hermetic-lawslisted

# Hermetic principles for engineering > "As above, so below; as below, so above." — The Kybalion (1908) Seven framings, each useful for a different category of engineering decision. ## The seven 1. **Mentalism** — Build the mental model before the code. The All is Mind. 2. **Correspondence** — Patterns flow through levels (domain → API → UI → DB). As above, so below. 3. **Vibration** — Ship to learn. Nothing rests; everything moves. 4. **Polarity** — Every decision has poles. Name them. Pick the one serving the goal. 5. **Rhythm** — Codebases breathe. Feature spike → maintenance → feature spike. 6. **Cause and Effect** — Find the cause. Recurring symptoms mean unfixed causes. 7. **Gender** — Generative + receptive. Every system produces and receives. ## When to apply each | Symptom | Principle | |---|---| | Architecture unclear | Mentalism | | Layers disconnected | Correspondence | | Analysis paralysis | Vibration | | Decision feels binary, both options wrong | Polarity | | Burning out | Rhythm | | Same bug recurring | Cause and Effect | | System dead, imbalanced | Gender | ## Not a religion These are framings, not mystical authority. They work because they describe real properties of systems. Apply privately as a thinking aid; don't lean on the authority publicly. --- Full content + 7 worked engineering scenarios at https://github.com/HermeticOrmus/hermetic-laws-skills.