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I am rather partial to Mr Bardon! With that, I'd only connect his work to hermeticism through the work of the elements and unity consciousness or merging with the divine / Godhead. Fun fact: the German title of Bardon's first book when translated to English reads: "The Path to the True Adept". If you are interested in classical hermeticism, there a other preferred titles to gain an understanding.
I agree that the CH is fundamental and essential to the practice of Hermeticism, but just to get an started I would also point to the Emerald Tablet for basic contemplation of principles. I personally prefer Sir Isaac Newton's translation for ease, though there are much older versions with variations.
Variation is a key word to understand as Hermeticism broadly could be thought of an umbrella term for perspectives across the centuries, not all of which add up to a single over-arching philosophy of agreement when you start getting into the weeds. Bardon is just one modern perspective, or an individual outcome of ages of interpretation, misinterpretation and outright invention.
The Kybalion is also useful, but like Bardon it is the product of modern esotericists for modern readers. Again, just to get started.
Amazon overview: In Egypt during the first centuries CE, men and women would meet discreetly in their homes, in temple sanctuaries, or insolitary places to learn a powerful practice of spiritual liberation. They thought of themselves as followers of Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary master of...
I agree that the CH is fundamental and essential to the practice of Hermeticism, but just to get an started I would also point to the Emerald Tablet for basic contemplation of principles. I personally prefer Sir Isaac Newton's translation for ease, though there are much older versions with variations.
Variation is a key word to understand as Hermeticism broadly could be thought of an umbrella term for perspectives across the centuries, not all of which add up to a single over-arching philosophy of agreement when you start getting into the weeds. Bardon is just one modern perspective, or an individual outcome of ages of interpretation, misinterpretation and outright invention.
The Kybalion is also useful, but like Bardon it is the product of modern esotericists for modern readers. Again, just to get started.
Amazon overview: In Egypt during the first centuries CE, men and women would meet discreetly in their homes, in temple sanctuaries, or insolitary places to learn a powerful practice of spiritual liberation. They thought of themselves as followers of Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary master of...
@Wumeiniang The Digital Ambler (digitalambler.com) is one of the more rigorous resources currently active in the magical tradition. The blog covers classical Hermeticism with sustained engagement with primary sources, not commentary on commentary, but direct work with the Corpus Hermeticum, the PGM, and the broader Greco-Egyptian magical papyri and geomancy (the author has written a full book on the subject).
What distinguishes the site from most occult blogs is the combination of philological grounding and active practice, polyphanes documents what he actually works, not theoretical constructs. The crafts and materia section covers physical tools built to traditional specifications. There is also a structured Red Work Course for those wanting a systematic framework.
Beyond the blog itself, there is an active Discord community where these topics are discussed at a comparable level of seriousness.
My entry into hermetism was through Bardon, which probably set the Kybalion up to fail from the start. Bardon demands something: concrete physical and energetic exercises with verifiable results. The Kybalion just tells you how the universe 'works' and trusts you'll accept it.
On origin: written in 1908 by William Walker Atkinson under the pen name "Three Initiates, a man who also wrote The Psychology of Salesmanship and understood exactly how to engineer a text that markets itself. He claims throughout to be transmitting an ancient Hermetic document, also called "The Kybalion," attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. That document does not exist. Atkinson invented it, invented the quotes he draws from it, and invented its antiquity wholesale. The terminology doesn't match any classical Hermetic text; it matches New Thought vocabulary from the late 19th century United States. That's what this is: New Thought wearing Egyptian costume.
The Hermeticism claim is where it gets genuinely problematic. The actual Hermetic corpus: the Corpus Hermeticum, the Asclepius, the technical texts is built around theology, theosophy, a relationship with the divine, and concrete operations. The Kybalion has none of that. It strips out the theology entirely, replaces it with mentalism dressed as metaphysics, and then stamps "Hermetic" on the cover. It's not a simplification of Hermeticism. It contradicts it structurally.
What's striking is that it does this while saying very little of substance. The introduction alone inflates three or four ideas across several pages through sheer repetition, padded with the rhetorical posture of secrets being revealed to those who are ready a hedge that conveniently exempts the text from having to actually deliver anything. The first chapters set up principles so vague they can absorb almost any belief system without friction. That's not teaching; that's a mirror that reflects whatever the reader brings to it.
That said: if you read it early, found something in it, and it opened a door, that's real, and it says something about where you were at the time. The issue isn't the personal experience. It's calling that door "Hermeticism" when it leads somewhere else entirely.
@Wumeiniang The Digital Ambler (digitalambler.com) is one of the more rigorous resources currently active in the magical tradition. The blog covers classical Hermeticism with sustained engagement with primary sources, not commentary on commentary, but direct work with the Corpus Hermeticum, the PGM, and the broader Greco-Egyptian magical papyri and geomancy (the author has written a full book on the subject).
What distinguishes the site from most occult blogs is the combination of philological grounding and active practice, polyphanes documents what he actually works, not theoretical constructs. The crafts and materia section covers physical tools built to traditional specifications. There is also a structured Red Work Course for those wanting a systematic framework.
Beyond the blog itself, there is an active Discord community where these topics are discussed at a comparable level of seriousness.
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My entry into hermetism was through Bardon, which probably set the Kybalion up to fail from the start. Bardon demands something: concrete physical and energetic exercises with verifiable results. The Kybalion just tells you how the universe 'works' and trusts you'll accept it.
On origin: written in 1908 by William Walker Atkinson under the pen name "Three Initiates, a man who also wrote The Psychology of Salesmanship and understood exactly how to engineer a text that markets itself. He claims throughout to be transmitting an ancient Hermetic document, also called "The Kybalion," attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. That document does not exist. Atkinson invented it, invented the quotes he draws from it, and invented its antiquity wholesale. The terminology doesn't match any classical Hermetic text; it matches New Thought vocabulary from the late 19th century United States. That's what this is: New Thought wearing Egyptian costume.
The Hermeticism claim is where it gets genuinely problematic. The actual Hermetic corpus: the Corpus Hermeticum, the Asclepius, the technical texts is built around theology, theosophy, a relationship with the divine, and concrete operations. The Kybalion has none of that. It strips out the theology entirely, replaces it with mentalism dressed as metaphysics, and then stamps "Hermetic" on the cover. It's not a simplification of Hermeticism. It contradicts it structurally.
What's striking is that it does this while saying very little of substance. The introduction alone inflates three or four ideas across several pages through sheer repetition, padded with the rhetorical posture of secrets being revealed to those who are ready a hedge that conveniently exempts the text from having to actually deliver anything. The first chapters set up principles so vague they can absorb almost any belief system without friction. That's not teaching; that's a mirror that reflects whatever the reader brings to it.
That said: if you read it early, found something in it, and it opened a door, that's real, and it says something about where you were at the time. The issue isn't the personal experience. It's calling that door "Hermeticism" when it leads somewhere else entirely.
None of this is aimed at anyone who read the Kybalion and found something meaningful in it. First books do real work on people, and that experience belongs to you regardless of what the text actually is. The critique is of the book's claims, not of anyone's path
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