Three Initiates · Chicago, 1908
The Kybalion: free PDF and every chapter explained
The Kybalion is a 1908 book, signed “Three Initiates,” that sets out seven Hermetic principles, starting with “THE ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental.” It was almost certainly written by William Walker Atkinson, a Chicago New Thought author. The text is public domain. Get the complete book free below as a designed 118-page PDF, and read a plain summary of every chapter on this page.
Tap the dark field to set the seven rings swinging. Rhythm, the fifth principle.
Book 02
The whole Kybalion, set to be read
The complete text with its dedication and introduction, laid out fresh: a chapter opener for every lesson, every Kybalion axiom set apart in a copper frame, and a short introduction on who really wrote it.
- Pages118, at 6 × 9 inches
- Inside15 chapters, clickable contents, bookmarks
- TextComplete, from the 1912 printing
- FilePDF, 1.4 MB
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The seven principles
The Magic Key, in the book’s own words
“The Principles of Truth are Seven; he who knows these, understandingly, possesses the Magic Key before whose touch all the Doors of the Temple fly open.” That is how chapter II opens. Pick a ring.
Where each principle really comes from is checked line by line in Is The Kybalion actually Hermetic?
Chapter by chapter
All 15 chapters, one line each
Tap a chapter for the axiom it opens with. Page numbers are from our PDF.
Before you read
Three things the book won’t tell you
01
It is not ancient
The sayings it quotes from an old book called “The Kybalion” have never been found anywhere else. One principle paraphrases the Emerald Tablet and three echo the ancient Hermetica. The rest match the New Thought movement of 1900s America.
02
Its author used many names
“Three Initiates” was almost certainly one man, William Walker Atkinson, who also wrote as Yogi Ramacharaka and Theron Q. Dumont. Two years earlier, under his own name, he published Thought Vibration, and the same ideas run through both.
03
1908, not 1912
It first came out in 1908 from the Yogi Publication Society in Chicago. Many copies online, Project Gutenberg’s included, come from a 1912 printing and carry that date. Our edition follows the 1912 printing of the same text.
Real vs legend
The Kybalion, sorted
| Claim | Status |
|---|---|
| The Kybalion was first published in 1908. | Real · first edition title page |
| Its sayings come from an ancient book called “The Kybalion.” | Legend · no older copy known |
| William Walker Atkinson wrote it. | Near certain · his 1912 Who’s Who entry |
| “As above, so below” is ancient. | Real · the Emerald Tablet |
| You can read, copy and share it freely. | Real · public domain in the US |
Questions
The Kybalion PDF
Is The Kybalion free to download?
Yes. It was published in the United States in 1908, so the text is public domain in the US and free to read, copy and share. Our designed PDF edition of the complete book is free on this page.
Who wrote The Kybalion?
It is signed “Three Initiates.” The author was almost certainly William Walker Atkinson, a Chicago New Thought writer, who listed it among his works in Who’s Who in America in 1912.
What are the seven principles of The Kybalion?
Mentalism, Correspondence, Vibration, Polarity, Rhythm, Cause and Effect, and Gender. The first is “THE ALL is MIND; The Universe is Mental.” Chapter II lists all seven and chapters VIII to XIII take them one at a time.
How long is The Kybalion?
An introduction and 15 chapters, about 33,000 words. That is roughly two and a half hours of reading. Our PDF edition runs to 118 pages.
Is The Kybalion an ancient Hermetic text?
No. It was written in Chicago and published in 1908. The sayings it quotes from an old book called “The Kybalion” have never been found anywhere else. One principle paraphrases the Emerald Tablet and three echo the ancient Hermetica. The rest, and its practical method, match the New Thought movement of its day.
Was The Kybalion published in 1908 or 1912?
1908. Many online copies, including Project Gutenberg’s, come from a 1912 printing and carry that date. Our edition follows the 1912 printing of the same text.
Sources
Where this comes from
- Three Initiates, The Kybalion, Yogi Publication Society, Chicago, first edition 1908: archive.org. Text of the 1912 printing: Project Gutenberg.
- Nicholas E. Chapel, “The Kybalion’s New Clothes,” Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition 24 (2013): jwmt.org.
- Philip Deslippe (ed.), The Kybalion: The Definitive Edition, Tarcher/Penguin, 2011: penguinrandomhouse.ca.
- Steele and Singer, “The Emerald Table,” 1928: PMC.
- William Walker Atkinson: Wikipedia.