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A lot of people defend the Kybalion by saying that it is at least "a good introduction" to the basics of Hermetic thought.
If you want an actual introduction, though, the original texts already provided us with one! Corpus Hermeticum, book III is a 4-5 paragraph (depending on the edition) summary of complete Hermetic thought. It touches on all major topics, from the role of God and humans to the role of the seven astrological planets and the creation of the world.
Happy reading!
The Man of Sorrows | 1522 | engraving print
The Kybalion
The literal cheat code inside one of the most notorious books ever written: The Kybalion.
1. Mentalism
The All is Mind. The Universe is Mental.
Reality is not merely physical, it is mental and energetic. Every thought, emotion, object, and event originates from a single infinite consciousness known as The All.
Your mind literally shapes your experience of reality. Like the placebo effect in medicine, belief alone can heal or harm. Your interpretation of life is what creates your reality.
You are the alchemist of your own world.
2. Correspondence
As Above, So Below. As Within, So Without.
Patterns repeat across all levels of reality from galaxies to atoms.
Your inner world creates your outer world, and your outer world reflects your inner world. Life is a feedback loop.
The mirror won’t smile until you do.
3. Vibration
Nothing Rests. Everything Moves. Everything Vibrates.
Everything in the universe vibrates at a frequency including thoughts and emotions.
Atoms are 99.999% empty space. Matter is an illusion of vibration. Your thoughts, emotions, and energy are frequencies constantly broadcasting into the universe. Reality simply mirrors your signal back to you.
Raise your frequency, and you raise your life.
4. Polarity
Everything is Dual. Opposites are the Same in Nature, but Different in Degree.
Hot and cold, light and dark, confidence and insecurity all are the same energy expressed on different ends of a spectrum.
Scarcity is not the absence of abundance. It’s an abundance of scarcity. Failure is not the absence of success, it’s success in disguise, waiting to be transmuted.
Every curse contains a hidden gift. Every ending holds a beginning.
5. Rhythm
Everything Flows. All Things Rise and Fall.
Life operates in cycles, tides, seasons, emotions, success, and failure all move in rhythm.
The key is neutrality. Masters don’t overreact to the highs or lows. They remain centered, trusting the pendulum swing.
When you stop fighting the rhythm, life becomes less of a battle and more of a sacred dance.
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6. Cause and Effect
Every Cause Has an Effect. Every Effect Has a Cause.
Nothing happens by chance. Every thought, action, and choice sets causes in motion that generate effects.
You are not a victim. You are responsible for your reality. By changing your inner cause, you change your outer effects.
Synchronicities are the natural outcome of this principle. When you shift internally, life mirrors it back with divine timing, chance encounters, and unexpected blessings.
7. Gender
Everything Has Masculine and Feminine Principles.
Masculine and feminine are not about biology they are fundamental forces in creation.
• Masculine energy: logic, willpower, structure, action.
• Feminine energy: intuition, creativity, flow, receptivity.
All creation requires the fusion of both. Too much masculine leads to burnout. Too much feminine leads to stagnation. Balance creates harmony, just like tending a fire.
When these forces are integrated within you, you stop forcing reality and begin dancing with it.
When you master yourself, you master your reality.
You don’t have to learn anything new. You only have to remember who you truly are a divine projection of the All, already whole and already powerful.
Mastery is your birthright.
Nicki Merz - As Above, So Below: The Reflective Nature of Reality
Since I'm still encountering people out there pushing The Kybalion, I'm gonna remind people that:
The Kybalion is not an ancient book. It's an early 20th century text probably written by William Walker Atkinson, a guy who wrote under tons of pseudonyms. (More info.) Basically, you should take everything it says with a grain of salt.
If you want to read it, it's available on many websites for free. You don't have to buy it or sign up for a free copy, you can just grab it off some place like Project Gutenberg.
Super long post explaining my thoughts on how each of the 12 tormentors found in the Corpus Hermeticum affect people.
My personal idea of sin below:
- Sin is found in the imprisonment of matter, where you are trapped by worldly desires and bodily sensations rather than nurturing the divine mind within.
Okay now here are the 12 tormentors:
1. Ignorance
To purposely lack awareness and not seek out information. For ignorance to be an obstacle in your growth, it is deliberate and damaging. If you simply don’t know something, that is naivety, which shouldn’t be confused.
