The mysteries of magic:a digest of the writings of Eliphas Levi [pseud.]
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VA -Sf^R3K^' Y1' *^l%^0. • '.■?w* ^ * v?w.* .«Y ^ *. ^ (XL|X THE MYSTERIES OF MAGIC A DIGEST OF THE WRITINGS OF E LIP HAS LEVI WITH BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ESSAY BY ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE / SECOND EDITION REVISED AND ENLARGED “Mon livre sera sans portae pour mon siecle . . . mais que mimporte? J’ai vou6 ma vie a la v<Srit6, et je la dirai pour qui voudra et saura l’entendre. Si ce n’est pas dans UN jour, ce sera dans un an, si ce'n’est pas dans UN AN, CE SERA DANS UN SIECLE, MAIS JE SUIS TRANQUILLE CAR JE SAIS QU’ON Y viENDRA.’’ — La Science des Esprits , p. 23. LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TROBNER & CO. I »9 7 C74~ \rn 5^534^ t, 37 The Memory of ALPHONSE LOUIS CONSTANT 5 bebicate tbts boob CONTENTS PAGE Preface to the Second Edition. xi Biographical and Critical Essay— § i. The Life of Alphonse Louis Constant. i § 2. Notes on the Mysteries of Magic as expounded in the Occult Philosophy of £liphas Levi. .10 PART I The Threshold of Magical Science I. Definitions of Magic ...... 42 II. Qualifications of the Magus. .49 III. The Distinction between Magic and Mysticism. 54 PART II Doctrines of Occult Force I. The Hermetic Axiom. .61 II. Theory of Will-Power ..... 62 III. The Translucid ... ... 66 IV. The Great Magic Agent, or the Mysteries of the Astral Light 68 V. Magical Equilibrium ...... 74 VI. The Magic Chain ...... 78 VII. The Great Magical Arcanum. .83 PART III The Written Tradition of Magic I. The Kabbalah ...... 89 II. Religion from the Kabbalistic Standpoint. 105 III. Kabbalistic Classics — The Talmud and Talmudists. 112 IV. Kabbalistic Dogmas. .120 V. On Numbers and their Virtues. .134 vii CONTENTS viii PART IV The Doctrine of Spiritual Essences, or Kabbalistic Pneumatics PAGE Introduction. .142 I. Immortality ....... 144 II. The Astral Body ...... 146 III. Unity and Solidarity of Spirits .... 149 IV. The Great Arcanum of Death, or Spiritual Transition. 151 V. Hierarchy and Classification of Spirits. .158 VI. Fluidic Phantoms and their Mysteries. ,163 VII. Sum of Kabbalistic Pneumatics .... 168 PART V Ceremonial Magic I. Elementary Spirits, and the Ritual of their Conjuration. 1 7 1 II. Necromancy ....... 181 III. Mysteries of the Pentagram and other Pantacles. 189 IV. Magical Ceremonial and Consecration of Talismans. 197 V. Black Magic ....... 208 VI. Witchcraft and Spells. .219 VII. Transformations ...... 232 PART VI The Science of the Prophets I. Divination ....... 241 II. Astrology ....... 245 III. The Book of Hermes, or of Thoth .... 262 PART VII The Science of Hermes Introduction ....... 289 I. The Magnum Opus ...... 291 II. The Universal Medicine. .301 III. Renewed Youth ...... 307 CONTENTS lx PART VIII Key of Magical Phenomena PAGE I. Spirits in the Bible. .311 II. Spirits in the Bible (< continued ) — The Resurrection of the Dead — The Son of the Sunamite — The Tomb of Eliseus. 316 III. Spirits in the Gospel — Demons, Possessed Persons, and Apparitions. 319 IV. History of S. Spiridion and of his daughter Irene. 324 V. Mysteries of Ancient Initiations — Evocations by Blood — The Rites of Theurgy — Christianity the Enemy of Blood. 330 VI. The last Initiates of the Old World : Apollonius of Tyana, Maximus of Ephesus, and Julian — The Pagans of the Revolution — A Hierophant of Ceres in the Eighteenth Century ....... 339 VII. Spirits in the Middle Ages— The Devil ever plays the chief part in the Comedy of Wonders — Archbishop Udo of Magdeburg — The Deacon Raymond — Vampires — Haunted Houses ...... 345 PART IX Key of Modern Phenomena I. The Key of Mesmerism ..... 357 II. Mysteries of Hallucination ..... 362 III. Modern Spiritism ...... 369 PART X The Religion of Magic I. Faith ........ 3^3 II. The True God. 387 III. The God of Light and the God of Shadow. 391 IV. The True Christ. • - 393 V. Mysteries of the Logos ..... 400 VI. The True Religion ...... 403 VII. The Reason of Prodigies, or the Devil before Science. 415 X CONTENTS PART XI The Great Practical Secrets PAGE I. The Indefectible Principles ..... 422 II. Eternal Life, or the Peace of God .... 434 III. Last Words concerning the Great Secret. 440 PART XII Thaumaturgical Experiences of Eliphas Levi I. Evocation of Apollonius of Tyana. 446 II. Ghosts in Paris — The Magician and the Medium — Eliphas Levi and the Sect of Eugene Vintras. 450 III. The Magician and the Sorcerer — Secret History of the Assassination of the Archbishop of Paris. 464 EPILOGUE Embodying the Spirit of the Author’s Philosophy I. The Vision of the Wandering Jew .... 480 II. The Farewell to Calvary ..... 483 III. The Reign of Messiah ..... 487 IV. The Final Vision ...... 488 The Three Credos of Eliphas Levi I. The Creed of the Magus. .491 II. The Catholic and Magical Symbol .... 494 III. The Philosophical Credo ..... 495 Notes ........ 