Nothing Rests; Everything Moves; Everything Vibrates

The third Hermetic principle is the principle of Vibration: “Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates. Things in higher vibration or quicker motion are associated with Spirit and heat; things in lower vibration or slower motion are associated with Matter and cold.

In astrology we talk about the movement, or transits, of the planets as the astrological weather. The cosmos is constantly in motion and in cycle, like we on earth are in motion and cycle. Astrology studies the correlation between celestial motion (vibrations associated with Spirit) and earthly motion (vibrations associated with Matter).

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In law, we talk about the system and the movement of dispute through due process. I worked at a courthouse years ago and the presiding judge would always talk about the “hydraulics of the system” and how attorneys needed to respect the hydraulics of the system in their motions to postpone hearings. Legal systems organize the manifestation of vibration as Matter and the social agreements we make to structure Matter.

Astrology deals with the vibration of spirit; law deals primarily with the vibration of matter.

Toxic positivity says that if we achieve and maintain a “high vibration” at all times, we will become enlightened. It encourages people to deny the experience of Matter, deny the cyclical processes of life, and dissociate from our bodies in service of attaining “positivity.” The moral judgment associated with this (Spirit=positive/good and Matter=negative/bad), unfortunately, has the tendency to perpetuate and cover up cycles of violence and harm. If we dissociate in the face of spiritual and material dysfunction, we cannot change it.

We tend to associate density or slowness of the material vibration as unfavorable and the lightness and speed of the spiritual as favorable. This is misplaced, although there is wisdom in understanding our own preferences and the impact we want to make.

Legal process is famously slow. Although TV portrays the legal system as a system of scrappy, clever experts swooping in to save the vulnerable from bad guys, that is basically the opposite of what the legal system is. Legal process is a paperwork process that is intentionally created to slow down disputes.

This is because, as the saying goes, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. When we slow down and are deliberate, we will make better decisions. When we put a group of people (in the situation of law, a jury) with different backgrounds and life experiences in a room, they will be more uncomfortable and act slower, but make better decisions, than a single person who does things quickly and believes they are always right.

Understanding how to balance the spiritual and material experiences of life involves the cycle of vibration like everything else does in these incarnated bodies. In some seasons, quick, spiritual intuition is the appropriate resource. In other seasons obstacles slow us down so that we can test our actions through slow, material processes.

Because we are spiritual beings incarnated in material bodies, we all include both.

Astrologically, our natal charts represent the contracts we made with the universe as to what we will experience and who we will be in this incarnation.

Within astrology, the houses are a good way to look at our natal charts and get insight into our current incarnation. You can get your chart at astro.com (I recommend using whole sign houses for this exercise, but any house system can do this).

If you cut your chart in half along the horizontal (ascendent/descendent) axis (see the image below), the lower part of the chart generally gives you information about your material, personal incarnation, and the upper part of the chart tells you about the “higher” manifestation of that in the external and spiritual reality. This roughly corresponds with information about how you personally engage with the material and spiritual.

More specifically, this is how the houses manifest the vibratory nature of the universe:

The material and ancestral (these houses are associated with the self and early incarnation):

First house represents the self and the physical body and initiates the material incarnation. Here we find indicators of physical health or illness through the lifetime and the mask of material presentation we show to the world.

Second house represents resourcing.

Third house represents siblings and early learning.

Fourth house represents the home and mother.

Fifth house represents physical creation and father.

Sixth house represents daily routine, pets, and physical illness.

The spiritual and higher mind (these houses are associated with our relationship to the external and spiritual):

Seventh house represents partnership.

Eighth house represents other people’s resources and money.

Ninth house represents higher education and publishing.

Tenth house represents career.

Eleventh house represents friends, organizations, and groups of people.

Twelfth house represents spirituality, prisons, and mental illness.

In looking at the houses through a lens of the vibration principle, we can see that the Nadir, or lowest point of the chart, represents our resting point or point of least vibration. This is the space at which we are most material and most incarnated. The midheaven, or highest point of the chart, represents our highest vibration. This is the space where we are most spiritual and active.

Then, separately, the twelfth and sixth houses show us our vulnerabilities physically and mentally and our access points to physical and spiritual wellness.

The astrological natal chart gives us guidance as to how we, as specific humans, relate to the material and spiritual. The astrological natal chart is a spiritual agreement.

Legal structure, likewise, as a social agreement, gives us structure that is useful more broadly within the material concept of slowing down vibration through due process.

Due process is the right to notice and the right to be heard. These concepts are useful in any material interaction. The right to notice means that you have a right to be told about an allegation before you address it. The right to be heard means you have a right to address the allegation. This structure slows down high-vibration or “heated” interactions. It creates a structure for hearing and being heard that, even though not perfect, allows for the exchange of perspective regarding material experiences.

The cycle of birth, life, death, decay, and rebirth is the essence of the material and spiritual cycle of vibration, which systems like astrology and law create valuable meaning to interpret.