't really understand 4) QUOTE]

On Number 4--think about hot and cold. Just different points on a thermometer. At what point does hot become cold?

^Exactly. Hot doesn't exist without cold, good doesn't exist without evil, etc. Also, it talked a little about complementary oppositions, which just means that the concepts work together, even when they're normally considered polar opposites. You couldn't describe everything in existence without using both hot and cold, for instance. And if it's hot here, then it's cold somewhere else. By simply qualifying the temperature you create both hot and cold, even if you only directly state one of the two.