499 Index ........ 519 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION Ten years have intervened between the first publication of this digest of occult philosophy according to the interpretation of 6liphas Levi and its issue in the present revised and largely extended form. Personal acquaintance apart, the knowledge of £liphas Levi and the sphere of his influence have increased very widely since “The Mysteries of Magic” first made the brilliant transcendentalist known to English readers, and keeping in view that the advance in question has taken place as much outside as within his own country, and especially in England and America, it is a satisfaction to think that this digest has presumably been one of the instruments. There is not any need to say that the period which has passed since its appearance has been eminently one of mystic re-awakening, which has found its expression in literature upon every side, but at the same time has been brought about by no one school of transcendental thought, nor does it stand or fall by one. To all schools indifferently, £liphas Levi has, however, been a source of inspiration, nor has his influence been merely of a literary character ; there seems evidence to shew that his presentation of magical science has been the basis of operation in more than one school secretly or openly engaged in experi¬ ments of a practical nature. And were there anything which could be taken seriously in the two vast fuliginous volumes recently published by the so-called Dr Bataille, under the title"’ of Le Diable au XIXs Siec/e, it would be necessary to add that there is an alleged theurgic school, having its head¬ quarters at Charleston, U.S.A., and possessing ramifications in all parts of the world, for which the “ Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendent Magic” is at once a gospel and a key of operation. But recent researches undertaken by myself, and published elsewhere, have sufficiently unmasked the imposture just mentioned, and more extended allusion is unnecessary in PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION xiii this place. For the rest, the attempt to refer a great or wide¬ spread movement to a single originating centre is commonly inexact, but an individual may sometimes be taken as practi¬ cally representing such a centre, and it is in this sense that we may regard £liphas Levi as a visible head and source of modern transcendentalism. While dwelling upon the extended character of Eliphas Levi’s influence, it would be impossible to overlook the esoteric groups which have sprung up in France within recent years, for these, in a direct manner, may be regarded as deriving from the magus. I refer to the various schools of which Dr Encausse, better known under the pseudonym of Papus, is the most active representative, and Stanislaus de Guaita perhaps the most inspired expositor. Much of the literature which has been produced by these schools may be regarded as voluminous commentary upon Levi’s writings. The “ Elementary Treatise of Practical Magic,” by Dr Encausse, is the most obvious case in point, and the devo¬ tion which has produced such works has been otherwise signalized by the pious task of collecting Levi’s unpublished writings, a labour which is still in progress, and, from the announcements made recently, there seems scarcely any limit to the available material. The plan of the following digest has been substantially altered. I must confess that in its original form it did not meet with universal approbation ; the codification was, indeed, regarded as a mistake by more than one member of the Kab- balistic school in England, nor possibly in its altered form will they pronounce it wholly satisfactory. I speak thus frankly that my readers may not subsequently consider themselves as XIV THE MYSTERIES OF MAGIC deceived. The chief work of Eliphas Levi is divided into two parts, under the title of “The Doctrine and Ritual of Tran¬ scendent Magic,” and each of these is subdivided into twenty- two sections, corresponding to those twenty-two keys of the Tarot about which so much information is given in the course of the digest. Now, the Kabbalistic school considers that great light is cast upon the mysteries of magical interpretation by this mode of classifying, but it was impossible to follow it in a work designed to represent other and important writings of the same author. While I in no way deny that there is weight in this objection from the Kabbalistic standpoint, I submit that the great light mentioned exists mainly for those who are in possession of the true attribution of the Tarot keys, which attribution neither was nor could be given by Eliphas Levi in writing. The light is therefore for initiates, and not for the ordinary students, to whom obviously my undertaking appeals. Here the Kabbalists themselves will understand me best, and my work, furthermore, which I claim to have accom¬ plished