Mind (as well as metals and elements) may be transmuted, from state to state; degree to degree; condition to condition; pole to pole; vibration to vibration. True Hermetic Transmutation is a Mental Art.
THE KYBALION
This chapter begins by linking ancient Hermetic wisdom and mystical subjects practices to modern scientific one. In particular, the book focus on the emergence of chemistry, astronomy and modern psychology from alchemy, astrology and “mystic psychology.” This makes Hermes the single most important founding figure of the modern world. However, the book implies that there was something lost in the refinement of these field as it claims that the ancient scholars also had a firm understanding of the modern scientific fields, including certain fields that are overlooked today. To this end, the book implies that one should look to the past and rediscover older knowledge, particularly that which relates the mind to matter.
The older subjects of alchemy, astrology and mystic psychology are described as being the “transcendental” versions of chemistry, astronomy and modern psychology. The latter subjects are said to only deal with the material world. The ancient Hermetists are said to have both Inner Knowledge and Outer Knowledge. That is to say, they were able to externalize the internal, and vice versa. The name the Kybalion gives to this process is Mental Transmutation. Formally, the Kybalion define it as, “the art of changing and transforming mental states, forms and conditions, into others.” It is also describes as the “Art of Mental Chemistry” and a form of Mystic Psychology.
The Kybalion goes on to say that this is the “Magic” that the ancients talked about. By using the first Hermetic Principle of Mentalism, one is able to change the Universe since the Universe is Mental. If one is able to change mental conditions then one is able to control the material conditions around them and the minds of others.
Applications of Mental Transmutation
A bolder claim derived from this is the existence of Mental Alchemists proficient enough to control Nature itself, even at the scales of storms and earthquakes. Moreover, these Masters are said to be currently existing today. We are told that such Masters rarely concern themselves with revealing themselves, instead focusing on the secluded study on the “Path of Attainment.” As such, these Master serve to be aspirational figures of the possibilities of living in a Mental Universe. At any rate, even newer Initiates and Teachers are able to enact changes that form the basis of psychic phenomena and other fields which were emerging under the new-thought schools of thought. This makes sense in context of when the book was written as the scientific study on the existence of mental phenomena was very strong at the time.
The Kybalion was then perhaps written as an evolution on the contemporary field of New-Thought as it goes on to critique the use of affirmations and denials as, “imperfect and unscientific,” formulas of The Hermetic Art. It also stated that by correctly using Hermetic Methods you could also change the state of mind of others and protect ourself from being changed. This is a somewhat startling claim but the Kybalion assures that readers that the use of this principle for good and evil are extensions of the Hermetic Principle of Polarity. The book then stresses that having an understanding of the Underlying Principles is the, “Master-Key that will unlock the many doors of the Principle of Polarity.” Thus we can see the book builds up the concept through the use of its axioms on subsequent ones and this first application is the first step to understanding Hermetic Philosophy.