The Universe is Generative

The seventh Hermetic principle is the principle of Gender, which I initially sighed at, because of the language introducing the principle in the Kybalion, which focuses on binary gender. But, as you look more into this principle, it clarifies, “The word ‘Gender’ is derived from the Latin root meaning ‘to beget; to procreate; to generate; to create; to produce.’” In this way, it lays the foundation of an interesting discussion of the spectrum of gender and what it means to generate or be creative.

This principle made me think more deeply into the concept of what we call gender and the link between how we culturally talk about gender and how we talk about what is generative or creative about us. When we talk about gender as limited to a binary, we essentially say that the female or male sex assigned at birth determines what it means for that person to be generative or creative and creativity is limited to a person’s ability or interest in participating in conception of a human embryo.

This is clearly an absurd limitation and the creativity of the universe and even of each human goes far beyond this limited binary and limited act. At least there is absurdity in saying that a person who chooses not to participate in the creation of a human embryo has no gender. Those who would advocate a gender binary would not even agree to that concept, although it is the logical conclusion of fixation on pregnancy as meaningful to gender.

In astrology, we talk specifically about gender by dividing signs into “masculine” or “feminine” much like many languages divide words or speaking into masculine and feminine. But, even within astrology, we can see this as a spectrum, and every person, regardless of the sex assigned to them at birth has a range of masculine or feminine signs within their natal chart. You can check them out here:

Image showing the traditional masculine and feminine designations of signs with every other sign being masculine (starting with Aries) and the others being feminine (ending with Pisces).

Each of the planets, not just the moon, is constantly traveling through the zodiac, each with their own influence on each other, us, and our environments, and so much of astrology is the study of the correlation of the ebbs and flows of the astrological cycles to the ebbs and flows on earth.

In law, the ebbs and flows of progress and regress are something that have enormous impact on each of our lives, even if we do not see them right away. Some believe that if you set realistic, but small, expectations for progress, you will get more traction and establish a better foundation for future progress. This was the theory Ruth Bader Ginsberg had when she advocated for gender equality using the disadvantage to men as her focus. Others believe a “blitzkrieg” of extreme action is more effective, believing that the more extreme the action, the less opportunity there is to counteract it. This is the theory behind the implementation of Project 2025.

There is also an increasingly large gap between what the general public in the United States understands to be the state of progress and regress and what legal professionals understand it to be.

For example, when COVID vaccines first came out, I received quite a few calls from conservative people who wanted to avoid getting vaccines where they were mandatory, based on conservative religious views. When I told them about their limited options, they explained to me that they understood their right to work with their medical doctors for healthcare to be absolute. Of course, those rights have been undermined by conservative advocates who are against women receiving reproductive healthcare. But, the conservative people I talked to were very surprised to hear that.

That raises the question as to whether the Principle of Rhythm applies to understanding and ignorance just as it does to other topics. We may have general moments of clarity and inspiration as flow points and moments of misunderstanding and ignorance as ebb points.

The best resources I have found for tracking this and understanding our own ebbs and flows in life is to watch the moons through the astrological chart. In generally tracking the moons for years, I have found that when the moon is in hard aspect to Pluto, and when there is a full moon, I have very low and agitated energy. While this is a work in progress, I have started taking those days off, knowing that they are ebb times. They are better for reflection, emotional processing, and introspection than attempting to create and influence the world.

My theory is that the more we study our own ebbs and flows and allow them to happen, the more effective we can be in influencing the ebbs and flows of our communities and the better we can reduce frustration.