conscientiously, serves mainly as an extended intro¬ duction or epitome for the use of students, and does not make void the utility of the originals, even though persons possess¬ ing the originals have, to my knowledge, parted with them upon obtaining the digest. The plan followed in the present edition is not therefore an impracticable Tarotic classification ; in view of the additions and extensions, I have adopted the least pretentious and most readily intelligible grouping. I incurred also some unpopularity for a time among extreme PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION xv occultists by tabulating a few of the discrepancies and re¬ tractations which occur in the writings of Eliphas L£vi, and are either typical of different stages in the growth of his singular mind, or difficulties wilfully created for the express purpose of misleading the profane. There were erudite persons quite ready to affirm, even in the face of the tabulation, that he had never been guilty of a contradiction, and to explain whatever was conflicting by a reference to various “ planes.” I did then and do still conclude that it was upon those planes where John Stuart Mill conceived that two and two might be five. And here I think that the matter may well rest. I am not aware that anyone disputes about it now ; it is rather generally ad¬ mitted by those who consider themselves in a position to adjudicate upon such matters, that Eliphas Levi was not a “full initiate,” a fact which might account naturally for his occasional deflections from the absolute of infallibility. Outside its subject-matter, there is much in the critical essay which immediately follows that I should have been now glad to have written differently, because it is crude and juvenile, but, being such, if allowed to remain at all, it is well to leave it substantially as it was first written. A few rectifica¬ tions and a few additions have been alone made, and it may be taken for what it is worth, classing among the imperfections and enthusiasms of a young man and an inexperienced writer. For precisely the same reason, I should not in any case have altered the general title of the digest, though it offends now by its sensational character ; but I have, as a fact, no power to alter, for, in view of this second edition, the title has its value, and that interest is vested in the publishers. The work as it stands represents the “ Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendent Magic,” the non-historical portions of the “ History of Magic,” the substance of the “ Key to the Great Mysteries,” of “ Fables and Symbols,” of “ The Science of Spirits,” with some selections from the “Paradoxes of the Highest Science.” The last work has not been published in xvi THE MYSTERIES OF MAGIC the original, and our knowledge concerning it is confined to a translation issued in 1883 at Bombay, under the auspices of the Indian section of the Theosophical Society ; it has been long out of print. Some indications, especially upon the philosophy of numbers, have also been obtained from an advance copy of the Letters to Baron Spedalieri, which the Theosophical Publishing Society has generously placed at my disposal. I have further made use of two posthumous publica¬ tions, “ The Book of Splendours ” and the “ Clavicles of Solomon.” The present digest may therefore be taken to represent the entire works of Eliphas Levi published here¬ unto, with the exception of the “ Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum,” recently edited and translated from a unique MS. by Dr Wynn Westcott. This is entirely unknown in France, and is here protected by copyright law. The further post¬ humous writings announced for publication are “ The Gospel of Science,” “ The Catechism of Peace,” and “ The Great Arcanum.” Other originals are said to be in the hands of Dr Encausse and M. Lucien Mauchel, while, in England, Dr Westcott possesses a work in three parts, respectively entitled “ The Hieratic Mystery,” “ The Royal Mystery,” and “ The Sacerdotal Mystery,” extending to four hundred folio pages, date 1868, and “The Book of the Sages,” a series of con¬ versations between Eliphas Levi, a cleric, a Jew, and a philosopher. A. E. W. November 1896. BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ESSAY § i. The Life of Alphonse Louis Constant. With a tardy but permanent reputation in the country of their origin and an increasing celebrity among the occultists of Europe and America, the elucidations of the Mysteries of Magic published under the pseudonym of Eliphas Levi Zahed, possess great authority without much being known of their author. Indeed, the materials for a biography of Alphonse Louis Constant are meagre and unsatisfactory in the extreme. As occasionally happens, the latest and fullest information, such as it is, comes from a hostile source, and from the pen of an unknown writer. M. Charles Chauliac, a friend, how¬ ever, of the well-known