The Secret is a film[1] produced by Prime Time Productions. It consists of a series of interviews and dramatisations related to "The Law of Attraction." It is distributed through DVD, books, and online (through streaming media). The film has attracted considerable interest from primetime media figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, and Larry King as well as criticism in the mainstream press.
Synopsis
The Secret, described as a self-help film,[2][3] uses a documentary format to present the "Law of Attraction." This law is the "secret" that, according to the tagline, "has traveled through centuries to reach you." The film features short dramatized experiences and interviews of a "dizzying dream team of personal transformation specialists, spiritual messengers, feng shui masters, and moneymaking experts".[4]
As put forth in the film, the "Law of Attraction" principle posits that people's feelings and thoughts attract real events in the world into their lives; from the workings of the cosmos to interactions among individuals in their physical, emotional, and professional affairs. The film also suggests that there has been a strong tendency by those in positions of power to keep this central principle hidden from the public. The previews or "clues" to the film, show men who "uncovered the Secret...".
Chapters
Chapter 1
The Secret Revealed
Chapter 2
The Secret made Simple
Chapter 3
How to use the Secret
Chapter 4
Powerful Processes
Chapter 5
The Secret to Money
Chapter 6
The Secret to Relationships
Chapter 7
The Secret to Health
Chapter 8
The Secret to the World
Chapter 9
The Secret to You
Chapter 10
The Secret to Life
Deleted Chapter
Science of the Secret
Available on DVD.
Teachers of the Law of Attraction
The film interviews professionals and authors in the fields of quantum physics, psychology, metaphysics, coaching, theology, philosophy, finance, feng shui, medicine, and personal development, which they refer to as "secret teachers". Some of these individuals, at their Web sites, promote the film and their connection to it. A few of the individuals with only brief appearances do not specifically speak of the "Law of Attraction" in their interviews, so their support of the concepts is based on viewer assumption.
The Secret website cites the Emerald Tablet, purportedly by Hermes Trismegistus, "as one of the most important historical documents known to mankind".[7] Byrne posits that the earliest trace of "the secret" occurred in the Emerald Tablet,[8] with the Rosicrucian order [later] espousing "many of the ideas of The Secret." [9] Mention is made of Victor Hugo and Ludwig van Beethoven's supposed membership in the order as well as Isaac Newton's work in translating the tablet.[7]
Production
The film was created by Prime Time Productions of MelbourneAustralia with Rhonda Byrne, executive producer; Paul Harrington, producer; and Drew Heriot, director. Gozer Media of Collingwood, a suburb of Melbourne, is the design house[10] that developed the visual style and feel of the film[11] and book.[12]
Byrne's inspiration for creating The Secret came from reading the 1910 book The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles.[3] It was done as a project for Channel Nine an Australian TV Network. Nine put up less than 25% of the $3 million project[13] with additional funding from mortgaging Bryne's home and from an investment by Bob Rainone, "a former Internet executive in Chicago".[5] Rainone became the CEO of one of Byrne's companies, The Secret LLC, and is described by Byrne as, "delivered to us from heaven".[14]
Shooting of the interviews was done in July and August of 2005 with editing "effectively completed by Christmas time". [15] About 55 teachers and authors were interviewed[13] at locations including Chicago, Aspen, Alaska[15] and a Mexican Riviera Cruise (interviewing Esther Hicks).[16] The film uses 24 of these teachers in the "Extended Edition" of the film. The first edition featured a 25th teacher, Esther Hicks, known "as the most prominent interpreter of the Law of Attraction".[5] Since the first release of the DVD, Esther Hicks declined to continue with the project, mentioning contractual issues in a letter to friends.[16] Her 10% share of sales netted the Hickses $500,000.[5] As a result of this, scenes with Esther Hicks, are instead narrated by Lisa Nichols and Marci Shimoff.[5] No other "secret teachers" received compensation for their appearance in the film — revealed by Bob Proctor in an interview[17] on Nightline.[18]
Betsy Chasse, one of the producers, directors, and screenwriters for What the Bleep Do We Know!? interviewed Paul Harrington, the co-producer of The Secret. In the interview, Harrington gave this description of Byrne's production methods:
We used the law of attraction during the making of the program. We went very unconventional, in terms of scheduling and budgeting. We allowed things to come to us... We just had faith that things would come to us.[15]
