The Kybalion - Softcover

Initiates, The Three

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1470126389 ISBN 13: 9781470126384

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012

Synopsis

The Kybalion expresses the worldview of the Ancient African priests of the Nile Valley who ordered the workings of the universe. A very unique aspect of the text is that it defies simple categorization such as “religion”, “science”, “history”, etc. Our humans ancestors applied knowledge gained in the complete spectrum of life to solve problems that arose. Since The Kybalion primarily addresses laws of energy that are unseen to the eye, it would be most accurate to refer to The Kybalion as spiritual technology. These laws of energy are: mentalism, correspondence, vibration, polarization, rhythm, cause and effect, and gender. This world view has existed since our human ancestors first began to develop human culture in the heartland of Africa. The Ancient Egyptian divinity that symbolized knowledge and wisdom was called Djehuty. Ancient Greeks borrowed this spiritual technology from the Ancient Egyptians, however Djehuty came to be known as Toth to the Greeks who acquired this body of knowledge. In time Toth came to be known by many throughout the Mediterranean world as Hermes or Hermes Trismegistus. Greeks who adopted this spiritual technology were on the margins of society and by the time of Constantine’s dictatorship in Rome, practitioners of “pagan” religion were severely castigated. Due to the vigilance of the practitioners, or The Initiates as they are referred to in the text, this knowledge has survived until today. The Kybalion transcends the doctrine of all man-made religions. It should be read by all who seek harmony with the forces that The Creator/The All put in motion.

About this title

About the Author

The Kybalion was anonymously printed in 1908 by “The Three Initiates”. It is believed by many that The Kybalion was authored by William Walker Atkinson, either alone or with others. Atkinson was known to use many pseudonyms, and to self-publish his works. He was also the owner of the "Yogi Publication Society of Chicago", the original publisher of The Kybalion. Also suggestive is the fact that, among his earliest published pseudonymous and anonymous works may have been a series entitled The Arcane Teachings, which bears many superficial similarities to The Kybalion — The Kybalion explores seven "Hermetic Principles" while The Arcane Teachings examines seven "Arcane Laws", The Kybalion claims to be an elucidation of an ancient, unpublished Hermetic text of the same name, while The Arcane Teachings claims to reveal the wisdom of an ancient, unpublished scroll of occult aphorisms, and both books describe three "Great Planes" of reality which are further subdivided into seven lesser planes. Both books also describe three of the lesser planes as "astral black keys" analogous to the black keys on a piano, and inhabited by elemental spirits. And, both books describe the process of "Mental Alchemy" in great detail, and in nearly complete agreement with each other. There are other similarities, and The Arcane Teachings might have been Atkinson's "first draft" of material which later became The Kybalion. A common theory is that Atkinson co-wrote the book with Paul Foster Case and Michael Whitty. This theory is often held by members of Builders of the Adytum, the Mystery School later founded by Case, though the group doesn't publicly make this claim itself. In fact, this story appears to have originated with the Fraternity of Hidden Light. Other names speculatively mentioned as co-authors of The Kybalion include Harriet Case (Paul Foster Case's wife at the time), Ann Davies (who succeeded Paul Foster Case as head of the B.O.T.A.), Mabel Collins (a prominent Theosophical writer), Claude Bragdon (an architect, Theosophist, and writer on "mystic geometry"), and Claude Alexander (a well-known stage magician, mentalist, proponent of crystal gazing, and New Thought author). However, given Atkinson's prolific output under almost a dozen pseudonyms, it is debatable whether he would have needed or sought a co-author for the book.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1470126389
• ISBN 13: 9781470126384
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 122