Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual
Eliphas Levi
Language: English
Pages: 474
ISBN: 1891396951
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
2011 Reprint of 1958 London Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This is Levi's first treatise on magic and was translated into English by Arthur Edward Waite as "Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual". Its famous opening lines present the single essential theme of Occultism and gives some of the flavor of its atmosphere: "Behind the veil of all the hieratic and mystical allegories of ancient doctrines, behind the darkness and strange ordeals of all initiations, under the seal of all sacred writings, in the ruins of Nineveh or Thebes, on the crumbling stones of old temples and on the blackened visage of the Assyrian or Egyptian sphinx, in the monstrous or marvelous paintings which interpret to the faithful of India the inspired pages of the Vedas, in the cryptic emblems of our old books on alchemy, in the ceremonies practised at reception by all secret societies, there are found indications of a doctrine which is everywhere the same and everywhere carefully concealed. ( From the Introduction)". Lévi's version of magic became a great success, especially after his death. That Spiritualism was popular on both sides of the Atlantic from the 1850s contributed to this success. His magical teachings were free from obvious fanaticisms; he had nothing to sell, and did not pretend to be the initiate of some ancient or fictitious secret society. He incorporated the Tarot cards into his magical system, and as a result the Tarot has been an important part of the paraphernalia of Western magicians. He had a deep impact on the magic of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and later on the ex-Golden Dawn member Aleister Crowley. He was also the first to declare that a pentagram or five-pointed star with one point down and two points up represents evil, while a pentagram with one point up and two points down represents good. It was largely through the occultists inspired by him that Lévi is remembered as one of the key founders of the twentieth century revival of magic.
Modern Sex Magick: Secrets of Erotic Spirituality
A warning of Nature, who will not lend herself to them for these anomalous works; but if they persist in their curiosity, they have only to start afresh. The triad, being the foundation of magical doctrine must be necessarily observed in evocations; for it is the symbolical number of realization and effect. The letter is commonly traced upon kabalistic pantacles which have the fulfilment of a desire for their object. It is also the sign of the scapegoat in mystic Kabalah,1 and Saint-Martin.
Two definitions of the Great Secret which scarcely belong to one another, though they appear in the same chapter: (1) The Great Secret of virtue, virtuality and life—whether temporal or eternal—may be formulated as the art of balancing forces to equilibrate movement; (2) the Great Secret of Magic, the One and Incommunicable Secret, has for its object to place in a sense divine power at the service of the will of man.—Le Grand Arcane, PP. 37, 38. 1 “The great, indicible, perilous,.
The universal key of magical works is that of all ancient religious dogmas—the key of the Kabalah and the Bible, the Little Key of Solomon. Now, this Clavicle, regarded as lost for centuries, has been recovered by us, and we have been able to open the sepulchres of the ancient world, to make the dead speak, to behold the monuments of the past in all their splendour, to understand the enigmas of every sphinx and to penetrate all sanctuaries. Among the ancients the use of this key was permitted to.
An audience or because death broke up his mission, and la vraie le'gitimite was not restored, so the disciple returned to Paris, where, in spite of any pledge implied by his diaconate, he effected a run away match with Mile Noémie Cadiot, a beautiful girl of sixteen. This lady bore him two children, who died in tender years, and subsequently she deserted him. Her husband is said to have tried all expedients to procure her return,2 but in vain, and she even asserted her position further by.
Been said by Alfred de Vigny that legend is frequently truer than history, because it is concerned with the genius of great men and nations, not with their acts, which are often incomplete and abortive. This fine thought applies above all to the Gospel, because it is no mere recital of what was, it is the sublime revelation of what is and shall always be. Ever will the Saviour of the world be adored by kings of intelligence, represented by the Magi; ever will He multiply Eucharistic Bread to.