And so, on only a hunch, Mitch and I set off to Cairo, Giza and Luxor armed with only a small camera and a carry on….
I knew I wanted to set much of the film in ancient Egypt, as that is where hermeticism has its roots. I was coming in with a very basic understanding of the book’s principles (I give Mitch many thanks here for putting the book’s message into “plain speech”).
How does one take a concept such as “As above, so below,” or, “The universe is mental,” and translate its deeper meaning for the screen? The second challenge was the expectation of the culture behind the book itself, one that is held in the highest esteem to students of the occult and other new age disciplines. First, The Kybalion is a book of complex philosophies that we needed to expand visually. So, there were several problems I realized I was facing. But when the film’s investor offered me full creative control and a decent budget (something any independent filmmaker can appreciate) and under the guidance of Mitch, who is a genius at distilling down esoteric concepts, I agreed. But in 15 years, I’d successfully side-stepped doing long-form to avoid being married to one particular topic for too long a period of time. The subject matter was intriguing to me: seven principles of ancient hermeticism for the modern world. So, a few years back when my friend and long-time collaborator, Mitch Horowitz, came to with me with a proposition to direct a feature-length adaptation of a 1908 occult manuscript, The Kybalion, I was torn. Nowadays, what could be a compelling 30 to 40-minute masterpiece is typically and unnecessarily stretched out into six one-hour long episodes across several seasons. Short, filmmaker….” But in all honesty I am part of a very small demographic of film makers who prefer making short-form docs, most of my films being between four and 20 minutes. Standing at just 5’6”, I often jokingly refer to myself as “Ronni Thomas.
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