Pere de la Porte and also of Gougenot des Mousseaux, who in the third quarter of the present century obtained some notoriety as an exponent of diabolism in spirit manifestations, and published, says Eliphas Levi, des gros livres innombrables. Thirty years since, M. Chauliac was further, or claims to have been, an acquaintance of the magus himself, and though many of his statements must be received with extreme caution, he undoubtedly clears up certain confused points.1 Alphonse Louis Constant was born in an obscure street of Paris ; he was the son of a shoemaker in a small way of business, and apparently in meagre circumstances. The exact date of his birth I am unable to state, but it was at 1 Revue Mensuelle . . . suite a la publication, Le Diable au XIXe Siecle, Sept. 1895. A 2 THE MYSTERIES OF MAGIC or about the year 1810.1 He was delicate in his childhood,2 and received no regular education, “but his aptitude for learn¬ ing and his avidity for picking up stray bits of knowledge were so great that at last the neighbours used to talk of him as “ the clever lad.” 3 This precocity introduced him to the notice of the Cure of his parish, who obtained him a gratui¬ tous education at the Seminary of Saint Sulpice, where he entered on his studies for the priesthood, and in addition to more than the common proficiency expected of an average ecclesiastic in the two classical languages of antiquity, he is said to have become “ a first-rate Hebrew scholar,” in which case, and during this probationary period, he laid the foundations for that Kabbalistic knowledge4 which eventually led him through the darkest paths of esoteric inquiry to his bold attempt at the reconciliation of religion and science. Grave doubts on matters of religious belief presented themselves at an early period to his mind, but there is good reason to refer them to an acquaintance with Voltairean free-thought, which largely underlies his occult philosophy, and not to a juvenile initiation into the mys¬ teries of magical art. His friend and disciple, the once famous chiromancist Desbarrolles, speaks of his religious exaltations, and of those doubts and scruples which led him to relinquish the sacerdotal career when on the point of engaging himself definitely and irrevocably therein. Madame Gebhard, who, in the advancing years of his life, was another pupil and confidant of the magus, tells us a curious, and perhaps partly apocryphal, story in this connection : — “ Before his last vows were taken he was sent as a punish¬ ment to an old out-of-the-way monastery, it having been discovered that he had on several occasions, while preaching in some country villages, given expression to opinions which were not considered consistent with the Catholic faith. He was kept a prisoner in this monastery for some months. His 1 Writing to Baron Spedalieri, his friend and pupil, in the montif 'pf January, 1862, he states that he was then fifty-two years of age. 2 Desbarrolles, Mysteres de la Main. 3 Theosophist, Jan. 1886. 4 It has been objected, however, that his published writings do not exhibit a profound acquaintance with later Jewish literature. BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ESSA Y 3 food was very scanty, consisting of little more than bread and water. He had a large room allotted to him on the ground floor ; the roof was vaulted, bare cold stones formed the floor, and the furniture consisted of a pallet bed, one chair, and a table. “ This part of the monastery was said to be haunted, and he once related a very curious anecdote in connection with it. One night being in the dark (for he was not allowed a light), he heard sounds as if an immense number of people were marching across the end of the room ; they seemed to come in at one door and go out at another, though in the day-time he had never found any second mode of ingress or egress. “After passing many agitated and unpleasant hours, he slept, and on awakening towards dawn saw the figure of a monk sitting by his side. He was startled, thinking it was a ghost, when the apparition said to him, ‘ Do not fear ; I am not a denizen of the other world, but a real living man.’ This monk proved a good friend to him, for from that day he was better treated, received sufficient food, was given a smaller and more comfortable room, and had even books lent to him, and writing materials placed at his disposal.” Whatever may be otherwise thought of this narrative, the imprisonment of Louis Constant was not of a very rigorous kind ; from the description of his original cell, it corresponded, except in the matter of size, to those which are in daily use among many monks of unblemished orthodoxy, and it is difficult to see how a young cleric who was only in minor orders could have been permitted to perambulate the country, preaching independently, in defiance of all the law and order so scrupulously observed in these matters by the whole of the Latin Church. That