Originally published in 1860 as Histoire de la Magie, this English edition was translated by A. E. Waite in 1913. Long established as the most valuable source on the tradition of magic and occultism, History of Magic is now available as a Weiser classic in a new, enlarged edition. Described by Waite as "the most arresting, entertaining and brilliant of all studies on the subject, " the text provides a complete survey of the occult sciences, from Biblical references, and Zoroaster to Hermetic Magic, and the Kabbalah. The author also explores magical rites and dogmas from various civilizations and discusses some famous sorcerers and magicians. Other topics explored include Magic of the Magi, Magic in India, Mysticism, Magic and Christianity, and the sources of Freemasonry.

Eliphas Levi was steeped in the Western occult tradition and a master of the Rosicrucian interpretation of the Qabalah, which forms the basis of magic as practiced in the West today. The Key of the Mysteries represents the culmination of Levi's thoughts and is written with subtle and delicate irony. It reveals the mysteries of religion and the secrets of the Qabalah, providing a sketch of the prophetic theology of numbers. The mysteries of nature, such as spiritualism and fluidic phantoms, are explored. Magical mysteries, the Theory of the Will with its 22 axioms are divulged. And finally it offers "the great practical secrets." The true greatness of this work, however, lies in its ability to place occult thought firmly in Western religious traditions. For Levi, the study of the occult was the study of a divine science, the mathematics of God.

The Great Secret completes a trilogy of books by Eliphas Levi published in his "Studies in Hermetic Tradition" series, the two previous volumes being The Book of Splendours and The Mysteries of the Qabalah. Taken together these writings represent a fitting memorial to one who "has been both the keeper of the hermetic tradition and the absolute renovator of esoteric thinking in Europe in the 19th century".

"You will be as gods, knowing good and evil".

So concludes what Eliphas Levi considered to be his last testament, his most important and final treatise, and a summation of his esoteric philosophy. This volume is the conclusion of the work he started with Book One, The Hieratic Mystery or the Traditional Documents of High Initiation, published as The Book of Splendours (Weiser, 1984). The Great Secret contains his final two works: Book Two, The Royal Mystery or Art of Subduing the Powers, in which Levi discusses such topics as Evil, the Outer Darkness, the Great Secret, Magical Sacrifice, Evocations, the Arcana of Solomon's Ring, and the Terrible Secret. Book Three, The Sacerdotal Mystery or the Art of Being Served by Spirits, covers Aberrant Forces, the Chaining of the Devil, Sacred and Accursed Rites, Divination, Dark Intelligence, and the Great Arcanum.

Born Alphonse Louis Constant, French magician Eliphas Levi (1810-75) wrote prolifically on the occult sciences. His Histoire de la magie was first published in 1860. In it, Levi recounts the history of the occult in Western thought, encompassing its biblical, Zoroastrian and ancient Greek origins, various magical practices of the medieval and early modern periods - including hermeticism, alchemy and necromancy - and the role of magic in the French Revolution. The last section of the book describes nineteenth-century magical practices and includes details of Levi's own occult experiences. Prepared by Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942), this English translation was first published in 1913. An editor and translator of numerous magical texts, Waite includes here a preface comprising an eloquent defense of Levi and intellectual magic. The original French edition is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Born Alphonse Louis Constant, French magician Eliphas Levi (1810-75) wrote prolifically on the occult sciences. His hugely popular Dogme et rituel de la haute magie, published in French in 1854, was translated into English by Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) in 1896. In the present work, Waite condenses Levi's two volumes into one. The first part outlines Levi's theory of the doctrine of transcendent magic and discusses a wide range of magical phenomena, including bewitchment, Kabbalah and alchemy. The second part focuses on the practical aspects of ritual and ceremony in Western occult philosophy. Waite, a mystic and occult historian, edited several alchemical and magical texts for publication in the wake of the mid-nineteenth century occult revival. His translation is accompanied by a preface outlining Levi's colourful career. The original two-volume French edition is also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection.

Eliphas Levi, born Alphonse Louis Constant, (1810-75) was instrumental in the revival of Western occultism in the nineteenth century, and published several influential books on magic that are also reissued in this series. This posthumous publication (1896) is a translation by William Wynn Westcott, co-founder of the 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn', of an unpublished French manuscript by Levi, then owned by the spiritualist Edward Maitland. It includes eight of the author's drawings. Each short chapter outlines the meaning of one of the twenty-two tarot trumps and is followed by a brief editor's note describing the card's iconography and summarising interpretations (sometimes deliberately misleading) given in Levi's earlier publications. The book ends with Kabbalistic prayers and rituals, praise of Jesus Christ as the great initiate, and a surprising assertion that Christianity has superseded ancient magic, revealing the life-long tension between Catholicism and magic in Levi's personality and thought.