Channel Nine, after viewing the completed film, chose to not broadcast it. A new contract was negotiated with all DVD sales going Byrne's companies (Prime Time, and The Secret LLC). In hindsight, Len Downs of Channel Nine commented, "we looked at it and we didn't deem it as having broad, mass appeal". The film was eventually broadcast by Channel Nine on 3 Febuary 2007.[13]
Reception
The Secret has been reported as a "self-help phenomenon",[19]
a "publishing phenomenon"[20]
and a "cultural phenomenon".[2][21]
Several critics reported on the self-help phenomenon:
News of The Secret has spread like the Norwalk virus through Pilates classes, get-rich-quick websites and personal motivation blogs.[22]
Jane Lampman of the Christian Science Monitor reports The Secret is becoming a brand with 'secret teachers' providing secret related seminars and retreats.[20]
In countless Internet blogs, supporters of "The Secret" tell how shifting from negative to positive thoughts radically improved their lives.[23]
The film became a publishing phenomenon in 2007—helped by being featured on two episodes of Oprah[24][25]—and reached number one on the Amazon DVD chart in March 2007. A book version, also called The Secret reached number one on The New York Times bestseller list.[26] For much of February through April both the book and DVD versions were #1 or #2 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders. The book's publisher, Simon & Schuster, did a second printing of 2 million — "the biggest order for a second printing in its history".Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
Cultural phenomenon
The Secret is reportedly being discussed in "e-mails, in chat rooms, around office cubicles, [and] on blind dates". It is recognized as having a broad and varied impact on culture and is likened to a "Hollywood phenomenon". — New York Post[23]
Spoofs and parodies in TV shows
In the March 17, 2007 episode of Saturday Night Live, cast members spoofed "The Secret" two shows on Oprah. Maya Rudolph began with an introduction to the "third" show and then shouted: "The Secret".[27]
The film was parodied in the Boston Legal[28] episode "Brotherly Love," where Denny Crane tried to use the "Law of Attraction" to draw Raquel Welch to him (he was planning to move on to world peace if successful).
On May 16, 2007 the concept was parodied on The Chaser's War on Everything, a satirical comedy program on Australia's ABC network.[29] The show provided an analysis on The Secret, with various themes and theories of the film tested to see if they work in real life. It was the first subject of the segment "Nut Job of the Week".
Critics having satirical fun
Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist Maureen Dowd invoked "The Secret" while wondering if wishful thinking could lead to a change in the White House.[30]
...if you think really, really hard, say, about vigorously cavorting with Salma Hayek on a soft, fluffy bed of GoogleSeries A preferred stock, you will emit a magnetic signal to the universe that will make your vision a reality.[4]
Public response — favorable quotes
Some say they watch the DVD repeatedly, and have uncovered new secrets within "The Secret" with every viewing. — New York Post[23]
"I was resistant at first," says Julia Holmes, a Los Angeles resident who saw the DVD on the day after Christmas. "But after watching it, I decided to play a game. I was late for a yoga class and I thought about a particular place in the room next to a wall that I wanted to be in. When I got there, the space was open. I went through the rest of the day smiling to myself and thinking, this stuff works." — Time magazine[26]
Cathy Jacobs -- owner of Angels Cappuccino and Ice Cream Cafe, a small operation ... has sold nearly 1,400 copies of the DVD. Jacobs says customers buy several copies at a time to give as gifts. — Calgary Herald[31]
Public response — unfavorable quotes
Critics of The Secret, and even some fans, are bothered by its obsession with using ancient wisdom to acquire material goods. — Time magazine[26]
...the whole idea that any of this is a "secret" is widely considered a joke. — New York Post[23]
To some this seems laughable, like the Tooth Fairy or Ouija boards. To others it’s downright offensive—where does God fit into this DIY [do-it-yourself] existence? — Beliefnet[32]
Broadcast coverage
The Secret has been featured on national talk and news programs for TV and radio.
On April 5, 2007 Oprah interviews Esther Hicks about her involvement with the original version of "The Secret" and questions "non-physical entities Abraham-Hicks" (channelled by Esther) about 9/11, disease, children, and how they all relate to "The Law of Attraction — on Oprah & Friends, titled "Esther Hicks and the Law of Attraction".[37]
McFADDEN: Given the fact that so many of these ideas have been written about before...why do you think this book [and film] has struck a chord?
PROCTOR: ...I think she [Rhonda Byrne] has an understanding or a way with this that no one’s ever had before. I’ve been in this [ New Thought ] industry for thirty-eight years and I have never seen anything that will even come close to this.
