''The Kybalion'' (full title: ''The Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece'') is a book originally published in 1908 by "Three Initiates" (often identified as the

New Thought The New Thought movement (also Higher Thought) is a new religious movement that coalesced in the United States in the early 19th century. New Thought was seen by its adherents as succeeding "ancient thought", accumulated wisdom and philosophy ...

pioneer

William Walker Atkinson William Walker Atkinson (December 5, 1862 – November 22, 1932) was an attorney, merchant, publisher, and writer, as well as an occultist and an American pioneer of the New Thought movement. He is the author of the pseudonymous works attribute ...

, 1862–1932) that purports to convey the teachings of

Hermes Trismegistus Hermes Trismegistus (from , "Hermes the Thrice-Greatest") is a legendary Hellenistic period figure that originated as a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth.A survey of the literary and archaeological eviden ...

. While it shares with ancient and medieval Hermetic texts a number of traits such as philosophical mentalism, the concept of '

as above, so below "As above, so below" is a popular modern paraphrase of the second verse of the ''Emerald Tablet,'' a short Hermetica, Hermetic text which first appeared in an Arabic source from the late eighth or early ninth century. The paraphrase is based on ...

', and the idea that everything consists of gendered polar opposites, as a whole it is more indebted to the ideas of modern

occultist The occult () is a category of esoteric or supernatural beliefs and practices which generally fall outside the scope of organized religion and science, encompassing phenomena involving a 'hidden' or 'secret' agency, such as magic and mystic ...

authors, especially those of the New Thought movement to which Atkinson belonged. A modern Hermetic tract, it has been widely influential in

New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...

circles since the twentieth century.

Title

The title ''Kybalion'' looks like an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

word, but it has no known meaning in that language. It was likely made up in an attempt to convey a false sense of antiquity.

Seven Hermetic principles

A central concept in the book is that there are "seven Hermetic principles, upon which the entire

Hermetic philosophy Hermeticism, or Hermetism, is a philosophical and religious tradition rooted in the teachings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretism, syncretic figure combining elements of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. This system e ...

is based". These are, as literally quoted from the book: 1. The principle of mentalism

"The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental."

2. The principle of correspondence

"
As above, so below "As above, so below" is a popular modern paraphrase of the second verse of the ''Emerald Tablet,'' a short Hermetica, Hermetic text which first appeared in an Arabic source from the late eighth or early ninth century. The paraphrase is based on ...
; as below, so above.” ..This principle embodies the truth that there is always a correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of being and life.

3. The principle of vibration

"Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates."

4. The principle of polarity

"Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes may be reconciled."

5. The principle of rhythm

"Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates."

6. The principle of cause and effect

"Every cause has its effect; every effect has its cause; everything happens according to law; chance is but a name for law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the law."

7. The principle of gender

"Gender is in everything; everything has its masculine and feminine principles; gender manifests on all planes."

Relation to ancient and medieval ''Hermetica''

According to occult writer

Mitch Horowitz Mitch Horowitz (born November 23, 1965) is an American author, publisher, speaker, podcaster, and television host specializing in occult and esoteric themes. A frequent writer and speaker on religion and metaphysics in print and on television, ra ...

, the philosophical mentalism (the primacy of mind as the active cause of things) described by the ''Kybalion'' first principle was inspired by broadly similar notions in the ancient Greek ''

Hermetica The ''Hermetica'' are texts attributed to the legendary Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic combination of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. These texts may vary widely in content and purpose, but by modern con ...

''.. Nicholas E. Chapel notes that while several aspects such as the philosophical mentalism, the concept of "

" as derived from the ''

Emerald Tablet The Emerald Tablet, also known as the Smaragdine Table or the ''Tabula Smaragdina'', is a compact and cryptic text traditionally attributed to the legendary Hellenistic period, Hellenistic figure Hermes Trismegistus. The earliest known version ...

'', and the idea that everything exists as pairs of gendered polar opposites, do have a background in ancient and medieval Hermetic texts, other aspects such as the principle of vibration (which originates in the philosophy of David Hartley, 1705–1757) are not related to Hermeticism.. Chapel also points out that there are a number of stark contrasts between the ''Kybalion'' and the traditional ''Hermetica'', such as the ''Kybalion'' anti-theological stance versus the heavy emphasis on

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

in the ''Hermetica'', or the ''Kybalion'' focus on the practitioner's "mental transmutation" versus the traditional ''Hermetica'' preoccupation with reverence for and unification with the divine. Chapel concludes that as a whole, the ''Kybalion'' is too bound up with early 20th-century ideas emanating from the

movement to be representative of the broader historical tradition of Hermetic philosophy.

References

Works cited

* * * * * *

External links

* * * ''The Kybalion'' at archive.org (scanned pdf from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

)
''The Kybalion'' at gutenberg.org
(plain text from

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

)
''The Kybalion'' at thoughtaudio.com
(audiobook) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kybalion, The 1908 non-fiction books Hermetica Works published under a pseudonym