A major contribution!" --Rachel Pollack, bestselling author of Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom The definitive collection of rare, secret, and arcane tarot knowledge The Tarot: A Collection of Secret Wisdom from Tarot's Mystical Origins is the ultimate guide to the mysteries and lost knowledge of the tarot. This single volume includes more than ten selections from foundational tarot books, all from the 19th and 20th century. Many of these critical texts have been forgotten, fallen out of print, or are impossible to acquire. The Tarot reintroduces these books to the modern-day reader, unlocking the invisible power of the tarot for a new generation of card readers. The Tarot includes the following complete books: The Tarot by S. L. MacGregor Mathers The Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum by Eliphaz Levi Fortune Telling by Cards by P. R. S. Foli The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite The Symbolism of the Tarot by P.D. Ouspensky The Tarot of the Bohemians by Papus The Key to the Universe by Harriette Augusta Curtiss & F. Homer The Key of Destiny by Harriette Augusta Curtiss & F. Homer The General Book of the Tarot by A.E. Thierens The Tarot also includes additional selections from Manly P. Hall and others. Featuring over 400 original black-and-white illustrations throughout the book, The Tarot is a gorgeous gift and an irresistible invitation to both seasoned readers and beginners to explore the esoteric wisdom of the cards.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1910 Edition.

2013 Reprint of 1959 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Eliphas Levi (1810-1875), born Alphonse Louis Constant, was a sage, poet and author of over twenty esoteric books. He began writing at 22 years of age and was imprisoned twice for the critical nature of his work. Eliphas Levi was steeped in the Western occult tradition and a master of the Rosicrucian interpretation of the Qabalah, which forms the basis of magic as practiced in the West today. The "Key of the Mysteries" represents the culmination of Levi's thoughts and is written with subtle and delicate irony. It reveals the mysteries of religion and the secrets of the Qabalah, providing a sketch of the prophetic theology of numbers. The mysteries of nature, such as spiritualism and fluidic phantoms, are explored. Magical mysteries, the Theory of the Will with its 22 axioms are divulged. And finally it offers "the great practical secrets." The true greatness of this work, however, lies in its ability to place occult thought firmly in Western religious traditions. For Levi, the study of the occult was the study of a divine science, the mathematics of God.

2012 Reprint of 1955 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Eliphas Levi, born Alphonse Louis Constant, was a French occult author and ceremonial magician. Levi'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 Levi is remembered as one of the key founders of the 20th century revival of magic.

This translation of a previously unpublished work by the late Alphonse Louis Constant, or, as he preferred to call himself, Eliphaz Levi, is from the original manuscript which is in the handwriting of Levi himself. Along with Levi's explanation of the Tarot Trumps "the editor has given a short description of each Tarot Trump at the end of each chapter, and also a few notes on the mystical meanings assigned to the Tarots by Levi in his other works." This rare book is a must for students of the Tarot and Kabalah. A mystical insight into the TAROT.

THIS 20 PAGE ARTICLE WAS EXTRACTED FROM THE BOOK: Paradoxes of the Highest Science, by Eliphas Levi. To purchase the entire book, please order ISBN 1564590208.

First published in 1860, Eliphas Levi's history of magic follows in the wake of his enormously successful Dogme et Ritual de la Haute Magie, which first appeared in 1854. In this book, the French occultist and alleged magician offers a thoroughly comprehensive survey of the idea of 'magic' in Western history, from its origins in Indian, Greek, cabalistic and hermetic traditions to the latest developments in nineteenth-century occult philosophy, as well as his own private recollections of his experience with magic. Levi is adamant in his treatment of magic as a serious science and one compatible with Christianity, encouraging his readers to see magic as the reconciliation point between faith and reason, science and belief, authority and liberty. Extending to almost six hundred pages and with numerous illustrations, this book should appeal to those interested in the nineteenth-century obsession with mysticism and the occult.

Born Alphonse Louis Constant, French magician Eliphas Levi (1810-75) wrote prolifically on the occult sciences. This highly popular two-volume treatise on practical magic attempts to initiate the reader into the mysteries of occult philosophy. Identifying magic as the 'nurse or godmother' of all intellectual forces, Levi proclaims his firm belief in man as microcosm of the universe, the strength of human willpower and the effectiveness of sympathetic magic. This first volume, 'The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic', establishes Levi's own philosophical approach to the theory of magic, detailing the various methods of accessing esoteric knowledge of the universe through supernatural methods. Beginning with the ancient origins of occult philosophy and influence, Levi chronicles the history of magic, including transmutations, black magic, bewitchments, astrology, divination and alchemy.

Born Alphonse Louis Constant, French magician Eliphas Levi (1810-75) wrote prolifically on the occult sciences. This highly popular two-volume treatise on practical magic attempts to initiate the reader into the mysteries of occult philosophy. Identifying magic as the 'nurse or godmother' of all intellectual forces, Levi proclaims his firm belief in man as microcosm of the universe, the strength of human willpower and the effectiveness of sympathetic magic. Taking a more practical focus than the first part, this second volume, 'The Ritual of Transcendental Magic', focuses on the rituals and ceremonies of Western occult philosophy, offering explanations for magical equilibrium, the use and consecration of the pentagram, talismans, necromancy, transmutations, the Sabbath of the sorcerers, witchcraft, and the alchemical work of Nicholas Flamel and Raymond Lull.