Joe Vitale, on Larry King Live (CNN), "The Secret" episode aired Mar. 8th, 2007:[40]
CALLER: I'm just curious, where does God come into the whole "Secrets".
VITALE: God is all of us. God is the secret and everything about it. This is a law from God.
Marketing
Packaging
They [Byrne & related publishers] have created a look for their books, DVDs, CDs and marketing materials that conjures a "Da Vinci Code" aesthetic, full of pretty faux parchment, quill-and-ink fonts and wax seals.[41]
The film has been described as a "slick repackaging" of the Law of Attraction,[42] a concept originating in the New Thought ideas of the late 19th century.[9] In producing the film, the law was intentionally "packaged" with a focus on "wealth enhancement" — differing from the more spiritual orientation of the New Thought Movement.[20] One of the film's backers stated, "we desired to hit the masses, and money is the number one thing on the masses' minds".[26]
Choosing to package the film's theme as a "secret" has been called an important component of the films popularity:
"It was an incredibly savvy move to call it 'The Secret'," says Donavin Bennes, a buyer who specializes in metaphysics for Borders Books. "We all want to be in on a secret. But to present it as the secret, that was brilliant." [3]
Critics—in seeming descriptions of the film's packaging—describe the film as:
a "breathless pizzazz" for a tired self-help genre.[3]
"emphatically cinematic" and "driven by images and emotions rather than logic" [4]
The movie was advertised on the Internet using tease advertising and viral marketing techniques in which The Secret and the specific details of the film were not revealed. Additionally, Prime Time Productions grants written permission to individuals or companies, via application at the official site, to provide free screenings of the film to public audiences. Optionally, the DVD may be sold at these screenings.
Aggressive marketing
While continuing to speak highly of the film, Esther Hicks (a "secret teacher" in the first edition of the film) goes on to say "Jerry and I were uncomfortable with what felt to us like a rather aggressive marketing campaign (just not our style, nothing wrong with it)... allowing them to edit us out was the path of least resistance." [16]
Criticism
Editorial coverage
Catherine Bennett, of the London based Guardian—using a satirical voice—compares the behavior of the leader of the UK Conservative Party to the principles espoused in film. Touching on themes of greed and blaming-the-victim, Bennett asserts the film is a "moronic hymn to greed and selfishness" and that it "nastily suggests that victims of catastrophe are the authors of their misfortunes". [43]
Slate Human Guinea Pig, Emily Yoffe, experimented with living according to The Secret's precepts for two months, concluding that the film/book's message was "pernicious drivel." Yoffe found it particularly "repulsive" for its tendency to blame the victim and its suggestion to "not just blame people for their illness, but to shun them, lest you start being affected by their bummer thoughts, too." [44]
Journalist Jeffrey Ressner, reporting in Time, writes that some critics are concerned with the film’s attitude toward "using ancient wisdom to acquire material goods." In one example in the film, "a kid who wants a red BMX bicycle cuts out a picture in a catalog, concentrates real hard, and is rewarded with the spiffy two-wheeler."[26]
Jerry Adler of Newsweek notes that despite the film's allusions to conspiratorially suppressed ancient wisdom, the notions presented by the motivational speakers who make up the film's cast have been commonplace for decades. Adler notes that the film is ethically "deplorable," fixating on "a narrow range of middle-class concerns — houses, cars, vacations, followed by health and relationships, with the rest of humanity a very distant sixth." Noting that the scientific foundations of the movie are clearly dubious, the Newsweek article quotes psychologist John Norcross, characterizing it as "pseudoscientific, psychospiritual babble."[3]
Karin Klein, editorial writer for the Los Angeles Times, called The Secret "just a new spin on the very old (and decidedly not secret) The Power of Positive Thinking [book by Norman Vincent Peale (1952)] wedded to 'ask and you shall receive'." The editorial, in one of its strongest criticisms, asserted Rhonda Byrne "took the well-worn ideas of some self-help gurus, customized them for the profoundly lazy, [and] gave them a veneer of mysticism..."[2]
Tony Riazzi, columnist for the Dayton Daily News, also questions the merits of The Secret, calling Byrne's background as a reality TV producer a "red flag." He also said that "The Secret's" ideas are nothing more than "common sense. Take out the buzzwords and pseudo religious nonsense about what you 'manifest' for yourself, ignore the vague prose and you get the message that thinking positively serves you better than thinking negatively."[45]
Criticism of health claims
ABC news referred to claims that the mind has power over our health as "perhaps the most controversial" in The Secret. They quote Rev. Michael Beckwith, founder of Agape International Spiritual Center[26] in Culver City, California, and one of The Secret "teachers" as saying: "I've seen kidneys regenerated. I've seen cancer dissolved." [46] The film features one man who was paralyzed, mute and on a ventilator after his spine and diaphragm were crushed in an airplane accident. He credits his full recovery to the power of his mind. A similar story is told by another interviewee whose breast cancer went into spontaneous remission without medical intervention.