delightful little pastoral story, Le Sorcier de Meudon , which £liphas describes as a peu pres notre biographie ,x ap¬ parently gives us an idealized picture of the writer’s monastic experiences. The Frere Lubin of that story is the young . phonse Louis Constant. Maitre Frangois Rabelais, le _>rere Medecin, personifies the occult sciences, and surely it is a device of no ordinary genius to embody the sublime wisdom 1 Le Sorcier de Meudon, Preface, 4 THE MYSTERIES OF MAGIC of the Magi, which supplies to all “the most efficacious consolations and the most salutary counsels,” in la personne sacree du joyeux cure de Meudon , that supreme “ magician of the gay science in a century of furious fanaticism and insane extravagance.” £liphas Levi has been frequently described by his enemies as “ an apostate priest.” With much reluctance I am forced to admit that he must have taken irrevocable vows. Since the first publication of this sketch, fresh evidence has come to light, which invalidates my original view. He was, however, a deacon only, and even from the standpoint of the Church, the subsequent renunciation of his pledges by marriage was less heinous than it would have been in the case of one who had received ordination in final orders. M. Chauliac observes : “ A scholar of Saint Sulpice, he had only attained the diaconate when his superiors, scandalized by the strange theories which he supported with all the power of his keen intelligence, expelled him suddenly from the. seminary.” In any case, he returned to the world. As in so many candidates for the Catholic priesthood, the scrupulous conscience to which Desbarrolles refers did not, in all pro¬ bability, less interfere with his vocation than his intellectual difficulties. His estrangement from the sacerdotal career was followed by his conversion to the doctrines of Ganneau, who, under the name of Mahpah,1 attempted about this time — it was the year 1839 — to establish the religion of the New Alliance, which appears to have been an off-shoot of the curious sect — part thaumaturgic, part religious, but with a distinctly political complexion — once known as the Saviours of Louis XVII. The young enthusiast is said to have become a chief of the movement, and one result of his transitory con¬ victions was a book called the “ Bible of Liberty,” which, on account of its socialistic tendencies, ended in his imprisonment for a period of six months. “ The People’s Gospel,” a second and similar work, belongs to the same epoch. Both were probably small pamphlets, and are now entirely introuvable. By no means discouraged at the reverse which he had suffered at the hands of the law, Constant was no sooner at 1 Formed of the first syllables of the Latin words Mater and Pater , BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ESSA V 5 liberty than he betook himself to the provinces as an apostle of the new faith ; he is said to have changed his name, to have spread a report of his death, and to have reappeared as the Abbe Diraucourt, under which title he presented himself to the Bishop of Evreux, officiated as priest in his diocese, though he was only a deacon, preached with great success in the cathedral, but was unmasked by the procureur-general , Partarieux Lafosse, who had sentenced him to imprisonment, and, being at once driven out by the bishop, he returned to Paris. This story rests only on the authority of M. Chauliac, and I believe it to be fictitious. In his after life Constant never concealed his identity, even in his pseudonymous works, nor does he appear to have been on bad terms with his ecclesiastical superiors, for in the year 1850 I find him con¬ tributing to the great series of cheap theological encyclopaedias published by Abbe Migne, a voluminous “ Dictionary of Christian Literature,” which is a perfectly orthodox work, though it avoids dangerous and debatable subjects. His conversion to the doctrines of the New Alliance, his imprison¬ ment, and his apostleship are, however, acknowledged by himself.1 His return to Paris was followed shortly after by a runaway marriage with “ a beautiful girl of sixteen,” who is the ex¬ quisitely sketched Madeline, la gentille et blonde petite jou- venfelle of thex“ Sorcerer of Meudon.” The parents of the young lady, who had originally refused their consent, are represented by Madame Gebhard as having been reconciled at length to the match. It is, however, improbable that their assent was accorded, for the union was illegal in France, and, as a fact, it was subsequently made void by the tribunals at the suit of the lady herself. For the marriage was unfortunately not a happy one ; they lost their two children at an early age ; and one morning Constant woke up to find that his wife had left him for ever. 1 Histoire de la Magie , Bk. vii., c. 5 ; La Clef des Grands My stires, P- 313- 6 THE MYSTERIES OF MAGIC This tragical finale to a hasty and ill-considered match is also commemorated in the novel to which I have referred. Frere Lubin is rewarded for the infidelity of his wife by the inspiration of the poet, and this gift of song again typifies the occult sciences under a new aspect, for the power of the magus is wholly in his discernment of the natural analogies between God, man, and the universe, as was divined by Saint-Martin, the disciple of Martines de Pasqually, in his mystical Tableau . 