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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
@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.
Post automatically merged:
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.
Post automatically merged:
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
Thank u so much for your answer!! I already knew "digital ambler" but the fact that u talk about him comfort me in the fact that his blog is amazing!
I am also thankful for ur talk about the kybalion, as I read it a long time ago, I in fact had some negative opinions on it but as it is such a reputable source I just preferred to be quiet, and thought that perhaps that I was the issue.
The original Order of Nine Angles material outlined in Nasz-Dom by the Black Glyph Society (available from Welib), David Myatt's 'The Numinous Way' - or the Corpus Themeticum by the Temple of THEM (uploaded to the Wizard Forums library) are modern-day pathways of Hermeticism.
Thank u so much for your answer!! I already knew "digital ambler" but the fact that u talk about him comfort me in the fact that his blog is amazing!
I am also thankful for ur talk about the kybalion, as I read it a long time ago, I in fact had some negative opinions on it but as it is such a reputable source I just preferred to be quiet, and thought that perhaps that I was the issue.
I'm far from being an expert in Hermeticism (I wish I were, because I know very little), but I'm really glad my comment was helpful. And yeah, DA is a great blog (and I think its dislike of The Kybalion is pretty well justified). I think it's always a good idea to go back to the classics and then branch out from there. Honestly, I feel like one lifetime isn't enough to truly understand those classical texts, the Corpus Hermeticum, the Emerald Tablet,and so on
The original Order of Nine Angles material outlined in Nasz-Dom by the Black Glyph Society (available from Welib), David Myatt's 'The Numinous Way' - or the Corpus Themeticum by the Temple of THEM (uploaded to the Wizard Forums library) are modern-day pathways of Hermeticism.
With respect, I think this framing conflates distinct genealogies. Taking the three sources in turn:
"Nasz-Dom" / Black Glyph Society: This material originates from the Order of Nine Angles (O9A/ONA) tradition. The O9A is documented by researchers, journalists, and law enforcement (including the US Department of Justice, in the Melzer prosecution) as a Satanist-neo-Nazi network founded in Britain in the early 1970s, whose core doctrine holds that Western civilization must collapse to give way to an "Imperium" tied to a Nazi revival, and whose texts have been cited as an influence in multiple acts of terrorism. Wikipedia (i know, it`s just wiki) itself notes the O9A "exhibits Hermetic and modern pagan elements" which is precisely the issue: borrowing Hermetic vocabulary is not the same as belonging to the Hermetic lineage.
David Myatt / "The Numinous Way" Myatt has a documented history as a British neo-Nazi activist, including authorship of A Practical Guide to Aryan Revolution, cited as an influence on the 1999 London nail bomber. After a period as a practicing Muslim (during which he reportedly encouraged violent jihad), he announced in 2010 that he had developed a personal philosophy he called "The Numinous Way," which scholars have characterized as a form of Hellenistic pantheism, not as a school within the Hermetic corpus or its Renaissance continuation.
Temple of THEM / "Corpus Themeticum" :Academic sources list the Temple of THEM (Australia) explicitly as one of the groups that adopted and freely appropriated O9A publications, alongside the Tempel ov Blood in the US. It's a downstream offshoot of the same network, not an independent Hermetic current.
By contrast, Hermeticism as a historical tradition refers to the Corpus Hermeticum and related texts , composed in Greco-Egyptian late antiquity (roughly 1st–3rd c. CE), concerned with divine unity, the correspondence between microcosm and macrocosm, and the soul's ascent, revived in the Renaissance through Ficino's 1463 translation, and continued since without a central clergy or creed.
None of the three cited authors situate themselves within that textual or interpretive lineage; Ficino, Bruno, the Golden Dawn's Hermetic curriculum, or contemporary academic treatments (Copenhaver, Fowden). They're a distinct 20th/21st-century occultist current that uses Hermetic terminology alongside explicitly neo-Nazi and Satanist doctrinal content. Calling them "modern pathways of Hermeticism" erases that distinction rather than describing it.
There's no respect shown here. Just you and your orthodox AI's biases. Anti-Themitism.
I spent 28+ years personally investigating and exploring the Septenary Way to know truths for myself. And wrote several thousand pages in reply. I did not spit out or borrow a conclusion that was not even mine within seconds as an acceptable explanation for something I was ignorant of. The dedication to reveal Theos to others, by walking many paths personally, through trials and tribulations, and speaking from experience in perfecting the Stone, is the quintessence of Hermeticism. THEM is concerned with divine unity and revealing the nature of the soul; see for yourself or remain infantilised by others' opinions.
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