2. Sorrow
Sadness affects your interpretation of reality. Whether it is a temporary state or chemical imbalance, it is necessary to understand that you are not your thoughts or environment. When we are sad, we know things are beautiful, we just can’t see the beauty. To be caught in sorrow is to believe that this is a permanent state. To be caught in sorrow causes you to struggle, and also blocks good opportunities since you are too stuck in your head to acknowledge them. It’s not sadness or the chemical imbalance itself that is bad, it is the negative ideas that you have built yourself around.
3. Intemperance
Impulsivity, succumbing to the material struggles of addiction. We know this is bad. Again, similar to sadness, in order to recover we must not associate with our impulsivities. To recognize and control them is extremely powerful, especially since in many cases- bad things have happened that lead up to this cause. It does not make you a bad person to struggle with addiction, but addiction can make you do bad things. Relying on material substances to cope is not the way to live, no matter how good it feels. It affects you, your body, and those you love.
4. Lust
To place one’s conciousness and desires fully on only the body of another. To use somebody solely for their body. Rape and sexual assault is one of the most mentally damaging things you could do to another person. To rape is to blatantly reject someone’s free will, to view them in a dehumanizing manner, and to prioritize your ignorance and immediate temporary satisfaction over someone’s else’s livelihood.
Excessive consumption of explicit materials or lustful thoughts that interfere with daily functioning can be damaging to oneself and future partners. Refer to Intemperance above.
5. Injustice
To reinforce inequalities in order to serve one’s material desires. People often get away with injustice when in positions of power because they do not see themselves as touchable. To fail to love is to fail to be human and godlike. By associating yourself with the the hatred and rejection of minorities, or any fellow human or thing for that matter, and to reinforce systemic punishment is to stray from God as every individual has a spark and to reject that spark is to reject God. Injustice torments the will of those around you due to perceived feelings of superiority. This feeling of superiority is nothing but a perceptive flaw. At the end of the day, you are as breakable as the people you break.
6. Greed
To insatiably desire or obsess over wealth and material possessions. This is the most obvious form of material torment, you let money and belongings control you. To desire money or materials is not bad in itself, but to hoard money, spend it in excessive amounts, and be ignorant about it will torment you. Especially if you own fortunes without working for it, or not using it. It’s important to notice when you are becoming fixated on your next investment and practice patience. If you find that money or objects rule your life and do not give you meaning, you should reconsider your spending habits.
7. Deceit
To intentionally lie, mislead, or manipulate someone else in order to gain an advantage. Often for a material or superficial advantage. This deceit betrays the trust of others, and messes with their free will if they do not know or are tricked by the extent of your actions. You will find that suffering occurs when you cannot trust yourself either.
8. Envy
To resent someone for their qualities, advantages, or looks. Often to place oneself into the body of another due to feelings of unworthiness and misfortune in their own life. Excessive envy is damaging to yourself and those you love. It is important to embrace your body, mind and what it does for you even if it is different. Wishing to be someone else will never give you peace. But if you recognize the characteristics you are envious of, and work towards improving yourself out of self love and not hate, you can slowly begin to accept yourself. Growing closer to God.
9.Treachery
Treachery takes someone’s trust in you and abuses it for your own self interest. This is damaging for others and you long term. Prioritizing self interest is an immediate satisfaction and a long term damage. It also causes you to be shallowly caught up in life as a game rather than an experience.
10. Anger
To harbour excessive rage at someone else which may lead to violent thoughts or actions. When your thoughts revolve around the actions of another person, you become less of yourself and hold grudges. Of course, anger directly correlates to violence. It is okay to have anger, but holding it causes you to suffer, and releasing it on others interrupts their will.
11. Recklessness
To have a disregard for the consequences of one’s actions. This is a difficult place to be since there are risks involved, but many don’t actually learn the consequences until it catches up to them. Recklessness is the result of ignorance, avoidance, and malice.
12. Malice
The intention to hurt someone. dwelling on feelings of malice desensitizes a person to violent acts. One’s perspective changes to seeing a person as a target, Which alters their worldly perceptions. When you have a violent thought, you are not thinking about the person or thing you want to hurt, you are thinking about hurting it. As in an object.
Malice can also stem from self hatred and the urge to hurt oneself. Viewing one’s body as an obstacle to be overcome in order to feel better. Again, this is a material urge. It is important to ground oneself and address feelings of sorrow and addiction mentioned above.
"To change your mood or mental state change your vibration. One may change his mental vibrations by an effort of Will, in the direction of deliberately fixing the Attention upon a more desirable state. Will directs the Attention, and Attention changes the Vibration. Cultivate the Art of Attention, by means of the Will, and you have solved the secret of the Mastery of Moods and Mental States." The Kybalion
