Éliphas Lévi

Alphonse-Louis Constant, alias Éliphas Lévi in 1874

Éliphas Lévi, also Éliphas Lévi Zahed was the pseudonym used by the Catholic cleric Alphonse-Louis Constant (February 8, 1810, Paris - May 31, 1875, ibid.) to write and publish scripts of occult and magical contents from 1854 on. Lévi is said to have re-established occultism in the 19th century.

Life

Per aspera ...

Constant's father was a shoemaker in Paris. Although the material conditions of his family were rather limited, Constant attended a school for the poor free of charge run by a parish and was able to attend a seminary. Ordained as a sub-deacon in 1835, he was entrusted with teaching assignments. Since he fell in love with one of his pupils (whom he thought to be a reincarnation of the Virgin Mary), he left the seminary prior to the ordination to priesthood. The relationship, however, failed shortly after this.

Portrait of the young man, 1836

Disappointed with him leaving his education, Constant's mother committed suicide a few weeks later. Constant then saw a period of erratic quest. Within the following year, he made the acquaintance of Honoré de Balzac, befriended militant socialist Flora Tristan, and yet still dreamt of a future as a priest. This dream took him to St. Peter's Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in whose library of 20,000 volumes he became acquainted with scripts from early Christianity, by ancient gnostics, as well as the works of religious mystics. It was there he authored his first book "Le Rosier de Mai" which was as pious as it was romantic, but at the same time enthused about matters of love in such fancyful and vivid ways he was expelled from the monastery.

Since the archbishop of Paris, Denis Auguste Affre, interceded on his behalf, Constant received an appointment as a supervisor at Juilly College east of Paris. Treated badly by his seniors, he wrote his first furious pamphlet, La Bible de la liberté. Its publication in February 1841 not only caused a scandal within the church hierarchy, but also at the court in Versailles. Constant was arrested and sentenced to a prison term of eight months and a fine of 300 Francs. Unable to raise this sum, he served eleven months in prison, studying the works of Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg.

Following Constant's discharge, Bishop Affre recommended him to his colleague in Évreux, where, from February 1843, he preached so successfully that his fellow ministers jealously announced the death of abbé Constant in the newspapers. Despite a swift denial another scandal could not be avoided; the bishop, however, kept holding a protective hand over him, commissioning him with the realisation of a mural painting in a nunnery. Due to friends of his father's vouching for him, he almost was accepted as a member of the secretive Rosicrucian Order and rumour has it he even had prospects of being made a Grand Master. However, this did not materialise, and the mural likewise never was finished, as in early 1844, Constant's rapport to the bishop rapidly deteriorated due to a further publication, La Mère de Dieu, and Constant returned to Paris.

Deeply agitated by the death of his friend Flora Tristan, he published L'Émancipation de la femme ou le Testament de la paria, followed by his pacifist manifesto La Fête-Dieu ou le Triomphe de la paix religieuse a year later (1845). He intensely studied the humanistic and the utopian ideas of the time, particularly Saint-Simonianism and the theories of Charles Fourier. But neither could convince him: Saint Simon taught religion without religiousness, which he found repulsive. And Fourier's approach of man's necessity for acting out his drives he considered absurd and foolish.

In the small town Choisy-le-Roi, located a few kilometres outside of Paris, he used to meet with a supervisor of a girls' school (presumably, see note). But while they were making plans to get married, her being pregnant from him, one of her friends fell in love with Constant, a minor by the name of Marie-Noémi Cadiot. After some fiery love letters she escaped and hid in his attic. Faced with the choice between marrying her or being tried for seducing a minor, Constant married Cadiot on July 13, 1846. She gave birth to a daughter who died aged seven in 1854. Shortly after the death of their daughter, Cadiot left Constant.

The revolution of February 1848 brought more liberties for Alphonse Constant, too. Just one year ago he had once more been convicted for one of his pamphlets, La Voix de la famine, he was now able to freely act on the political stage. He was in charge of the left-wing magazine Le Tribun du peuple which faded away after the fourth issue, founded a political workers' association named (in revolutionary tradition) Le Club de la montagne, then in June, when the political reaction tried to turn back the wheel, he almost was shot by a firing squad. Another person was mistaken for him and executed in his place. Constant tried to be elected to the National Assemply, but a friend of his won the seat for which they competed, after which the long-term friendship broke up.

Financially, the Constant family was well off, since Marie-Noémie was now publishing literary feuilletons and received instructions from sculptor James Pradier who had already been promoted by the Roi Citoyen and now opened the doors to the society of Paris. In this connection, Constant received two government contracts for paintings for the Home Office.