6liphas Levi possessed, moreover, in an eminent degree, the two-fold endowment which we find in great poets, namely, profound knowledge of the human heart and keen insight, with the power of discerning correspondences which is a part of poetical insight. After this definite desertion of her husband, Madame Con¬ stant ( nee Mile. Noemi) supported herself by sculpture. She was not only very handsome, but extremely talented ; and she exhibited at the salon several busts, which brought her con¬ siderable reputation, under the name of Madame Claude de Vignon. Some time after the Franco-German war, she is said to have married a certain Monsieur Ronere, who was at that period a member of the French Parliament. Of her history subsequent to this event I can find no information. A divinatory calculation in the Dogme de la Haute Magie throws a vague glimmer of light on some epochs in the life of the author. “ In 1825 family life came to an end for me, and I was de¬ finitely engaged in a fateful path which conducted me to knowledge and misfortune. In 1843 I travelled as a pioneer, addressing the common people, and persecuted by ill-inten¬ tioned individuals, — in a word, I was honoured and pro¬ scribed.1 In 1847 I was violently separated from my family, and great sufferings for mine and me resulted from this disrup¬ tion. In 1851 I had employment which was moderately but sufficiently remunerative, with some embarrassment of position.” To this period must be referred the statement contained in the following paragraph by M. Chauliac “ The Abbe Con- 1 This is the apostolic propaganda in the matter of the gospel of Ganneau. BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ESSA Y 7 stant,1 for a second time repudiating his name, assumed the title of the Magus Eliphas Levi, giving consultations in great number to credulous clients, who paid as much as twenty-five francs a time for a prediction from Lucifer.” That Levi was open to consultation appears from the preface to his Fables et Symbols,2 and, of course, M. Chauliac, as a true son of the Church, would perceive the intervention of Satan. In 1853 Eliphas Levi repaired to London, where his reputa¬ tion as an occultist had preceded him, and there he performed his celebrated ceremonial evocation of Apollonius of Tyana.3 Some passages in the writings of Eliphas Levi suggest that he made the acquaintance of the late Lord Lytton, and the abso¬ lute identity between the mysterious vril of “The Coming Race ” and the universal force of the Astral Light, is conclusive as to the great novelist’s acquaintance with the works of his Kabbalistic contemporary. I, therefore, addressed an inquiry to the late Earl of Lytton, and I am indebted to his courtesy for the information which follows : — It is almost certain that the author of Zanoni was personally acquainted with Alphonse Louis Constant, of whose works there is a copy at Knebworth, presented, it is thought, by the writer. The Earl of Lytton was under the impression that Eliphas Levi made the ac¬ quaintance of his father either at Paris or Nice. Among the papers at Knebworth there is a letter from Levi on the existence of a universal force, and the requisite conditions of its employment for the evocation of spiritual visions and presences. The letter is only dated “ Sunday, 10 April,” the year being wanting, and from the style it would appear to be addressed either to a stranger or to a very distant acquaint¬ ance. 1 The title of Abbe is used loosely to designate any person wearing a clerical garb. It does not necessarily signify a priest, still less the superior of an abbey.. 2 “ As regards our lessons— I have no manuscript course— I give to my disciples according to the need of their minds what the spirit gives me for them. I demand nothing, and I refuse nothing from them in return. It is a communion and an exchange of bread ; spiritual for bodily. But the needs of the body are of so little account for me that the generous gifts of those of my children who are rich serve mainly to satisfy the first and greatest need of my soul and of all our souls : Charity. Unpublished Letters of Eliphas L&vi, p. 3. 3 See “ Thaumaturgical Experiences,” Sect. I. 8 THE MYSTERIES OF MAGIC The first Lord Lytton is evidently indicated in the account of the evocation of Apollonius under the initials Sir B. L. I may now add that the letter quoted above makes mention of an evocation of elementary spirits performed on the top of the London Pantheon, and at which the author of “ Zanoni ” assisted. The “ Dictionary of Christian Literature ** was published, as already seen, in 1850. In addition to the “ Bible of Liberty ” and the “People’s Gospel,” it had been preceded by some obscure efforts, poorly printed and in pamphlet form : — “The Last Incarnation : Gospel Legends of the Nineteenth Century.” By A. Constant. 