Éliphas Lévi
Alphonse Louis Constant, 1810 to 1875, who wrote under this name the books that made magic a subject again in nineteenth-century Paris, and drew his own figures for them.
Readings given
26 passages on 2 pictures in the archive.
-
The History of Magic, Book I, The Derivations of Magic, chapter I, Fabulous Sources; the Rider edition of 1922
“That synthesis of the word, formulated by the human figure, ascended slowly and emerged from the water, like the sun in its rising.”
“Such is Adam Kadmon, the primordial Adam of the Kabalists. Such is the sense in which he is depicted as a giant; and this is why Swedenborg, haunted in his dreams by reminiscences of the Kabalah, says that entire creation is only a titanic man and that we are made in the image of the universe.”
“The form stood at length erect, having one foot upon the earth and one upon the waters. Beholding itself at full length in the ocean of creation, it breathed on its own reflection and called its likeness into life. It said: Let us make man - and thus man was made.”
“There is nothing so beautiful in the masterpiece of any poet as this vision of creation accomplished by the prototype of humanity. Hereby is man but the shadow of a shadow, and yet he is the image of divine power. He also can stretch forth his hands from East to West; to him is the earth given as a dominion.”
“When the eyes appeared, light was made; when the mouth was manifested, there was the creation of spirits and the word passed into expression. The entire head was revealed, and this completed the first day of creation. The shoulders, the arms, the breast arose, and thereupon work began. With one hand the Divine Image put back the sea, while with the other it raised up continents and mountains.”
-
Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, Rituel, chapter XV, Le Sabbat des sorciers, pages 211 and 212 of the 1861 printing
“Nous donnons en tête de ce Rituel la figure exacte de ce terrible empereur de la nuit avec tous ses attributs et tous ses caractères.”
“Le bouc qui est représenté dans notre frontispice porte sur le front le signe du pentagramme, la pointe en haut, ce qui suffit pour en faire un symbole de lumière.”
“Le flambeau de l'intelligence qui brille entre ses cornes, est la lumière magique de l'équilibre universel: c'est aussi la figure de l'âme élevée au-dessus de la matière, bien que tenant à la matière même, comme la flamme tient au flambeau.”
“Il fait des deux mains le signe de l'occultisme, et montre en haut la lune blanche de Chesed, et en bas la lune noire de Géburah. Ce signe exprime le parfait accord de la miséricorde avec la justice. L'un de ses bras est féminin, l'autre masculin, comme dans l'androgyne de Khunrath dont nous avons dû réunir les attributs à ceux de notre bouc, puisque c'est un seul et même symbole.”
“Le caducée, qui tient lieu de l'organe générateur, représente la vie éternelle.”
“Le ventre couvert d'écailles c'est l'eau; le cercle qui est au-dessus, c'est l'atmosphère; les plumes qui viennent ensuite sont l'emblème du volatile; puis l'humanité est représentée par les deux mamelles et les bras androgynes de ce sphinx des sciences occultes.”
Transcendental Magic: its Doctrine and Ritual, The Ritual, chapter XV, The Sabbath of the Sorcerers, pages 289 and 290
“The frontispiece to this Ritual reproduces the exact figure of the terrible emperor of night, with all his attributes and all his characters.”
“The hideous head of the animal expresses horror of sin, for which the material agent, alone responsible, must alone and for ever bear the penalty, because the soul is impassible in its nature, and can suffer only by materialising.”
“The dread Baphomet henceforth, like all monstrous idols, enigmas of antique science and its dreams, is only an innocent and even pious hieroglyph.”
“The goat which is represented in our frontispiece bears upon his forehead the sign of the pentagram with one point in the ascendant, which is sufficient to distinguish him as a symbol of the light.”
“The torch of intelligence burning between the horns is the magical light of universal equilibrium; it is also the type of the soul exalted above matter, even while connecting with matter, as the flame connects with the torch.”
“He makes the sign of occultism with both hands, pointing upward to the white moon of Chesed, and downward to the black moon of Geburah. This sign expresses the perfect harmony of mercy with justice. One of the arms is feminine and the other masculine, as in the androgyne of Khunrath, whose attributes we have combined with those of our goat, since they are one and the same symbol.”
“He makes the sign of occultism with both hands, pointing upward to the white moon of Chesed, and downward to the black moon of Geburah. This sign expresses the perfect harmony of mercy with justice.”
“The caduceus, which replaces the generative organ, represents eternal life.”
“The scale-covered belly typifies water; the circle above it is the atmosphere; the feathers still higher up signify the volatile; lastly, humanity is depicted by the two breasts and the androgyne arms of this sphinx of the occult sciences.”
“Yes, in our profound conviction, the Grand Masters of the Order of the Templars worshipped the Baphomet, and caused it to be worshipped by their adepts; yes, there existed in the past, and there may be still in the present, assemblies which are presided over by this figure, seated on a throne and having a flaming torch between the horns; but the adorers of this sign do not consider, as do we, that it is the representation of the devil; on the contrary, for them it is that of the god Pan, the god of our modern schools of philosophy, the god of the Alexandrian theurgic school, and of our own mystical Neoplatonists, the god of Lamartine and Victor Cousin, the god of Spinoza and Plato, the god of the primitive Gnostic schools; the Christ also of the dissident priesthood.”
“The bull, the dog, and the goat are the three symbolical animals of Hermetic magic, resuming all the traditions of Egypt and India. The bull represents the earth or salt of the philosophers; the dog is Hermanubis, the Mercury of the sages, fluid, air, and water; the goat represents fire, and is at the same time the symbol of generation.”
“Behold the shadows of the infernal sanctuary dissipated! Behold the sphinx of mediaeval terrors divined and cast from his throne! Quomodo cecidisti, Lucifer!”
“How should man adore the beast, since he exercises a sovereign power over it? Let us affirm, for the honour of humanity, that it has never adored dogs and goats any more than lambs and pigeons. In the hieroglyphic order, why not a goat as much as a lamb?”
Transcendental Magic: its Doctrine and Ritual, The Ritual, chapter V, The Blazing Pentagram, pages 224 and 225
“The pentagram with two points in the ascendant represents Satan as the goat of the Sabbath; when one point is in the ascendant, it is the sign of the Saviour.”
Transcendental Magic: its Doctrine and Ritual, The Ritual, chapter II, Magical Equilibrium, page 202
“The magical androgyne depicted in the frontispiece of the Ritual has SOLVE inscribed upon the right and COAGULA on the left arm, which corresponds to the symbolical figure of the architects of the second temple, who bore their sword in one hand and their trowel in the other.”