The 12 Laws of the Universe
The law of attraction, and more.
The Law of Attraction is popular. We’ve all heard about it; it’s a fact that our thoughts attract our realities. But, the Law of Attraction is only one of 12 universal laws. The truth is, they all feed into each other and build on each other.
Why should you know about them?
They bring us closer to ourselves, the Universe, Source, God—whatever you may call it. By understanding these universal laws, we become more aware of the inner workings of life. This in turn allows us to consciously manifest with more ease. (We are always manifesting subconsciously, but that’s another story.)
Where these laws came from is a little… mysterious. There are roots of the Universal Laws in the Kybalion, written by The Three Initiates. This 1908 text is based on Hermetic philosophy, which is based on the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus (thrice-great Hermes). This figure is supposedly the author of the Hermetic Corpus, the Egyptian-Greek wisdom texts dating back to the first century, BCE.
So you see, this wisdom is ancient. And although many of these laws have been rationalized and theorized through other fields of study like quantum physics or philosophy, they still have truths to offer us.
Here is my simplified summary of the 12 Universal Laws.
1. The Law of Oneness
This law dictates that everything, and I mean EVERY thing is connected. This means that plants, animals, planets, and humans are all connected. This is because the Universe, or whatever else you believe in, manifested us equally, to be on the same plane of existence.
Which means that we are all a part of the universe, just as the universe is a part of us.
You may want to reject this law since it is a popular belief that humans are at the hierarchy of life on Earth. But I offer you this: every source of life has intelligence, just because human intelligence looks different than animal or plant intelligence does not make it better.
So, because everything is connected, there is also no such thing as a coincidence. Things happen because they have been triggered else where.
2. The Law of Vibration
The Law of Vibration holds that everything is constantly moving, vibrating, emitting. As we know, the Earth is in constant motion, yet we don’t feel that movement. Similarly, life on earth vibrates independently of the Earth’s said movement.
We can think of our human vibration as a frequency. The “higher” one’s frequency is, the more joy/happiness/love they attract. This sounds a little ambiguous and out there, I agree.
But think of it like this: hate and negativity are low-vibrational frequencies because they generally operate on and spread what we want less of in this world. Love and compassion are high-vibrational because they operate on and spread what we want more of in this world.
You see how the Law of Vibration works in tandem with the Law of Attraction? This law just goes to show that surrounding yourself with “high” vibrations attracts more of the same. (This doesn’t mean that you should bypass any sadness or negativity—these are valid feelings, it just means that you should feel them, and then let them go. Staying in such a state only attracts more of the same…misery LOVES company, right?)
3. The Law of Correspondence
You might be picking up a pattern now. All of these laws are related to each other in some way. Consequently, this law notes that there are patterns to life, and noticing them can raise your vibrations.
Noticing patterns is a part of “waking up” spiritually. This knowledge also helps us realize that our outter world is constructed by our inner world.
To help explain this a little, we can think of how our individual experiences are the framework to how we perceive the world around us. The truth is, we all see the world a little differently. A person who has only seen pain will see the world as a painful place. One that has seen a lot of joy in their life will correspondingly see the world as a joyful place.
So, our thoughts and mental paradigms construct our outter worlds. The take-away here is that by shifting how we see the world, the world shifts, too. Searching for the good in any situation builds this habit.
4. The Law of Attraction
I need not explain this one, so here is a small obligatory run-down.
Like attracts like.
5. The Law of Inspired Action
Potentially my favourite law, this one holds that you can’t just sit and wait for things to manifest, you also have to leap into action.
A skeptic might ask here: well if you go chasing it, then is it really the law of attraction? I mean, you’re basically just putting in the work to get what you want.
This is true, but let me paint a picture. If you want to feel loved by the people around you, it isn’t enough to sit and weep about how people don’t love you. Consequently, it also isn’t enough to sit around and just visualize people loving you. The action you would take in such a scenario is loving others and loving yourself, this is what would attract that love for yourself from others.
So you see, it isn’t that you are “chasing” said love, but you are creating a precedent by leaping into action. Love is a little abstract, so try to come up with an example of this with a material thing, the mental gymnastics here will help you realize what this law is all about.