Several critics have expressed concern about detrimental effects the film may have on the health and well-being of individuals. Dr. Richard Wender, president of the American Cancer Society, worries that guidelines in the film will prompt others to "reject helpful therapies in favor of positive thinking",[18] even though the film verbally asserts that traditional medicine should be pursued for serious illness.[47] Julia Mckinnell of Canada's Maclean's Magazine in a commentary about the film and book titled, "Some people are finding the self-help phenomenon is actually screwing them up", cited several real-life cases of alleged detrimental effects.[48] She closed with a line Oprah used when urging a guest to seek medical attention for cancer: "The Secret is merely a tool; it's not treatment." [48]
On the spiritual side, Valerie Reiss, in a review for BeliefNet, expressed concerns that others might get into "head-tripping" on negative thoughts as she did when younger.
I would realize I was thinking negative thoughts, which would trigger more thoughts about how awful I was for thinking negative thoughts and how I was ruining my life with those thoughts, and so on and so on, until my head was ready to explode with all the bad juju. The only thing that freed me from that loop was something else I also learned that summer at the ashram, meditation.[32]
Religious criticism
Mark Earley—president of Prison Fellowship, a group of ministries founded by Charles Colson—in a commentary titled "New Book, Old Lie", claims "Byrne’s hot new trend" repeats "the oldest lie there is—'You shall be like God'." Earley asserts this is a prescription for "misery". [49]
USA Today reported on the impact The Secret has had on New Thought churches, such as First Unity Church of St. Petersburg, Florida, led by Rev. Temple Hayes. The church uses the film and book as a teaching tool. James Trapp, CEO of the Association of Unity Churches, calls 'The Secret' "superficial" and Rev. Hayes amends The Secrets promise of everything-is-yours-to-have with "...you may face some pain along the way. Nothing comes easy." [30]
[The film] is wishful thinking that does not correspond to the way things are. Some of it does, yes, which is why people can honestly testify to good things resulting from it. But some of it does not...[50]
Stackhouse finds the good in the film "genuinely nourishing" and the bad "genuinely toxic". He makes it clear he is "...all for proper positive thinking" — the alleged good aspect of the film — and finds fault with Christian culture for not not being better at it:
By God’s grace to us, we know better, we know Christ and his Gospel of new life, and yet often we have failed to speak to the spiritual realities so skillfully addressed by proponents of The Secret.[50]
The alleged toxins are, in Stackhouse's eyes, a spiritually lethal concoction.[50] The identified "poisons" include:
"blaming the victim"
"refusal to admit" that life has worthwhile "trade-offs ... [and] sacrifices"
"It’s all about me and it’s all up to me"
Criticism of society
A number of critics wrote hard hitting satirical comments about society's relationship to the film.
Karin Klein, of the LA Times, on greed:
Americans are never too jaded for another get-rich-quick chimera... My sister says I'm over-intellectualizing. She, after all, had manifested a fine leather satchel. And I have to admit, if there were designer leather goods to be had out of this, I was interested.[2]
Emily Yoffe, writing for Slate, ran with a quote by one of the "past secret teachers" — a quote from Einstein that never made it into the film:
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.[44]
Catherine Bennett, writing for the Guardian describes adherence to The Secret's "law of attraction" as:
[a] creed so transparently ugly and stupid that it seems impossible that anyone could take it seriously.[43]
Societal benefit
Some critics find much to fault in the film and nevertheless see it as providing positive opportunities or benefits for society.