... ad occultum

Baphomet, drawing in Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, 1856

Constant now began to turn to mysticism, theosophy, and occult knowledge in general. This had begun during his sojourn in Solesmes (1838-1839) and continued with his studies of Swedenborg as a convict in 1841, the contacts to the Rosicrucians (1843), and the studies of Rosenroth's Kabbala denudata (1850/51). He took up using the name of Éliphas Lévi Zahed as a pseudonym, bestowed on him by the Rosicrucians and allegedly a translation of his name to Hebrew. During this time he also began authoring Dogme et rituel de la haute magie later on viewed his main work.

In spring 1854, Lévi went to London where he made the acquaintance of then famous author Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Their common interest in the occult soon made them friends. Through Bulwer-Lytton's influence, he once more came into contact with Rosicrucian circles in which he succeeded in several alleged evocations, the most outstanding of which that of Apollonios of Tyana. During his times in London, Constant was also able to settle his private affairs in a favourable way: the young woman he had left in Choisy-le-Roi forgave him, and he accepted the illegitimate child as his. At the same time, the final separation from Marie-Noémi was realised with the help of a friend.

Back in Paris, Constant published the first volume of Dogme et rituel de la haute magie in 1854. In a number of essays, he documented his intensive studies of the Kabbala in a number of essays, all of which he published in the Revue philosophique et religieuse. The periodical was founded in 1855 by Constant, Belgian writer Camille Lemonnier and French philosopher Charles Fauvety, who managed the periodical during the three years of its existence. Constant additionally wrote several chansons, comparing Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, meanwhile emperor Napoléon III, to Caligula in one of them. This earned him another term in prison.

In 1859, at the age of 49 years, Constant saw an economical breakthrough: the publication of his History of Magic yielded some 1,000 Francs, the equivalent of more than 30,000 Euros in today's terms. L'Histoire de la magie was not only an economical success, but also gained him a wide recognition in the "esoteric" France, among them the physician Fernand Rozier who was to become a student of Lévi's. Eventually In March 1861, he was accepted into the Masonic Lodge La Rose du parfait silence and soon bestowed with the degree of a Master. A further book, La Clef des grands mystères, appeared in the same year,the last part of the trilogy that starts with Histoire de la magie and of which Dogme et rituel de la haute magie was conceived the second part.

Titel page of Le Grand Arcane, edition of 1910

Lévi now did much work, mainly as teacher for the high aristocracy, and his teaching the Kabbalah to the new bishop of Évreux speaks for his professional reputation. Financially he was well off and invested any surplus in his growing library. Lévi also started a correspondence with the Italian baronet Spedalieri, about whom nothing seems to have been passed on to us except that he became Lévi's most important patron and in reverse received a course on the Kabbalah in more than 1,000 letters. This exchange of letters lasted for almost thirteen years.

The years from 1861 were the most fruitful for his authorship. Le Sorcier de Meudon (1861) was followed by Fables et symboles a year later, containing extensive analyses of the symbolisms of Pythagoras, of the gospels, the talmud, and other sources. In 1865 he published Science des esprits, and Pierre Larousse asked him to contribute an essay on the Kabbalah for his Grand Dictionnaire. At the same time he started working on a monograph on the Zohar which only got published after his death.

Then in 1870 The siege of Paris in 1870 happened to cut off Lévi from allowances from his students, and during his service

with the National Guard a heart disease manifested. In May 1861, with the episode of the Commune having ended, Lévi found himself at the end of all material resources once again.

Éliphas Lévi on his deathbed, 1875

Although still continuing with his work (in December 1871 he completed the Grimoire franco-latomorum on rites of the French freemasons), his physical condition deteriorated increasingly. In 1873, L'Évangile de la science was written, followed by his last work Catéchisme de la paix in January 1875. On May 31, 1875 Éliphas Lévi died at the age of 65.

Reception

Portrait from 1872

In Second Empire Paris, Éliphas Lévi was a well known figure. His pursuit of esoteric matters, initially a rather casual interest, later provided him with a unique knowledge. By applying methods and forms of presentation of natural sciences to concepts of the supernatural, a connection between these two seemingly emerged, and the occult sciences took shape.

