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Difference between revisions of "Éliphas Lévi"
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===Authorship=== | ===Authorship=== | ||
Lévi began to write ''Histoire de la magie'' in 1860. The following year, in 1861, he published a sequel to ''Dogme et rituel'', ''La clef des grands mystères'' ("The Key to the Great Mysteries") | Lévi began to write ''Histoire de la magie'' in 1860. The following year, in 1861, he published a sequel to ''Dogme et rituel'', ''La clef des grands mystères'' ("The Key to the Great Mysteries"). In 1868, he wrote ''Le grand arcane, ou l'occultisme Dévoilé'' ("The Great Secret, or Occultism Unveiled"); this, however, was only published posthumously in 1898. | ||
The thesis of [[ritual magic|magic]] propagated by Éliphas Lévi was of significant renown, especially after his death. That [[Spiritualism]] was popular on both sides of the Atlantic from the 1850s contributed to this success. However, Lévi diverged from spiritualism and criticized it, because he believed only mental images and "astral forces" persisted after an individual died, which could be freely manipulated by skilled [[magician]]s, unlike the autonomous spirits that Spiritualism posited. | The thesis of [[ritual magic|magic]] propagated by Éliphas Lévi was of significant renown, especially after his death. That [[Spiritualism]] was popular on both sides of the Atlantic from the 1850s contributed to this success. However, Lévi diverged from spiritualism and criticized it, because he believed only mental images and "astral forces" persisted after an individual died, which could be freely manipulated by skilled [[magician]]s, unlike the autonomous spirits that Spiritualism posited. | ||
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Astral is an adjective meaning: "Connected to, consisting of, stars." Levi used the term "Astral," not only as a synonym for "psychic force," but because he believed in the ancient and medieval superstition of [[astrology]]. As Levi wrote himself: "Nothing is indifferent in Nature, a pebble more or less upon a road may crush or profoundly alter the fortunes of the greatest men and even of the greatest empires, much more then the position of a particular star can not be indifferent to the destinies of the child who is being, and who enters by the fact of his birth into the universal harmony of the sidereal astrological world." | Astral is an adjective meaning: "Connected to, consisting of, stars." Levi used the term "Astral," not only as a synonym for "psychic force," but because he believed in the ancient and medieval superstition of [[astrology]]. As Levi wrote himself: "Nothing is indifferent in Nature, a pebble more or less upon a road may crush or profoundly alter the fortunes of the greatest men and even of the greatest empires, much more then the position of a particular star can not be indifferent to the destinies of the child who is being, and who enters by the fact of his birth into the universal harmony of the sidereal astrological world." | ||
==Important works== | |||
* ''Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie'' [''Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual''] (1854–1856) | |||
* ''Histoire de la magie'' [''The History of Magic''] (1860) | |||
* ''La clef des grands mystères'' [''The Key to the Great Mysteries''] (1861) | |||
* ''Fables et symboles'' [''Stories and Symbols''] (1862) | |||
* ''Le grand arcane, ou l'occultisme dévoilé'' [''The Great Secret, or Occultism Unveiled''] (1868) | |||
* ''The Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum'' (1896) | |||