The Hermetic Core

The origins of most all ancient spiritual texts are obscure and shrouded in myth, but none more so perhaps than what we have come to know as the Hermetic philosophy. Loosely attributed to Hermes Trismegistus-who may or may not have lived in ancient Egypt thousands of years ago, well before Biblical times or the birth of Buddha, and who may or may not be identical to the Egyptian god/king/scribe Thoth-the Hermetic philosophy consists of oral teachings that were never written down at the time, but which turn up in other writings throughout history, and which appear to be the esoteric core of every religion and spiritual tradition now known.
The speculative history of the Hermetic teachings are well documented elsewhere, and are briefly covered in the first chapter of The Kybalion in this book, so I won't go into it further here. My primary interest is in the truths revealed in the teachings themselves, and their potential usefulness to spiritual seekers in their quest for Absolute Truth.
The three Hermetic texts that have become the modern core of Hermetic studies are The Emerald Tablet, The Corpus Hermeticum, and The Kybalion, each having its origin in different periods of history. The Emerald Tablet is ancient, and perhaps the closest thing we have to the original words of Hermes/Thoth. The Corpus Hermeticum was "discovered" in the middle ages, and The Kybalion was written in 1908.
The Emerald Tablet has been translated many times throughout history, including by Indres Shah, Madame Blavatsky, and Sir Isaac Newton. The translation offered here is inspired by, and includes elements of a dozen of these translations.
The Corpus Hermeticum was discovered in 1460 by a monk, Leonardo of Pistoia, who was sent out by Cosimo de Medici, the ruler of Florence, to search Europe's monasteries for forgotten ancient writings. When it was presented to Cosimo, he immediately instructed his scholar Marsilio Ficino to suspend his project of translating the complete dialogues of Plato and begin translation of what he considered a more significant work.
The version offered here is informed by multiple English translations, and is what I believe the most accurate, poetic, and readable version available.
The Kybalion is a straightforward dissertation mysteriously authored by the "The Three Initiates" at the beginning of the twentieth century. The version offered here has been lightly edited for slightly more accessible readability.
The identity of The Three Initiates has been the subject of much secrecy and rumor since The Kybalion first appeared, but it is now believed that William Walker Atkinson was one of or perhaps the sole author of the book. Atkinson was a pioneer of the New Thought movement who wrote an estimated one hundred books during his lifetime.
Again, while the history and attributions of these works may be interesting, what's important is the usefulness of the content, which I believe is inestimable. A thoughtful study of these three texts will provide the earnest seeker of Truth with a wealth of inspiration and illumination.