Eliphas Lévi and the French Occult Revival

Christopher Mcintosh

Description

This classic study of the French magician Eliphas Lévi and the occult revival in France is at last available again after being out of print and highly sought after for many years. Its central focus is Lévi himself (1810-1875), would-be priest, revolutionary socialist, utopian visionary, artist, poet and, above all, author of a number of seminal books on magic and occultism. It is largely thanks to Lévi, for example, that the Tarot is so widely used today as a divinatory method and a system of esoteric symbolism. The magicians of the Golden Dawn were strongly influenced by him, and Aleister Crowley even believed himself to be Lévi's reincarnation. The book is not only about Lévi, however, but also covers the era of which he was a part and the remarkable figures who preceded and followed him – the esoteric Freemasons and Illuminati of the late 18th century, and later figures such as the Rosicrucian magus Joséphin Péladan, the occultist Papus (Gérard Encausse), the Counter-Pope Eugène Vintras, and the writer J.-K. Huysmans, whose work drew strongly on occult themes. These people were avatars of a set of traditions which are now seen as an important part of the western heritage and which are gaining increasing attention in the academy. Christopher McIntosh's vivid account of this richly fascinating era in the history of occultism remains as fresh and compelling as ever.
Acknowledgements
Introduction

Part I. The Age of Reason

1. The Rebirth of Magic

2. The Occult and the Revolution

3. Revolutionary Cults

4. The Beginnings of Popular Occultism

5. Magnetisers and Mediums

6. The Holy King

Part II. Eliphas Lėvi

7 The Early Years

8. The Radical

9. Enter Eliphas Lėvi

10. The Magician

11. The Pundit

12. The Last Years

13. Eliphas Lėvi: an Assessment

Part III. Towards the Kingdom of the Paraclete

14. The Heirs of Eliphas Lėvi

15. The War of the Roses

16. The Magical Quest of J.-K Huysmans

17. Writers and the Occult

18. Satanists and Anti-Satanists

19. The Indian Summer of Occultism

Appendix A
Appendix B

Select Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Philosophie
• Philosophie moderne
• Philosophie moderne
• Magic: el encuentro
• Mysticism
• Occult
• Tarot
• Magic

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 6
• EAN13: 9781438435589
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 9 Mo

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Eliphas Lévi and French Occult Revival the

Christopher McIntosh

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Eliphas Lévi and the French Occult Revival

SUNY series in Western Esoteric Traditions ————— David Appelbaum, editor

Eliphas Lévi and the French Occult Revival

CHRISTOPHER M C INTOSH

First published 1972 Second impression, 1975 © Christopher McIntosh 1972, 2011

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproducted in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu

Production by Eileen Meehan Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

McIntosh, Christopher, 1943– Eliphas Lévi and the French occult revival / Christopher McIntosh.  p. cm. — (SUNY series in Western esoteric traditions) Originally published: London : Rider, 1972. Includes bibliographical references (p. 228–232) and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-3557-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-4384-3556-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Lévi, Éliphas, 1810-1875. 2. Occultism—France. I. Title.

BF1598.C6M3 2011 130.92—dc22

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2010031936

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19.

Contents

List of Illustrations Preface Introduction

PART ONE The Age of Unreason The Rebirth of Magic The Occult and the Revolution Revolutionary Cults The Beginnings of Popular Occultism Magnetisers and Mediums The Holy King

PART TWO Eliphas Lévi The Early Years The Radical Enter Eliphas Lévi The Magician The Pundit The Last Years Eliphas Lévi: An Assessment

6 7 11

17 34 44 49 55 61

73 83 96 105 124 136 141

PART THREE Towards the Kingdom of the Paraclete The Heirs of Eliphas Lévi157 The War of the Roses171 The Magical Quest of J.-K. Huysmans177 Writers and the Occult195 Satanists and Anti-Satanists206 The Indian Summer of Occultism219

Appendix A Appendix B Select Bibliography Index

225 226 228 233

frontispiece

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14a 14b

15

List of Illustrations

facing page Lévi’s celebrated drawing of Baphomet or the Goat of Mendès6 Tarot figures from Court de Gébelin32 Tarot figures from Court de Gébelin33 The Devil, from Oswald Wirth’s Tarot49 Hoene Wronski80 Saint-Yves d’Alveydre81 Eugène Vintras96 Joseph-Antoine Boullan97 Alphonse-Louis Constant in1836 128 Constant in1852 129 Constant as Eliphas Lévi in1862 144 Frontispiece to Lévi’sClés majeures et clavicules de Salomon145 Figures fromLévi’s Clés majeures176 Joseph Péladan177 Cartoons of Péladan192 The symbol of the Cabalistic Order of the Rosy Cross192 Stanislas de Guaita193

Lévi’s celebrated drawing ofBaphometthe or Goat of Mendès. Often misunderstood as satanic, it is in fact a combination of images representing Lévi’s doctrine of polarities.

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