Hermes Trismegistus

The Tablet was originally written in Latin.
Below is the 12th century Latin literal translation of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes:

"True without falsehood, certain most certain
What is above is like what is below, and what is below is like that which is above. To make the miracle of the one thing.
And as all things were made from the contemplation of The One, so all things were born again from one adaptation.
It's Father is the Sun, its Mother is the Moon.
The Wind carried it in its womb, the Earth breastfed it.
It is the Father of all works of wonder in the World.
It's power is complete.
If cast to Earth, it will separate Earth from Fire, the subtle from the gross.
With great capacity it ascends from Earth to Heaven. Again it descends to Earth, and takes back the power of the above and below.
Thus you will receive the glory of the distinctiveness of the World. All obscurity will flee from you.
This is the whole most strong strength of all strength, for it overcomes all subtle things, and penetrates all solid things.
Thus the World was created.
From this comes marvellous adaptations of which this is the procedure.
Therefore I am called Hermes Thrice Crowned, because I have three parts of the wisdom of the whole World.
And complete is what I had to say about the work of the Sun.

Text Source - The Emerald Tablet of Hermes

Image source - Scroll down to where it says To view a hand-sketch of the original Emerald Tablet and click the button.

Hermetic Laws support the idea that there is a universal collective consciousness. These are my rough notes of how I perceive and understand the 7 principles. I hope that these notes make sense to you.

I have also discovered that a number of our wisest sayings and proverbs actually seem to have originated from these 7 principles.

There are links in the resources section where you can read all the original laws for yourself. Also my list is not in the same order as the original lists but they are labelled correctly.

1 - Mental
The Universe is Mental-held in the Mind of THE ALL.
The entire universe is nothing more than our thoughts - I think, therefore I am
If you beleive in a creator god or a supreme creator then we are god and we are the supreme creator because WE create our own reality.
Everything that happens to us, does so, because of the decisions we make or dont make
Our mind attracts things - soulmates, jobs, career, houses, cars, money, etc
We attract what we think - if we think positive thoughts, we attract the positive - if we think negative thoughts, we attract the negative.

You know how they say that its not the persons body that attracts you to that person (although that may be the initial attraction) - It's their mind that keeps you with that person - When you fall in love with a person, you actually fall in love with their mind - The mind is more beautiful and more exciting than the body - If you think of the body as matter, then it is mind over matter when it comes to true love - The universe is mental - mind over matter - If you visualise what you want, it will happen (this is especially true in sports)
(AKA Visualisation & Mind)

2 - Vibration
Vibration - everything moves - even down to the sub atomic - and that includes our bodies and a solid heavy brick - that brick is not really solid - they say glass is a liquid - everything vibrates even down to the sub atomic - atoms are attracted to each other - thats why they stay together to form a whole - Attraction is at the macro level (our bodies) actually occurrs at the micro level (sub atomic) - My mind to your mind (as the Vulcans like to say) is sub atomic attraction at its best!!!
(AKA Resonance or Attraction)

3 - Cause and Effect
Cause and effect - you reap what you sow - karma - everything you do (cause) has an effect - action and reaction - what goes around comes around - ripple effect - throw a stone into a pond (cause) and the ripples spread outwards (effect)
(AKA Karma)

4 - Rhythm
Rhythm - everything flows - go with the flow - the pendulum swings back and forth - anything that goes bad will eventually right itself and then go in the opposite direction - your mind can control how far the pendulum swings - Dont be too happy and you wont be too sad either - we are in control - we can alter the rhythm - we choose to change our moods
(AKA Harmony & Balance)

5 - Gender
Gender - everything has male and female characteristics - humans and animals obviously - females have some testosterone, and males have some estrogen - even language has gender - words are assigned a feminine or a masculine article.
(AKA Sexuality)

6 - Correspondence
Correspondence - As above, so below; as below, so above - as within so without - the body is a reflection of the universe - thats why we are made of the same stuff as the stars.
(AKA Analogy)

7 - Polarity
Polarity - duality - everything comes in pairs and those pairs are opposites - opposites attract - yin and yang - male and female - Like and unlike - love and hate
(AKA Duality)

Image source - Hermes Trismegistus

All the books and so called authorities out there (including Rhonda Byrnes and Bob Proctor) say that the Law of Attraction uses one or two of the Hermetic Principles. I say that it actually uses ALL of the principles - well, almost all of them.

The movie mentions Vibrations, Visualisations, the power of the Mind, controlling our Moods - thats 4 out of 7 just off the top of my head.

These principles were originally written back in antiquity - but noone knows exactly when. They discuss the nature of the universe, the nature of the mind and man's relationship to the universe. The author is believed to have called himself Hermes Trismegistus. Historians beleive that the author could actually have been any one of Jesus, Alexander the Great or possibly even Akhentaten.

As for The Secret (movie) claiming the Secret was buried to keep it safe - well lets keep it accurate. The Emerald Tablet was buried and is now lost. But the text of that tablet survives, as does the text of the Corpus Hermeticum - including these 7 principles.

Marcilio Ficino translated these texts from Arabic into Latin for Cosimo de Medici in 1471 CE. They have remained on the fringes of western esoterica ever since.

Image source - The Secret (Movie) - DVD cover

Below is Isaac Newton's translation of the Emerald Tablet from the Latin. He was looking for the recipe to transmute lead into gold. This translation was found amongst Newton's alchemy papers.

1.Tis true without lying, certain most true.
2.That which is below is like that which is above that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing.
3.And as all things have been arose from one by the mediation of one: so all things have their birth from this one thing by adaptation.
4.The Sun is its father, the moon its mother,
5.the wind hath carried it in its belly, the earth its nurse.
6.The father of all perfection in the whole world is here.
7.Its force or power is entire if it be converted into earth.
Separate thou the earth from the fire, the subtle from the gross sweetly with great industry.
8.It ascends from the earth to the heaven again it descends to the earth and receives the force of things superior and inferior.
9.By this means ye shall have the glory of the whole world thereby all obscurity shall fly from you.
10.Its force is above all force. for it vanquishes every subtle thing and penetrates every solid thing.
So was the world created.
11.From this are and do come admirable adaptations whereof the means (Or process) is here in this.
12.Hence I am called Hermes Trismegist, having the three parts of the philosophy of the whole world.
13.That which I have said of the operation of the Sun is accomplished and ended.

Text Source - Emerald Tablet - Wikipedia

1 - Think positive
This such a simple concept but so many people do not use it correctly.
Do NOT think of what you don't want. You MUST think of what you DO want.

So many people beleive that thinking positively means thinking - I dont want this or I dont want that. If you think of everything you don't want, then you WILL get more of what you don't want. If you say - I don't want more debt - then you will get more debt. If you say - I dont want my car to break down again - then it will break down again. That is how the universe works. This is what The Secret is saying.

2 - Visualise
Humanity is a very visual being. Most of us are visual - we need to see to beleive. So in order to visualise the positive, we make a vision board. A vision board is a board that has pictures of exactly what we do want, on it. This board must be real - one that we can see. It can be a cork board, a white board or a virtual board - a webpage. Even a Squidoo lens can be a vision board.

On this board you put up pictures of things that are exactly what you want. Don't just put up a picture of any car. Put up a picture of the exact kind of car you want and the exact colour too. Put up a picture of the exact house you want, the exact job. You have to be specific.

3 - Beleive
You must beleive that you will get what you are visualising. As The Secret says - dont worry about HOW it will come. Just beleive and accept that it will come. The Universe will take care of the How.

Image source - The Power by Rhonda Byrnes - 2010