The mind does some things naturally. Many of the things the mind does of its own inclination have served it well for a very long time, but modern trends call these natural tendencies or instincts into question without demonstrating a practical reason why they should be questioned or rejected. One of the tricks your mind does is group objects with similar qualities together, like all the purple things, or all the round things.

The law of similarity is a principle of magick that states more or less simply, look a likes are alike. Science itself relies on categories that don’t serve a strictly substantio, practical, mechanically factual purpose either, like broad groupings of the world’s species, or classifications of things as being either strictly energy or strictly matter.

So, let’s look at the law of similarity for its practical uses shall we?

Allowing the law of similarity to function as it naturally does, would we look for a tree when we are looking for something to drink?

Only if it were raining and the leaves were dripping. Well, wild improvisation is a different issue. We would look for something that has similarity to water. Even our learning to drink water, as we become accustomed to it, is actually learned.

Gin? Yes, some find gin to be their favourite type of “water.” Does our mind sorting things into categories of similarity put us into any automatic danger? Animals actually do use it to defend themselves. Insects adapted to look like poisonous materials, things like that.

I can think of an example where resisting the law of similarity would endanger your life. Let’s say you have seen bears but never tigers, but one day you meet a tiger in the woods. What would happen if you stopped to question what the thing that is not a bear intends to do?

You get eaten. Death. Yes. They are both furry, and possessed of long sharp threatening bits, similar though not the same.

Have I clearly described the principle of similarity in an everyday way?

Yes, and I caught a blurb recently from a study that I think relates to this. You’re more likely to gain weight if you have over weight friends. Social contagion, yes. I saw a man go from a moderate weight and hyperactive temperament to an overweight and lethargic individual in short order, and it was connected to the fact that he became involved with a notably overweight girlfriend.

I wonder if the girlfriend was also a good cook. No. The food was greasy and drowned in condiments and cheese. It was like eating lard. I had the misfortune of being invited to dinner.

I often notice groups of people in the mall, for example, that all have the same body type. Would doing this on purpose be using the law of similiarity? Yes, picking associations deliberately would be a constructive use of the law of similarity. They do say you rise or fall to the level of the company you keep. Having married, I have lost weight and she has gained some. We have met in the balanced middle.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~