One reason for Éliphas Lévi's success may be seen in the fact that he was the first to follow this path consequently. He was the first after Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim to study occultism more intensely than just fleetingly and thus was able to draw from substantial sources. Due to the wide range of subjects covered as well as because of their comparative originality, his works influenced all notable mystics in the afermath. His inclination for eccentric appearances, calculated for effect and regardless of possible negative outcome, contributed to further boosting his popularity. Seven years after his death,Paris newspaper Le Figaro published an editorial on him.

According to Papus, the universal charm discovered by Lévi banning all evil spirits, provided it was drawn on pristine parchment in golden ink and carried in a golden silk bag.

Apart from Fernand Rozier mentioned above, further mystics particularly influenced by Lévi were:

• Gérard Encausse (1865-1916), publishing as Papus,
• Stanislas de Guaita (1861-1897),
• Joséphin Péladan (1858-1918), calling himself Sâr Mérodack Joséphin Péladan.

Among the English-language mystics he reached were:

• Helena Blavatsky (1831-1891),
• H.P. Lovecraft (1890-1937),
• Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), considering himself a reincarnation of Lévi.

Works

Having chosen Éliphas Lévi for his pseudonym, he no longer published under his common name. A similarly clear distinction may be observed regarding with regards to content: works of theosophical/occult contents are authored exclusively by Éliphas Lévi, while the political pamphlets and the Dictionnaire de la littérature chrétienne was authored by Alphonse-Louis Constant.

Alphonse-Louis Constant

1839	Le Rosier de mai
1841	La Bible de la liberté
	L'Assomption de la femme ou le Livre de l'amour
	Doctrines religieuses et sociales
1845	La Fête-Dieu ou le Triomphe de la paix religieuse
	Paix! Paix! Réprimande adressée par un abbé et un théologien à Timon qui n'est ni l'un ni l'autre
	Le Livre des larmes ou le Christ consolateur, Essai de conciliation entre l'Église catholique et la philosophie moderne
	Les Trois Harmonies
1846	La Dernière Incarnation
	La Voix de la famine
1847	Le Deuil de la Pologne. Protestation de la Démocratie française et du Socialisme universel
	Rabelais à la Basmette
	Les Trois Malfaiteurs
	Le Sorcier de la Devinière
1848	Two Chansons: La Marseillaise du peuple und Le Règne du peuple
	Le Testament de la liberté
1851	Dictionnaire de la littérature chrétienne
unknown	La Bible de l'humanité

Éliphas Lévi

1854	Dogme et rituel de la haute magie, Tome 1: Dogme
	La Clavicule universelle des clavicules de Salomon ou le Grimoire des Grimoires (published posthumously)
1856	Dogme et rituel de la haute magie, Tome 2: Rituel
1856 et seq.	Carnet de notes (published posthumously)
1860	La Clavicule prophétique des sept esprits de Jean Trithème (p.p.)
1861	Histoire de la magie, avec une exposition claire de ses procédés, de ses rites et de ses mystères. Paris: Germer-Baillère, 1861
	La clef des grands mystères suivant Hénoch, Abraham, Hermès Trismégiste et Salomon. Paris: Germer-Baillère, 1861.
	Le sorcier de Meudon. Paris: Librairie nouvelle, 1861
1861 ff.	Cours de philosophie occulte. Lettres au baron Spedalieri (until Feb. 1874, p.p.)
1862	La philosophie occulte. Fables et symboles, avec les explications. Paris: Germer-Baillère, 1862/ 63 (2 Bde.)
1863	Appel de la Pologne à la France par un Polonais
1864	La science des esprits. Paris: Germer-Baillère, 1864
1868/ 69	Le Grand Arcane ou l'Occultisme dévoilé. Paris: Chamuel, 1898 (p.p.)
1869/ 70	Le livre des Sages. Paris: Bibliothèque Chacornac, 1912 (p.p)
1870	Les Éléments de la Kabbale (p.p.)
1871	Les Portes de l'avenir ou les Dernières Paroles d'un voyant (p.p.)
	Le Grimoire franco-latomorum (p.p.)
1872 - 74	Le Voile du temple déchiré (p.p.)
1873	L'Évangile de la science (p.p.)
	La Religion de la science (p.p.)
	Les Paradoxes de la haute science (p.p.)
1874	La Sagesse des Anciens (p.p.)
	Le Livre d'Abraham le Juif retrouvé (p.p.)
1875	Le Catéchisme de la paix (p.p.)
unknown	Clefs majeures et clavicules de Salomon. Paris, 1895
unknown	Le Livre d'Hermès restitué et expliqué par Éliphas Lévi et commenté par Éliphas Ben Zahed
unknown	L'Annexe de Salomon

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