Lévi, Éliphas (18101875)
Pseudonym of Alphonse-Louis Constant, a French occultist
of the nineteenth century, whose work stands as the fountainhead
of the contemporary magical revival. He was born 1875
in Paris, the son of a shoemaker, and through the good offices
of the parish priest was educated for the church at St. Sulpice.
In due course he became a deacon and took the required vow
of celibacy, but shortly thereafter he was expelled from St. Sulpice
for teaching doctrines contrary to those of the church.
Obscure for a time, he emerged about 1839 under the influence
of a political and socialistic prophet named Ganneau.
Lévis pamphlet entitled The Gospel of Liberty earned him sixmonths
imprisonment. In Paris he married a 16-year-old
woman who later had the marriage annulled. It was probably
not until after she left him that he launched his study of the occult
sciences; his writings previous to this time show little trace
of occult influence.
In 1850 he contributed a Dictionary of Christian Literature to
a series of theological encyclopedias published by Abbé Migne.
Within a year, however, Lévi was known to be giving lessons on
occultism to pupils. According to a paragraph by M. Chauliac
The Abbé Constant, for a second time repudiating his name,
assumed the title of the Magus Éliphas Lévi, giving consultations
in great number to credulous clients, who paid as much
as twenty-five francs a time for a prediction from Lucifer.
There is no evidence that Lévi was actually ordained as a priest,
but the title Abbé was normally given to those wearing a clerical
style of costume, and Lévi wore a quasi-clerical garb in his
capacity of a Magus or master of magic.
In 1853 he traveled to London and met Lord Bulwer Lytton,
whom he assisted in various magical evocations and theories.
These were later fictionalized in Lyttons occult stories
Zanoni A Strange Story (1842) and The Haunted and the Haunters
(1857). Lévis own works on occultism, which had their shortcomings,
nevertheless played a prominent part in the occult revival.
(The word occult is reported to have been coined by Lévi.)
However, Lévi may best be remembered for his discovery of the
connection between the 22 cards of the tarots major arcana
and the Kabbalahs Tree of Life, a connection that is still accepted
today.
Lévi died in April 1875. There is an interesting firsthand account
of Lévi during his lifetime by Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie,
who visited the magus in Paris in 1861. (See Occult Review, December
1921.)
LeShan, Lawrence (L.) Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology 5th Ed.
908
Sources
Lévi, Éliphas. La Clef des grands mystères. Translated as The
Key of the Mysteries. 1861. Translated by Aleister Crowley. London
Rider, 1959. Reprint, New York Samuel Weiser, 1970.
. Dogme de la haute magie. N.p., 1854.
. Histoire de la magie. Translated as The History of
Magic. 1860. Trans. Arthur Edward Waite. London W. Rider,
1913. Reprint, New York Samuel Weiser, 1971.
. The Magical Ritual of the Regnum Sanctum. New York
Samuel Weiser, 1970.
. The Mysteries of Magic A Digest of the Writings of
Éliphas Lévi. Trans. Arthur Edward Waite. 1886. Reprint, New
Hyde Park, N.Y. University Books, 1974.
. The Paradox of the Highest Science. Adyar, India
Theosophical Publishing House. Reprint, Mokelumne Hill,
Calif. Health Research, 1969.
. Rituel de la haute magie. N.p., 1856.
. Transcendental Magic. Translation of Dogme de la
haute magie and Rituel de la haute magie. Translated by Arthur
Edward Waite. London George Redway, 1896. Reprint, New
York Samuel Weiser, 1970.
Shaw, Eva. Divining the Future Prognostication from Astrology
to Zoomancy. New York Facts on File, 1995.
Williams, Thomas A. Eliphas Levi Master of Occultism. University,
Ala. University of Alabama Press, 1975.
