The Principle 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; the rhythm compensates (The Kybalion)
This is the lesson of the 5th Hermetic Principle - everything is subject to the rhythm of ebb and flow. On the physical plane the wheel of the year swings from darkness to light and back again. Life bursts forth, dies and is reborn. Stars form, burn out and reform.
When we remember a time a time when life was magickal we felt, 'swept off our feet' by the swing of the pendulum, but by the same token, when the swing returns and life is not going so smoothly we can feel 'knocked off our feet' by comparison.
By exercising will over emotion, the adept will elevate himself above the material plane by controlling thoughts, feelings and moods in order to rise above the backward swing of the pendulum - a task which is easier said than done, as Mrs Darley discovered only to well.
Read more about the Hermetic Principles, how they apply to life and magick and how Mrs Darley tried to cope with her dilemma  in 'Mrs Darley's Pagan Paths to Magick'

The Principle of Polarity

'Nothing is in a state of being, only in a state of becoming.'
The law of polarity tells us that everything is duel, everything has an opposite and yet opposites are in actual fact identical in nature and only differ by degree.
For example, quick is the opposite of slow, but at what point does quick become slow or slow become quick? Dark is the opposite of light, but at which point does one become the other? No-one can say, as it is up to the individual and their perception of quick and slow or dark and light.
In magick it is possible to transmute one state which is identical in nature into another e.g sickness into health or poverty into abundance by utilising the power of the mind and the ability to visualise one state metamorphosing into the other, whilst also of course acting in accord on the physical plane.
Read more 'Mrs Darley's Pagan Paths to Magick'

The Principle of Correspondence

The Hermetic Principles tell us that every level of being is governed by the same universal laws, 'As above, so below, as below, so above.'
Hence we are able to call upon the Gods from the higher realms to aid our magickal workings, just as we may use a crystal, or candle from the earth realm, thus a table of correspondences is invaluable for those who wish to craft their magick.
Read more: 'Mrs Darley's Pagan Paths to Magick'

The Priciples of Hermetics

The Principles of Hermetics are complex to understand & even harder to incorporate within our daily and magical lives.
Hermetics tell us that this world and indeed everything that is throughout time and space is a creation within the mind of 'The All' (God, The Divine, Goddess, The Light - call it what you will). Man also creates mentally, thus everything that we see on the earth plane other than that which is part of nature, began with a thought in the mind of man.
The newly released Mrs Darley book, 'Mrs Darley's Pagan Paths to Magick', investigates the seven Hermetic Principles in detail.

For thousands of years witchcraft and sorcery had formed an accepted part of man's culture. The earth's elements, the chanting of charms and the power of natural forces were used by many  ancient cultures to weave spells and to enhance or hinder the flow of life.
With the firm establishment of the Roman Church throughout Europe however a new meaning was given to the words 'witchcraft & sorcery' and it was this new definition which led to hundreds of years of persecution and misconception.
This new definition began to associate witchcraft with the devil, whose job it was to bring down the Christian church and so it was that the witch hunts began, leading to one of the most horrendous and degrading eras of religious persecution.
'It fastened on European juisprudence for nearly three centuries the duty of combating the devil and saving mankind from his clutches.....it served as justification for pitiless persecution'  (Hansen)

The brutal history of the persecutions are explored in great detail in the latest Mrs darley book - 'Mrs Darley's Pagan Paths to Magick'

Mrs Darley's Pagan Paths to Magick

The new Mrs Darley book is now out and finds the enigmatic Mrs Darley leading the author further along her magickal path as she reveals some of the secrets that underpin the workings of Divine Magick.

The word 'magick' evokes an air of mystery, wonder & excitement, but can it really be as simple as waving a wand and chating a spell? In truth the practice of magick is far more complex than we might imagine, requiring the practitioner to be both disciplined and dedicated.

The book also investigates why the word 'witch' still holds such negative connotations and provides a stark account of the barbaric witch hunts of Europe, Britain & Salem.

'How many screams have splintered the darkness?
How many nails have clawed at the stone?
How many lives have longed to be taken?
Free from the racking, the blood and the bone?'

From 'Mrs Darley's Pagan Paths to Magick'

Mrs Darley's Pagan Paths to Magick

The new 'Mrs Darley' book is due out on 12 September, entitled 'Mrs Darley's Pagan Paths to Magick' and continues to follow my magickal journey which leads me to not only discover the truth behind the witch hunts, but also to understand what makes magick really work.
Mrs Darley intimated that anyone can light a candle, burn some incense and chant a spell, but it is through having an understanding of the Hermetic Principles, which the book explores in detail, that we can begin to understand the principles that underpin real magick.
In this book we see amidst the wisdom, a certain vulnerability in Mrs Darley which brought home to me the realisation that to master even a fraction of what these principles mean and to attempt to incorporate them into our daily and magickal lives is a task which even the most experienced occultist sometimes struggles with.