In 1908, the anonymous authors known as "Three Initiates" prepared this concise and engaging edition of the master's teachings. For centuries, the legendary Egyptian man-god Hermes Trismegistus - regarded as the father of astrology, alchemy, and other magical arts - inspired writers and readers of occult literature. This guide offers a modern interpretation of Hermetic doctrine, distilling its teachings into seven compelling principles that can be applied to self-development in daily life. The precepts of their philosophy remained shrouded in secrecy for more than 2,000 years, clouded by obscure language and dense allegories. Rather than converting base metals into gold, Hermetic alchemists focused on elevating their mental forces to a higher level. It condenses Hermetic doctrine into seven compelling principles that can be successfully applied to everyday life.
I publish a new, redesigned edition at Tarcher/Penguin, which is probably the first to specifically credit Atkinson on the about-the-author page.This concise guide offers a modern interpretation of one of ancient mystical philosophy's greatest treasures.
Whatever its authorship, The Kybalion is an enticing guide to wise-living. The error arose from a 1940 edition in which the publisher listed the initial registration as 1912, almost certainly in an attempt to reassert control over a copyright that had fallen into public domain after failing to be renewed at the required 28-year interval. But the copyright and first edition were actually from 1908, when Case had barely arrived in the city. But The Kybalion reads to the letter like Atkinson, and it was published before the two men would have been likely to meet. A long-standing rumor, which now abounds online, named Paul Foster Case as one of the Three Initiates. This compendium of "lost" Egyptian-Hermetic wisdom read a lot like New Thought principles recast in antique language but nonetheless enthralled readers, partly due to the secrecy of its authorship. The Chicagoan used the last of these aliases in 1908 to publish his most successful book, one of the occult classics of the twentieth century: The Kybalion. Atkinson himself wrote many books, under the pseudonyms Yogi Ramacharaka, Magus Incognito, and, most famously, Three Initiates. A Chicago lawyer named William Walker Atkinson produced an imaginative array of occult books from his Yogi Publication Society based in the twenty-two-story Masonic Temple Building, once a jewel of the city's skyline and later demolished. It was home to the influential New Thought teacher Emma Curtis Hopkins and hosted bustling subcultures in "mental science" and metaphysical publishing.
Chicago was a great city for a budding occultist in the early twentieth century.
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