The Kybalion
book
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 pioneer William Walker Atkinson, 1862–1932) that purports to convey the teachings of Hermes Trismegistus.
While it shares with ancient and medieval Hermetic texts a number of traits such as philosophical mentalism, the concept of 'as above, so below', and the idea that everything consists of gendered polar opposites, as a whole it is more indebted to the ideas of modern occultist authors, especially those of the New Thought movement to which Atkinson belonged. A modern Hermetic tract, it has been widely influential in New Age circles since the twentieth century.
Title
The title Kybalion looks like an ancient 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. The term may have been coined in reference to Kabbalah, or perhaps to the Greco-Roman goddess Cybele (Gk. Kubelē), although neither of these two are mentioned within the book itself.
Seven Hermetic principles
A central concept in the book is that there are "seven Hermetic principles, upon which the entire Hermetic philosophy is based". These are, as literally quoted from the book:
1. The principle of mentalism
"The All is Mind; the Universe is Mental."
2.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “The Kybalion” is book. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kybalion and book, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “book” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q664103. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1908, 1862 and 1932.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Kybalion”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Kybalion primary sources, The Kybalion archive and Kybalion research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Kybalion”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Kybalion” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.