Greg Beato of Reason Magazine, described previous "A-list hucksters" as "...infectious, helping to create a national mood of high-octane optimism." He closes with:
... If there's anything our current bleak era needs, it's a little irrational exuberance. Perhaps The Secret is the Grand Genie of the Universe's answer to our prayers.[4]
Jefrey Ressner, at Time—in his final remarks—finds parallels between Madonna and Bob Rainone, Byrne's U.S. business partner:
"The Da Vinci Code was entertaining, but this film is a personal tool for people who want to change their lives," says Rainone. "It's a gift to the world, to help humanity." Or, as another empowerment teacher, Madonna, sang in her own 1994 hit Secret: "Happiness lies in your own hand."[26]
Jerry Adler of Newsweek, writing about the producer, Rhonda Bryne:
...Irene Izon, [mother to Rhonda Byrne] did offer this assessment to NEWSWEEK: "The thing is that Rhonda just wants to bring happiness to everybody. That's the reason it all began. She just wants everybody to be happy."
And to give her her due, she might actually be achieving some of that. There is nothing, in principle, wrong with thinking about what makes you happy.[3]
The Secret has been cited as having roots in New Thought ideas that began in the late 19th century.[30][9]
Essentially, The Secret is ... touting the principles of New Thought and Unity Christianity. The teachers of The Secret have been regulars on the New Thought/Unity circuit for years - now more "prosperous" than ever.[9]
The New Thought book The Science of Getting Rich, the source of Rhonda Byrne inspiration for the film, was preceded by numerous other books, including the 1906 book Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World by William Walker Atkinson,[51] editor of New Thought magazine. Other books Byrne is purported to have read include,
...self-help gurus, like Charles Haanel’s “Master Key System” from 1912; Prentice Mulford’s 19th-century Thoughts Are Things; and Robert Collier’s Secret of the Ages from 1926.[5]
The opening sequence of the film portrays the alleged history of The Secret.
In rapid sequence it shows:
In a sequence titled, "The Secret was Buried":
The text of the Emerald Tablet being copied on to a scroll and given to a priest
The Emerald Tablet is buried near the Pyramids of Giza[7]
Followed by a sequence titled, "The Secret was Coveted":
A Knight Templar giving that scroll to a Catholic priest
Followed by a sequence titled, "The Secret was Suppressed":
A series of brief scenes in a contemporary board room meeting
Portrayal of ideas preceding the New Thought movement
The Secret website cites the Emerald Tablet, purportedly by Hermes Trismegistus (a "secret teacher"), "as one of the most important historical documents known to mankind".[7] Byrne posits that the earliest trace of "the secret" occurred in the Emerald Tablet,[8] followed much later by the Rosicrucians — a "secret order that espoused many of the ideas of The Secret." [9] Mention is made of Victor Hugo and Ludwig van Beethoven's supposed membership in the order as well as Isaac Newton's work in translating the tablet.[7]
Carolyn Sackariason of the Aspen Times, when commenting about Byrne's intention to share The Secret with the world, identifies the Rosicrucians as keepers of The Secret:
The Mastery of Life" [ a Rosicrucian teaching similar to The Secret ] is not difficult to grasp, but the secret of the Rosicrucian tradition has been protected and preserved for thousands of years, shown only to those who have proven a true desire to know.[52]
Neither "Emerald Tablet" nor "Rosicrucian" are spoken in the film, however, at key transition points the screen image—in a subliminal flash—rapidly zooms in on the word "Rosicrucian".[9]
Elements in opening sequences
Many elements pass quickly in the cinematic sequences at the beginning of the film and are not explained or otherwise mentioned in the film:
Element
Related detail
Significance
Page in a book, showing chapter title: 'The World's Greatest Discovery"
From book: The Secret of the Ages, by Robert Collier (appears during the first minute of the film)
Reported to be one of the books Byrne read in researching the Law of Attraction. [5]
Book: A History of Egypt
Shown for less than a second
Byrne's voice-over: "I began tracing the secret..."
