From the book
The Kybalion
Three Initiates · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordPolarity is the relation of opposed ends within a shared kind or scale.
- In The KybalionII introduces paired opposites and illustrates them through heat and cold, light and darkness, and love and hate.
- In this editionPolarity names the proposed relation; polarization names an operation performed through it.
- A place to readII.15: “"Everything is Dual; everything has poles; everything has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are” …
Meaning
Polarity is the relation of opposed ends within a shared kind or scale. The principle makes a difference of state into a possible path of transformation, rather than an absolute separation.
Use in the book
II introduces paired opposites and illustrates them through heat and cold, light and darkness, and love and hate. X develops the temperature model and extends it to sizes, directions, emotional states, and judgments of good and bad.
The chapter restricts the proposed art: a change must remain within a relevant kind. A state is not transformed into an unrelated direction or sound. The practical method of polarization then chooses a desired pole and attempts to alter the present state along that continuum.
Places to read
- II The Seven Hermetic Principles · Block 15“"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” …
- II The Seven Hermetic Principles · Block 16… “truth that "everything is dual"; "everything has two poles"; "everything has its pair of opposites," all of which were old Hermetic axioms. It explains the old paradoxes, that have perplexed so” …
- X Polarity · Block 1“"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” …
- X Polarity · Block 4… “thermometer shows many degrees of temperature, the lowest pole being called "cold," and the highest "heat." Between these two poles are many degrees of "heat" or "cold," call them either and” …
- X Polarity · Block 8… “may be changed, that is, may have their polarity changed. Thus Love never becomes East or West, or Red or Violet-but it may and often does turn into Hate and likewise” …
- X Polarity · Block 10… “the phenomena of the Physical Plane, the two poles may be classified as Positive and Negative, respectively. Thus Love is Positive to Hate; Courage to Fear; Activity to Non-Activity, etc., etc.” …
In this edition
Polarity names the proposed relation; polarization names an operation performed through it. The two words are not treated as interchangeable.
Reading the argument
Some pairs are established on a measurable scale; others are verbal contrasts, moral judgments, or complicated emotions. Their similar grammatical form does not guarantee identical underlying relations. The principle's application needs to be considered separately in each case.
Polarity
“Polarity” — 37 occurrences in 25 text blocks: II.3, 14, 16, 19; III.12–13; VI.2–3; VIII.30–31; X.2–3, 7–9, 11–12; XI.2; XII.10, 12; XIV.5; XV.6–7, 9, 11.
poles
“poles” — 32 occurrences in 22 text blocks: II.13, 15–16, 19; VI.2; VII.6; VIII.31; IX.3; X.1–5, 7, 9–12; XI.2; XII.10; XIII.5; XV.7.
opposites
“opposites” — 14 occurrences in 7 text blocks: II.15–16; X.1–3, 7; XI.2.
pole
“pole” — 34 occurrences in 18 text blocks: II.19; III.1; VI.15; VII.10; IX.3; X.4, 10; XI.2, 5, 7, 10, 12; XII.11; XIII.6; XV.6–8, 11.