At the turn of the 20th Century, everything ancient was perceived by the masses to be of greater value and credibility than anything modern. It is possible that Atkinson’s choice to publish anonymously, and with such mystery, was a bid for greater acceptance of his ideas. Then, in a 1917 edition of the work in French, the translator’s introduction credits Atkinson as the original author. Dumont, and Three Initiates.įour years after the original publication, Atkinson claimed to be the sole author in a 1912 entry in Who’s Who In America. He also published under several pseudonyms, such as Yogi Ramacharaka, Magus Incognito, Theron Q. Atkinson published as many as 100 books during the last 30 years of his life, under his own name. He was a lawyer, a renowned occultist, and publisher through his Yogi Publication Society in Chicago. It is now irrefutably understood to have been authored alone by William Walker Atkinson (1862–1932).Ītkinson was a prolific and influential voice within the New Thought Movement in the early 20 th Century. The Kybalion: A Hermetic Philosophy, claimed it was written anonymously by “Three Initiates,” with intimations that it was an ancient text passed down through some secret tradition.

Witchcraft books will often make at least a passing mention of Hermes Trismegistus as the source of The Seven Hermetic Principles however, this is not the whole story.

The Kybalion by Three Initiates