Carl Strube

Born Alphonse Louis Constant in 1810, Éliphas Lévi was a prolific French writer, poet, and esotericist. He initially pursued a path toward the Catholic priesthood but left the seminary before ordination. After abandoning this career, he became deeply involved in ceremonial magic and occult studies, adopting the pen name Éliphas Lévi. He authored over twenty books exploring subjects such as magic, Kabbalah, alchemy, and occultism, gaining recognition among esoteric circles in Paris and London. Lévi's intellectual development was shaped by various thinkers, including Joseph de Maistre, Paracelsus, and Plato. He also expressed critical views on Freemasonry, believing its original symbolic meanings had been lost, and diverged from Spiritualism by positing that only mental images and astral forces persisted after death, which could be manipulated by magicians.

Lévi's life included periods of financial hardship and spiritual crisis, leading him to embrace esotericism more profoundly in his mid-forties. His writings and ideas, particularly concerning magic and the Tarot, significantly impacted later occult movements like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and figures such as Aleister Crowley and Helena Blavatsky. He is also credited with defining the symbolic meanings of the pentagram, differentiating between its upright and inverted forms. Lévi presented himself as a humble scholar offering knowledge for humanity's benefit, without claiming initiation into secret societies.

Alphonse Louis Constant, later known as Éliphas Lévi, was born in Paris in 1810 to a shoemaker. He entered the Saint Sulpice seminary in 1832 with the intention of becoming a Catholic priest, remaining a cleric and sub-deacon. However, he left the seminary shortly before his ordination, a decision that caused him significant personal struggle due to his prior vows. Despite leaving the priestly path, he retained a lifelong appreciation for the synthesis of faith and science. His departure from the seminary, possibly due to 'strange views on doctrinal subjects' or 'doubts and scruples,' led to poverty, forcing him to work as a tutor. He was influenced by mystic Simon Ganneau and briefly joined a monastery in 1839 but left due to discipline. His early work, 'La Bible de la liberté,' resulted in his imprisonment in 1841.

Around the age of 40, Lévi experienced a profound spiritual and financial crisis that led him more deeply into the esoteric and occult milieu of the mid-19th century. He adopted the pen name Éliphas Lévi, adapting his given names into Hebrew. His prolific writing career produced over twenty books on magic, Kabbalah, and occultism. Significant works include 'Histoire de la magie' (1860), 'La clef des grands mystères' (1861), 'Fables et symboles' (1862), and 'La science des esprits' (1865). His book 'Le grand arcane, ou l'occultisme Dévoilé,' though written in 1868, was published posthumously. Lévi's magical teachings gained considerable renown, especially after his death, partly due to the contemporary popularity of Spiritualism, though he critiqued its tenets.

Lévi's magical philosophy integrated Kabbalah, alchemy, and Tarot, distinguishing him from contemporary Spiritualism. He posited that after death, only mental images and 'astral forces' remained, capable of manipulation by skilled magicians, rather than autonomous spirits. He viewed phenomena like table-turning as nascent magnetic currents. Lévi presented his teachings as a means to 'the good of humanity,' without personal gain or claim to secret society initiation. He notably incorporated Tarot into his magical system, making it a central element for Western magicians. His ideas profoundly influenced organizations like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and figures such as Aleister Crowley and Helena Blavatsky. He also established the symbolic meanings of the pentagram, associating an upright point with good and a downward point with evil.

“I ceased being a freemason, at once, because the Freemasons, excommunicated by the Pope, did not believe in tolerating Catholicism ... [and] the essence of Freemasonry is the tolerance of all beliefs.”

“The phenomena which quite recently have perturbed America and Europe, those of table-turning and fluidic manifestations, are simply magnetic currents at the beginning of their formation, appeals on the part of Nature inviting us, for the good of humanity, to reconstitute great sympathetic and religious chains.”

“A poor and obscure scholar [who] has found the lever of Archimedes, and he offers it to you for the good of humanity alone, asking nothing whatsoever in exchange.”