60 centimes. Paris : a la Librairie Societaire, rue de Seine, 10. 1846. — Attributed to A. Constant of Geneva, this work was translated from a copy which the owner supposed to be unique, and was published at Springfield, Ill., U.S.A. Some legends of “The Last Incarnation” were subsequently embodied in La Science des Esprits. Rabelais a la Basmettre. By A. Constant. 1 franc. Paris : Librairie Phalansterienne. 1847. Le Seigneur de la Diviniere. Deuxihne Extrait des Chroniques du Joyeux Curd de Meudon. By A. Constant. 50 centimes. Paris : Lib. Phalansterienne. 1847. •.•These two works substantially reappeared as “The Sorcerer of Meudon.” Les Trois Malfaiteurs , Ldgende Orientate. By A. Constant. 30 centimes. Paris : Librairie Phalansterienne. 1847. The first distinct contribution to occult science from the pen of Alphonse Louis Constant was the Dogme de la Haute Magie, published under the pseudonym of Eliphas Levi, which he invariably used thenceforward, in 1854. The Rituel de la Haute Magie followed in 1856. These volumes set their author at once in the foremost rank of transcendentalists. The Histoire de la Magie appeared in i860, a work written on a philosophical plan, but manifesting already a wide divergence in the views of its author. In 1861 came a second edition of the Dogme et Rituel , with a long prefatory dissertation embody¬ ing the later opinions just referred to, and scarcely consonant with the work to which it was prefixed. La Clef des Grands My stir es was published in the same year, in which also the admirers of Eliphas Levi were delighted by the appearance of the Sorcier de Meudon. In 1862 the first series of the Philo- sophie Occulte was issued under the title of Fables et Symboles, BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ESSA Y 9 and consisted of poetical apologues, containing rather more of the gold of wisdom than is generally to be met with in the ore of the fabulists, together with an occult and philosophical commentary which is full of the keen insight and characteristic ingenuity of its author. The second series followed in 1865 ; this was La Science des Esprits , a defence of the symbolical spirit of the Christian gospel against the spirits of table-rapping, for, as Madame Gebhard tells us, Eliphas Levi had “ a horror of Spiritualism, and used to say that mediums and spiritualists were like children playing with lighted matches near a barrel of powder, which any moment might explode and destroy them.” His horror, however, was exaggerated, and originated, partially at any rate, in the indignation of an initiated thau¬ maturge at such a general invasion of the realm of prodigies by the profanum vulgus of unqualified investigators. The physical and moral deterioration accompanying the indis¬ criminate use of mediumistic gifts was, however, in itself a justification for the author’s denunciations, and La Science des Esprits will take rank among the most interesting of his pro¬ ductions. It was followed by a silence of ten years, and in the month of April 1875 the gifted spirit of Alphonse Louis Constant passed to the next stage of its eternal progress. Some years before his death, the magus, if we may believe M. Chauliac, renounced his magical errors and re-entered the fold of the Church. He lived afterwards in strict retreat, devoted to acts of reparation and penitence. When he died, he was fortified with all the rites of the Church. Students of Eliphas Levi’s later works will understand accurately enough the kind of conversion which he underwent; they will infer that in reality he renounced nothing and accepted nothing, but as in his Hermetic writings, so in his private life he did not become but remained a subject of the prevailing religious order. We are indebted to Madame Gebhard for the following portraiture of her revered teacher : — “ He was of a short and corpulent figure ; his face was kind and benevolent, beaming with good nature, and he wore a long grey beard which covered nearly the whole of his breast.1 His apartment resembled a 1 “Vested invariably when at home in a long red robe, with his long white beard and bald head, he recalled, somewhat confusedly, the astro¬ logers of the Middle Ages.” — M. Chauliac. IO THE MYSTERIES OE MAGIC bric-a-brac shop, with specimens of the most beautiful and rare old china, tapestry, and valuable paintings. In one of the rooms there was an alcove in which stood a bed covered with a gorgeous quilt of red velvet heavily embroidered with gold ; the curtains were also of red velvet bordered with massive gold fringe, and a red velvet step stood before this magnificent couch, having a soft cushion also of