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Eliphas Levi
1810–1875 · France
Description
Éliphas Lévi Zahed, born Alphonse Louis Constant, was a French esotericist, occultist, poet, and writer. Initially pursuing an ecclesiastical career in the Catholic Church, he abandoned the priesthood in his mid-twenties and became a ceremonial magician. At the age of 40, he began professing knowledge of the occult. He wrote over 20 books on magic, Kabbalah, alchemical studies, and occultism.
Facts
| Born | Alphonse Louis Constant, (1810-02-08)8 February 1810, Paris, First French Empire |
| Died | 31 May 1875(1875-05-31) (aged 65), Paris, Third French Republic |
| Resting place | Ivry Cemetery, Ivry-sur-Seine (later disinterred and placed in a common grave) |
| Spouse | Marie-Noémi Cadiot (m. 1846; ann. 1865) |
Life & work in brief
Summarised by section — one row per topic, for fast reading.
| Work / contribution | Significance |
|---|---|
| Life | Born Alphonse Louis Constant, he was the son of a shoemaker in Paris. |
| As a ceremonial magus | Of his initial experience with British esotericists, in 1854, Levi wrote: "I had undertaken a journey to London, that I might escape from internal disquietude and devote myself, without interruption, to science. |
| Theory of magic | In the preface to The History of Magic, translator A. |
| Socialist background | It was long believed that the socialist Constant disappeared with the demise of the Second Republic and gave way to the occultist Éliphas Lévi. |