6. The Law of Perpetual Transmutation of Energy
A mouthful, I know. This law tells us that everything is in constant flux and taking different forms. The most illustrative example of this would probably be the life journey of a caterpillar into a butterfly. Though this is a physical transmutation, energy takes on the same change.
To understand this in a long term sense, think of yourself as energy. We don’t know where we’ve been before we manifested as humans. And as we know from physics: energy is neither created nor destroyed. So, we also don’t know where we’ll go after this form.
What we do know is that our energy will transfer and become something else. I’m not asking you to believe in re-incarnation here, I’m just saying that everything is always changing and transforming.
The compelling part of this law is that you can also change. If there are traits about yourself that you wish to get rid of, then you, a source of energy, has that potential.
7. The Law of Cause and Effect
Similar to the Law of Inspired Action, this law notes that everything has a reaction, and that we are all energies affecting each other. Our thoughts are energies affecting our lives. WE are energies affecting other lives.
This would mean that you are also affected by everything else in the universe. Everything is a chain reaction, this is why I noted earlier, there is no such thing as a coincidence.
Pertaining to manifestation, this law means that what you put in, is what you get out, whether it be on the physical level or the vibrational level.
8. The Law of Compensation
As a follow up to the last law, this one simply acknowledges that the efforts you put in will be fruitful, meaning we reap what we sow.
To fully be able to manifest then, we have to fully believe that what we put out comes back to us. Belief is the key here. If you want to look at this through a different lens, we can think of this law as karma.
9. The Law of Relativity
To make a complex idea simple: everything exists on a spectrum and is made “real” through comparison. For example, if there is no darkness, there cannot be light either. Light would just be a simple form of existence that we wouldn’t even think about if there were no such thing as darkness.
We have assigned values such as “good” or “bad” to things, or even to our lives. A life can only be “good” because there are “bad” ones out there. We can extend to this to other qualifiers and abstractions, too.
Consequently, it’s up to us to decide how we value things. This law, again, enables us to change our perspectives.
10. The Law of Polarity
As another follow-up to the previous law, the Law of Polarity states that everything has a counterpart, and one cannot exist without the other. Though this might seem contradictory because I said everything exists on a “spectrum,” this law indicates the need for balance.
For example, if light were the constant state, we would never rest. If winter were the constant state, we would never have harvest. If happiness were the constant state, we would never know it as it would simply be a norm. We need the counterparts to each of these concepts to fully function. However, and this is where the spectrum comes back, things don’t exist as a binary—it’s never one or the other. There are states of being in between.
Maybe a key take away here can be the knowledge that this too will pass.
11. The Law of Perpetual Motion
Noting that things come and go, this law is all about the fact that nothing is forever. Things will always change.
Where this law differs from number 6 is that the emphasis is on the temporariness of life, as is its nature.
The big lesson here is that there is no use getting attached to a person, feeling, or material item. Because it will change. This law lets us know that we need to enjoy the moment and what we currently have, but to acknowledge that it is a fleeting moment, however long it may last.
This might cause some discomfort if you have something great you’re holding on to, but if you recall from laws 9 and 10, if it were a constant state, it would simply be a norm, and thus, nothing special at all. This law is especially comforting if you’re going through a tough time. The knowledge that it will change is what might keep you going.
12. The Law of Gender
The wording on this one is confusing. The basic principle is that everything has a masculine and feminine energy, but this isn’t about biological sex at all. The two gendered qualities are simply attributes of energy. The divine feminine and the divine masculine.
One is about intuition, being receptive, and nurturing, the other about taking action, giving, and being strategic. Thought they are attributed to genders, they could easily be called something else. And they sometimes are: yin and yang energy.
This law states that we all have both energies and should seek to balance them. Again, this has nothing to do with how we express our genders. It’s more about cultivating the respective traits or energies within ourselves.
All humans need access to both attributes to live in harmony.
Now that you have this knowledge, you also know that you think your reality. So what will you spend your time thinking about?