red and gold laid on the top of it. . . . He lived a quiet and retired life, having few friends. . . . His habits . . . were simple, but he was no vegetarian. ... He had a wonderful memory, and a mar¬ vellous flow of language, his expressions and illustrations being of the choicest and rarest character. . . . Never,” says this lady, in her interesting but too brief narrative, “ did I leave his presence without feeling that my own nature had been uplifted to nobler and better things, and I look upon Eliphas Levi as one of the truest friends I ever had, for he taught me the highest truth which it is in the power of man or woman to grasp.” The hand of Eliphas Levi was engraved by Desbarrolles in his Mysteres de la Main ; it has the highest psychical and philosophical peculiarities ; it indicates “ irresistible attractions towards sensual gratifications followed immedi¬ ately by aspirations towards ascetical life ” — pride and the most complete indifference alternately ruling his behaviour — “and that fatality which, through all his days, impelled him towards the secret sciences, for which he was created, and of which he bears all the signs, by successively depriving him of whatever could attach him to actual life, and in the end of his most cherished affections.” § 2. Notes on the Mysteries of Magic as Expounded in the Occult Philosophy of Eliphas L£vi. The works of Eliphas Levi fall naturally into three divisions. There is, firstly, all which preceded the “Dictionary of Christian Literature,” including that work. The second place is occupied only by the “Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendent Magic.” The third group embraces all sub¬ sequent publications, the “Sorcerer of Meudon,” in so far as BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL ESSA Y II it is reprinted matter, belonging, however, to the first class. Now, the first period represents no occult knowledge, and is memorable only for a certain literary beauty, that beau style , which Levi poetically describes as a nimbus of sanctity. Be¬ tween the “ Doctrine and Ritual ” and the subsequent publica¬ tions there are marked and remarkable differences which make the second and third divisions almost mutually exclusive, and ^ it is important to know whether the later instruction of Eliphas Levi represents a maturer stage of his mental development, or whether it was governed by considerations which the student can afford to set aside. The conclusion which I offer to my readers as the result of long and serious consideration is that there is much in the “ Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendent Magic ” which calls for modification, and may be profitably modified by reference to the later writings ; that these, on the whole, present a more clear and sober view of occult philosophy, as understood by the French magus, but that they also require to be checked not only by one another, but by comparison with the “ Doctrine and Ritual.” From one point of view, the present digest is an elaborate attempt to establish the middle ground or harmony of Levi’s occult writings. I venture to regard the result as measurably successful, though it has been impossible from the nature of the case to bring all parts into exact and minute agreement. In the Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, Eliphas Levi claims to be in possession of a secret which has once, at least, revolutionized the world; he claims to have dis¬ covered a force by which all miracles divine and diabolical have been, and may still be, performed ; to possess the key of prophecies ; to have traced the exoteric doctrines of all theologies to one primal and universal dogma. He has recovered the claviculae of Solomon, and has “ opened with¬ out difficulty every door of the ancient sanctuaries where absolute truth seemed to slumber ; ” he has unravelled the transcendent secrets which mediaeval adepts concealed under such more or less equivocal expressions as the Magnum Opus , the philosopher’s stone, the quadrature of the circle, the universal medicine, and the transmutation of metals. He has discovered, in fine, “the secret of human omnipo- 12 THE MYSTERIES OF MAGIC tence and of indefinite progression ” — he is, in one word, the master of the absolute. Now, in attempting to estimate the value of this gigantic claim, and of Eliphas Levi’s contributions to the elucidation of occult science, we are brought face to face with the fact, that after posing as an initiate in possession of the Great Arcanum, he has done his best to stultify himself by attempting to pose also as a faithful and humble child of the Catholic Church, and this without abandoning his previous position. Such a course has naturally led him into grave and numerous contradictions, which cannot but scandalize his students in proportion to their personal earnestness, and are calculated to make many reject his claims to secret knowledge as utterly unfounded. 