At Corrales Grief Spa at The Oasis in Corrales, New Mexico, many streams of wisdom, ancient and contemporary alike, inform Kristy’s practice. The seven Hermetic principles are among them, as a framework that can illuminate the nature of grief.
Grief has always asked the same questions.
Why did this happen? How do I move through something that feels unmovable? What remains when everything I understood about my life has changed?
These are not modern questions. They are as old as human consciousness itself, and they have been addressed, with surprising depth and precision, in one of the most enduring bodies of philosophical wisdom in the Western tradition: Hermetic philosophy.
The Tradition Behind the Principles
Hermes Trismegistus—“Thrice-Greatest Hermes”—is a legendary figure who emerged from the Hellenistic period as a synthesis of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth, the deity of wisdom, writing, and knowledge. The ancient philosophical texts attributed to this figure, collectively known as the Corpus Hermeticum and dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, were composed in Alexandria, and they represented the intellectual meeting point of Greek philosophy, Egyptian wisdom tradition, and early Christianity.
The seven Hermetic principles, as a named, organized framework, assumed their modern form in The Kybalion, a 1908 text attributed to “Three Initiates,” widely identified as the New Thought writer William Walker Atkinson. The Kybalion presents itself as a synthesis of Hermetic teaching, and while the seven principles do not appear verbatim in the ancient Corpus Hermeticum, the ideas behind them—particularly Mentalism, Correspondence, Vibration, and Rhythm—are consistent with themes found throughout the older Hermetic literature.
What follows is an exploration of how each of the seven Hermetic principles speaks to the experience of grief and what they might offer the person navigating it.
The Seven Principles and Grief
- The Principle of Mentalism
“The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental.”
The first principle holds that consciousness is the ground of all existence, that what we experience begins in the mind, and that the mind has genuine creative power over how we encounter reality. In the context of grief, this is an invitation. It asks: what story is your mind telling about this loss? The way the mind holds grief—the narratives constructed around it, the beliefs about whether healing is possible—shapes its texture and its duration. This is precisely where Ericksonian hypnotherapy and guided visual imagery work, reaching the unconscious patterns beneath deliberate thought.
- The Principle of Correspondence
“As above, so below; as below, so above.”
This is perhaps the most famous axiom in the Hermetic tradition, found in the ancient Emerald Tablet attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. In grief, this principle reflects the observation that the emotional, physical, and spiritual dimensions of loss mirror each other. The heaviness in the chest corresponds to something in the psyche. Healing at one level tends to ripple into others, which is why holistic grief support, addressing the body alongside the mind and spirit, is not supplementary. It is the nature of the system.
- The Principle of Vibration
“Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates.”
Hermetic teaching holds that all matter and experience exists in a state of motion, and that what appears solid or stuck is, at a fundamental level, always in movement. This speaks directly to one of grief’s most frightening aspects: the sense that it will never move and that the pain has become permanent. The principle of vibration offers a counter-claim—a reminder that nothing, including profound loss, is as permanent as it feels. This is also the philosophical ground beneath sound healing and breathwork: the introduction of frequency and movement into a system that grief has frozen.
- The Principle of Polarity
“Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites.”
The Hermetic tradition describes opposites as the two ends of the same spectrum. Applied to grief, this principle reframes the seeming opposition between grief and joy, between loss and growth. Rather than separate experiences, they are poles of the same continuous reality. A person can grieve deeply and find genuine meaning simultaneously because the spectrum is wide enough to hold both. This is what post-traumatic growth research now confirms.
- The Principle of Rhythm
“Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides.”
Of all seven principles, this one connects most directly with what grief feels like from inside it. Grief moves in waves that surge without warning and recede without explanation. The Hermetic framework names this movement as a fundamental feature of reality, not a failure of the grieving person to maintain equilibrium. Understanding this can replace self-judgment with something more useful: the capacity to ride the tide rather than fight it.
- The Principle of Cause and Effect
“Every cause has its effect; every effect has its cause.”
This principle holds that nothing happens without cause. In grief, this can be difficult to sit with, particularly in the face of losses that feel senseless. It offers a different lens on the grief response itself: the pain is the effect of something real that was real. Because the love and attachment were real, the grief is proportionate to what was there. That recognition, that grief is the effect of genuine love, can shift how a person relates to their own suffering.
- The Principle of Gender
“Gender is in everything; everything has its masculine and feminine principles.”
In Hermetic philosophy, gender does not describe biology but rather the dual principles of receptivity and generation that operate throughout existence. Grief typically demands the feminine principle first as the capacity to receive what has happened and to be with it rather than immediately acting upon it. This is one reason why grief support that prioritizes stillness and witnessing, as opposed to problem solving, serves the process more faithfully. The active, outward movement comes later. It cannot be rushed.
A Framework, Not a Formula
While nothing, including the seven Hermetic principles, offers a prescriptive formula for grief, they offer a framework for understanding grief as a natural process embedded in the movement of a larger reality. This framework contains both the sorrow and the possibility of what comes next.
At Corrales Grief Spa, these principles inform the way Kristy holds the space she creates: with attention to the whole person, with respect for the rhythm of each individual’s process, and with a conviction that the wisdom needed for healing is already present—in the body, in the psyche, and in the ancient understanding that the path through is always available to those who keep walking it.
If you are navigating loss and looking for support that meets you at every dimension of the experience, reach out to Kristy to begin a conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the seven Hermetic principles?
The seven Hermetic principles are Mentalism, Correspondence, Vibration, Polarity, Rhythm, Cause and Effect, and Gender. Their modern form comes from The Kybalion, published in 1908, which draws on the broader Hermetic tradition rooted in the ancient Corpus Hermeticum (2nd–3rd centuries CE) and the teachings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.
What is The Kybalion?
The Kybalion is a 1908 philosophical text attributed to “Three Initiates,” widely identified as William Walker Atkinson. It presents seven Hermetic principles as a framework for understanding the nature of mind and reality. While it is a modern synthesis rather than an ancient text, the ideas it organizes draw from the Hermetic tradition that includes the Corpus Hermeticum and the Emerald Tablet.
Who was Hermes Trismegistus?
Hermes Trismegistus—“Thrice-Greatest Hermes”—is a legendary figure from the Hellenistic period, combining the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. The philosophical texts attributed to him, collectively known as the Corpus Hermeticum, were written in Alexandria in the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, at the intersection of Greek philosophy, Egyptian wisdom tradition, and early Christianity.
How do the Hermetic principles relate to grief?
Each of the seven principles illuminates a different aspect of the grief experience. The Principle of Rhythm describes grief’s movement in waves. The Principle of Correspondence connects grief’s physical, emotional, and spiritual dimensions. The Principle of Polarity reframes the apparent opposition between grief and growth. Together, they offer a framework for understanding grief as a process embedded in a larger, intelligible reality rather than a random or meaningless rupture.
Does Corrales Grief Spa incorporate Hermetic philosophy into its practice?
Kristy’s practice draws on many streams of wisdom, including Hermetic philosophy, alongside clinical modalities such as Ericksonian hypnotherapy, expressive art, guided visual imagery, the MARI Card Test, Shamanic Angelic Reiki with Color and Sound, sound healing, breathwork, and the Reflections Room. The goal is always to meet the individual where they are, with whatever framework and tools serve their particular experience of loss.
