There Is Power In Names
The writers of the Kybalion tell us that the content of their book was garnered from the teaching of Hermes Trismegistus. The book, published in 1908 by the “Three Initiates,” purports to disclose secret teachings that were only meant for the ears of initiates who studied in the ancient Kemite Mystery Schools.
The Priest who instructed the initiates in the ancient schools of Kemet taught their students orally and using symbols, mythology, and analogue. They did not have a published curriculum; their teachings were secret and meant only for initiates, who were selected to matriculate through their advanced schools of wisdom and knowledge.
The Three Initiates, they call themselves, subtitled their work, “A Study of The Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece.” But, there was no Hermetic Teaching in ancient Kemet/Egypt. There were only the teachings of the Priest, whose sources of knowledge and wisdom can only be attributed to thousands of years of contemplation, observation; and things that are unknown to us.
To be true to the origin of the content of the Kybalion; it is my opinion that their work should rightly be titled the Teaching of Djhuiti. Djhuiti is the Neteru (god) of science, astronomy, architecture, geometry, measurement, medicine, religion, writing, and speech.
Over a period of thousands of years, Kemet was a magnet that attracted the attention of foreign nations. That led to invasions, instability, and foreign rulers on the throne. The foreign presence became the impetus of cultural corruption and historical misinformation; e.g., Kemet, an African nation of Black people, would become Egypt, a nation of Arabs, Greeks, and Europeans.
The Greeks changed Djhuiti’s name to Thoth, and then later the Greeks identified Thoth with their own god Hermes. To distinguish the Egyptian Hermes from their own, they gave him the title “Trismegistus,” meaning “Thrice-Great,” to honor his wisdom.
While there are books (one such book: George G. James; Stolen Legacy) that could be written on name changes and stolen history, I only bring this up because I think the information contained in the Kybalion is worth sharing with Black people throughout Africa and the African Diaspora.
Priestly instruction and oral teachings were lost with the sanctioned killings of Kemite priests, likewise, source documents were translated into Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, etc., destroying the original meaning and erasing the origin of ancient mysteries, symbols, knowledge, and wisdom.
After centuries of ravaging, rape, and theft; Kemite Temples, Shrines, and Pyramids still overflow with knowledge, wisdom, and symbols that contain information about human beings who exist in the cycle of past, present, and future.
And so, the Kybalion, Hermetica, Asclepius, and other Hermeticdocuments all contain parallels, corollaries, symbols, thoughts, information, and ideas derived from the ancient teaching of Kemet.
It is written in the Kybalion that the Kemite Priest, “Did not believe in “casting pearls before swine,” but rather held to the teaching “milk for babes”; meat for strong men.” Both of these maxims were used by bible redactors but originated in ancient Kemet thousands of years before the Christian era.
And, for those still reading, the Kybalion says: “Where fall footsteps of the Master, the ears of those ready for his Teaching open wide.” And again: “When the ears of the student are ready to hear, then cometh the lips to fill them with wisdom.
“The lips of Wisdom are closed, except to the ears of Understanding.”
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The Seven Hermetic Principles
- “The Principle of Mentalism; The All Is Mind; The Universe is Mental”
The Principle embodies the truth that “All is Mind.” It explains that “The All” is “Spirit” which in itself is Unknowable And Undefinable, but which may be considered and thought of as A Universal, Infinite, Living Mind. It explains that all the phenomenal world or universe is simply a Mental Creation of “The All,” subject to the Laws of Created Things, and the universe, as a whole, and in parts or units, has its existence in the Mind of “The All”, in which Mind we live and move and have our being.
- The Principle of Correspondence; “As above, so below; as below so above.”
This Principle embodies the truth that there is always a Correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of Being and Life. There are planes beyond our knowing, but when we apply the Principle of Correspondence to them we are able to understand much that would otherwise be unknowable to us.
This Principle is of universal application and manifestation, on the various planes of the material, mental, and spiritual universe — it is a Universal Law.
- The Principle of Vibration; “Nothing rest; everything moves; everything vibrates.”
This Principle explains that the differences between different manifestations of Matter, Energy, Mind, and even Spirit, result largely from varying rates of Vibration. From “The All,” which is Pure Spirit, down to the grossest form of Matter, all is in vibration — the higher the vibration, the higher the position in the scale.
- The Principle of Polarity; ‘Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same; opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree; extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; and paradoxes may be reconciled.”
It explains paradoxes, e.g., opposites are the same, differing only in degree; the pair of opposites may be reconciled; extremes meet; everything is and isn’t at the same time; all truths are but half-truths; every truth is half-false; there are two sides to everything.
Where does darkness leave off, and light begin? What is the difference between large and small? Between hard and soft? Between black and white? Between sharp and dull? Between noise and quiet? Between high and low? Between positive and negative?
The same Principle operates on the Mental Plane; e.g., love and hate, two mental states apparently totally different. And yet there are degrees of hate and degrees of love, and a middle point in which we use the terms “like and dislike,” which shade into each other so gradually that sometimes we are at a loss to know whether we “like” or “dislike” or “neither.”
It is possible to change the vibrations of hate to the vibrations of love, in one’s own mind, and in the minds of others.
- The Principle of Rhythm; “Everything flows, out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensates.”
The Principle embodies the truth that in everything there is manifested a measured motion, to the fro; a flow and inflow; a swing and backward and forward; a pendulum-like movement; a tide-like ebb and flow; a high-tide and low-tide; between the two poles which exist in accordance with the Principle of Polarity described a moment ago. There is always an action and reaction; an advance and a retreat; a rising and a sinking.
- The Principle of Cause and Effect; “Every Cause has its Effect; Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes Law.”
This Principle embodies the fact that there is a Cause for every Effect; and Effect from every Cause. It explains that: “Everything happens according to Law,” that nothing ever “merely happens;” that there is no such thing a Chance; that while there are various planes of Cause and Effect, the higher dominating the lower planes, still nothing ever entirely escapes the Law.
- The Principle of Gender; “Gender is in everything; everything has its Masculine and Feminine Principles; Gender manifest on all planes.”
This Principle embodies the truth that there is Gender manifested in everything — the Masculine and Feminine Principles ever at work. This is true not only of the Physical Plane but of the Mental and even Spiritual Planes.
The Principle of Gender works ever in the direction of generation, regeneration, and creation. Everything, and every person, contains the two Elements or Principles, within it, him or her.