An illistration in A History of Egypt
Labeled, "Fig 13. The Emerald Tablet"
Initial mention of Emerald Tablet
Emerald Tablet
Authored by the "mythical diety," Hermes Trismegistus
The website claims, "perceived as one of the most important historical documents known to mankind"[7]
Scroll
The film shows the text of the Emerald Tablet being copied on to a scroll
A meditative emblem used by alchemist' and first published in 1659
"'Azoth' ... is one of the more arcane names for the One Thing"[54]
"Rosicrucian", as text — Note: the word "Rosicrucian" is not spoken in the film.[9]
Appears briefly, 12 times in the film, at 0:22:43, 0:22:50, 0:45:16, 0:53:26, 0:53:30, 0:59:41, 0:59:45/46, 1:08:55, 1:08:59, 1:15:36, and 1:22:14[9]
Described by the official website as "...a legendary and secret order that espoused many of the ideas of The Secret"[7]
Releases
Paul Harrington, the co-producer for the film, reported that broadcast TV—instead of the Internet—was initially planned as the medium for the first release:
...we had as our vision to go out to the whole world in 24 hours on television. It was a grand vision, which we weren’t able to pull off for various reasons. We were trying to force, to control the “how” of the universe, when what we were supposed to do was just focus on the vision...[15]
Release dates
The Secret premiere was broadcast through the Internet on March 23, 2006 using Vividas technology. It is still available either on a pay-per-view basis via streaming media (or on DVD at theSecret.tv, the official site for the film). A new extended edition of The Secret was released to the public on October 1, 2006. The Australian television premiere was on Nine Network on Saturday, February 3, 2007.[13]
Future releases & spin-offs
Plans have been announced to produce a sequel to The Secret and a spin-off TV series.[55] An August release is planned for the sequel [source dated end of 2006] and "spinoff books expected in 2007 are The Secret Workbook and a collection of The Secret Success Stories." [26]
Trivia
The film states "the secret" has three steps: "ask, believe, receive". In the earlier (first) edition Ester Hicks listed the three steps as: "ask, answer, receive". In the first edition, she describes the step "answer" as "an answer to what you're asking ... what the universe does for you". (Hicks declined to continue with the project, mentioning contractual issues in a letter to friends.[16])
Although the film was produced in Melbourne, Australia—by an Australian production company—the only Australian "secret teacher" in the film is David Schirmer an investment trainer. He describes "how he used to always think about debt so he always got bills in the mail - ever since he has 'visualised' receiving cheques, that's all he now gets." [56]
Paul Harrington, the co-producer, uses his computer's screen saver as his vision board, "with images of things that I want to bring into my life".[15]
"Rosicrucian", as text, appears 12 times in the film "at 0:22:43, 0:22:50, 0:45:16, 0:53:26, 0:53:30, 0:59:41, 0:59:45/46, 1:08:55, 1:08:59, 1:15:36, and 1:22:14 ...albeit fleetingly." The word "Rosicrucian" is not spoken in the film. [9]
The book The Science of Getting Rich that inspired Rhonda Byrne was preceded by numerous other books, including the 1906 book Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World by William Walker Atkinson,[57] editor of New Thought magazine.
Rhonda Byrne—in part 2 of an interview by Julie Ann Storr, founder of Nibbana (Sydney Australia)—commented about the research she did prior to making the film:
So I sat down and did a huge list of everything I had read ... and when I finished the list I handed it to them [the film production team]. They said that’s impossible, you couldn't read that many books in a year, two years, and I had read all of those books in two and a half weeks - and well, that's The Secret.[58]
These are links to Wikipedia articles that are directly related to the film's theme or to criticism of the film. For additional, less directly related Wikipedia articles, use the "Related Lists" here and the "Category" links at the bottom of this article.
^"Gozer Media visual effects & graphic design". Gozer worked closely with the producers ... to develop the visual style of the show. We supplied all visual effects and other graphical components for the show and it's subsidiaries.((cite web)): Unknown parameter |accessdaymonth= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help) — navigate web: motion > The Secret
^Byrne, Rhonda. "Acknowledgments". The Secret. Hillsboro, OR: Beyond Words. pp. pp. xiv. ISBN978-158270-170-7. Goze Media, for the creation of the superb graphics and for impregnating them with the feeling of The Secret.((cite book)): |pages= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |origmonth= ignored (help)
^ abcdLe Plastrier Aboukhater, Jacinta (2007-02-1). "Not a secret for long". The Age Company Ltd. Retrieved 2007-05-12. ((cite news)): Check date values in: |date= (help)
^Towne, Elizabeth (1997) [1906]. The Life Power And How To Use It. Kessinger. ISBN978-156459-958-2. Use this link for an online version of the book.
^Hauck, Dennis William. "10: Seven Steps to Transformation". The Emerald Tablet: Alchemy for Personal Transformation. New York, NY: Penguin Arkana. pp. pp. 153. ISBN978-014019-571-2. This meditative emblem first published in 1659 as an illustration for the book Azoth of the Philosophers by the legendary German alchemist Basil Valentine. The word 'Azoth' in the title is one of the more arcane names for the One Thing.((cite book)): |pages= has extra text (help)Use this link for an online extract from the book.
