The Kybalion

The original 1908 edition | Complete and unabridged

The Kybalion (full title : The Kybalion : A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece) was first published in 1908 under the pseudonym « The Three Initiates » a name commonly associated with New Thought author William Walker Atkinson (1862-1932). several of whose works are available from Alchemist Editions. The book presents itself as a concise exposition of the teachings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.

Although it echoes themes found in classical and medieval Hermetic writings - such as philosophical mentalism. the maxim « as above, so below. » and the principle of polarity - the work reflects above all the intellectual climate of early twentieth-century occultism. In particular, it bears the imprint of the New Thought movement, to which Atkinson belonged. As a modern Hermetic treatise. The Kybalion exerted a significant influence on twentieth-century esoteric and New Age spirituality.