Alphonse Louis Constant (1810-1875) was a French poet and esotericist who dedicated himself to the practice of magic as a spiritual path and to the study of Tarot in an esoteric context.
He was born in Paris to a family whose father was a shoemaker. In 1832, he entered the seminary of Saint Sulpice, where he was ordained as a deacon and later, in 1835, as a cleric.
In 1836, he dismissed clerical ordination and left the seminary. This decision was influenced by his doubts, scholarly pursuits in doctrine, and a developing Platonic affection for one of his catechism students, Adèle Allenbach, which he later discussed in his book 1. Shortly after this decision, his mother, who was widowed, took her own life.
As a result of these events, Constant faced economic difficulties. He worked briefly as an actor and, in 1839, decided to pursue a monastic life at the Benedictine abbey of Solesmes. However, he struggled to adhere to its strict discipline and ultimately abandoned monastic life. During this time, he met a mystic and socialist sculptor named Simon Ganneau 2, whose influence inspired him to write a politically radical pamphlet in 1841 titled “La Bible de la Liberté” (The Bible of Liberty). The pamphlet was deemed so subversive that Constant was sentenced to eight months in prison for his work.
After completing his sentence, Constant worked as an artist and later served as an assistant to the Diocese of Évreux. However, when his controversial literary authorship was revealed, he was forced to leave the diocese. This period also marked the beginning of his troubled love life.
In 1842, he met two young women: Eugénie C. (her surname remains unknown) and Noémie Cadiot. Although he preferred Eugénie and had an affair with her in 1846, he married the sixteen-year-old Noémie, possibly under pressure from her father. They had several children together, but unfortunately, none survived to adulthood, and their marriage ended after seven years. It is also rumoured that he had an illegitimate son with Eugénie, who was never acknowledged.
During this time, he continued to pursue his writing. His relentless criticism of the government resulted in an additional six months in prison. After serving his sentence, he published another critical work titled “Le Testament de la Liberté” (The Testament of Liberty). In 1850, he experienced a significant financial and spiritual crisis, which likely prompted him to delve into esoteric and occult themes. The political events of the era, notably the July Revolution of 1848, which ended the monarchy of Louis Philippe, and the rise of Napoleon III’s Second Empire in 1851, convinced him that the people were incapable of self-determination. He believed that the only solution was to establish a spiritual elite under the framework of a universal religion.
In 1851, Constant encountered the renowned Polish mathematician and occultist Hoene-Wroński, 3 who ignited his interest in occultism. He began to study magic and developed a deep passion for it. It was during this time that he started using the pen name Éliphas Lévi, which is considered the Hebrew version of his name.
His seminal work on esoteric subjects, “Dogme et Rituel de Haute Magie” (Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual), was published in two volumes between 1854 and 1855 and became immensely popular, leading to numerous reprints. He viewed magic not in its goetic form, 4 but as an absolute fusion of science and religion, capable of uniting all faiths to create a circle of initiates.
In 1854, the year after his separation from his wife, Lévi travelled to London to meet with local esotericists. According to his account, he performed an invocation of Apollonius of Tyana 5 in physical form during this time. After extensive preparation and donning magical robes, he entered a room decorated like a temple. Following the invocation, Apollonius manifested in bodily form, giving credence to Lévi’s words. He successfully repeated the invocation twice more; no one was present at the ceremony.
A further contribution to the spread of esoteric thought was his synthesis of the Tarot, viewed as a universal key to magical practice and a genuine philosophical tool; he combined the Tarot with the Kabbalah and the Four Elements.
Following the publication of Transcendental Magic, he enjoyed a relatively comfortable life, writing additional books on various aspects of occultism. Notably, Histoire de la Magie (History of Magic), published in 1860, is among them.
In recent years, his health has declined, leading him back to poverty. However, one of his pupils helped him avoid complete ruin. In May 1875, his condition worsened, and before he died, he accepted the sacraments of the Catholic Church.
Éliphas Lévi made a significant contribution to the study of occultism and the Tarot. He transformed the approach to magic, positioning it as a tool for channelling one’s will and realising the integral human being. While some of his statements may spark debate, and his occasionally sensational tone can lead to discontent, we cannot overlook the impact he had on the rehabilitation of magic. Additionally, he played a key role in integrating the study of the Tarot with Kabbalah among Western esotericists.
Bibliography (in English)
- Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual
- The History of Magic
- The Key to the Mysteries
- The Great Secret
- The Book of Splendours: The Inner Mysteries of Kabbalism
- The Mysteries of the Kabbala: or Occult Agreement of the Two Testaments
- Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum
- The Wizard of Meudon
- The Conjuration of the Four Elements
- The Book of Hermes
- Necromancy and the Ceremony for the Resurrection of the Dead
- Les Trois Harmonies, Paris 1845 ↩︎
- Simon Ganneau (1805-1851) was a French socialist, mystic, sculptor, and feminist. He viewed the symbolism of the androgyne as a model for spiritual salvation and as a guiding principle for socialist ideals of fraternity and social justice. Ganneau also claimed to be the founder of a new religion called Evadaism (derived from Eve-Adam), which aimed to initiate a new era based on gender equality. ↩︎
- Józef Maria Hoene-Wroński (1776–1853) was a Polish philosopher associated with the metaphysical movement. In addition to his philosophical work, he was also a mathematician, physicist, inventor, lawyer, and economist. He attempted to create a perpetual motion machine, to square the circle, and to predict the future using an instrument he called a prognometer. Unfortunately, he died in poverty in France. ↩︎
- Originating from the Greek term γοητεία (goēteía), meaning enchantment or spell, this term first appears in the Clavis Salomonis. This text discusses medieval rituals for evoking both angels and demons. ↩︎
- Apollonius of Tyana (Greek: Ἀπολλώνιος, c. 15 – c. 100 AD) was a Greek Neopythagorean philosopher regarded by many of his contemporaries as a high-ranking initiate. He was born in the city of Tyana, located in Roman Anatolia, and spent his life travelling and teaching across the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia. His remarkable personality and lifestyle, which were infused with mysticism, left a lasting impression on those around him, and his cultural influence extended well into subsequent centuries. The most comprehensive source on his life is “The Life of Apollonius of Tyana,” a biography by the sophist Philostratus, completed around 230 AD. In this work, Philostratus depicts Apollonius as possessing miraculous powers and extrasensory perception, claiming that he ascended to Heaven while still alive. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it became common to draw comparisons between Apollonius and Jesus, especially among those who promoted a universalistic and anticlerical approach to religion. ↩︎