Аннотация

This book is the first treatise on magic by Éliphas Lévi and one of his fundamental works. In this book, he criticizes magic as a collection of methods and rituals. Instead, he says magic is a universal power and attribute of a man, an eternal religion that existed before Christianity and other religions. According to his theory, proper magic as an attribute of a human is a combination of psychic force, will, and imagination. He calls the ordinary miracles attributed to unnecessary magic exaggerations. Yet, the access to the true magic is constricted only to a narrow circle of selected people, or Magi. Those who go through the initiation to Magi acquire force to alter human wills. His works became quickly popular, as their publication coincided with the interest in magic and occultism in the second half of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. It also greatly influenced the magic of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Also, in this text, Éliphas Lévi, for the first time, pointed out that a pentagram or five-pointed star with one point down and two points up represents evil, while a pentagram with one end up and two points down represent the good.

Аннотация

This is one of the most influential works of Éliphas Lévi. He believes that people regard magic erroneously and narrow it to a collection of tricks. On the contrary, magic is practicing the concentration of will, imagination, and psychic power to influence the minds of other people and the phenomena of reality. In The History of Magic, Lévi compares the magical components of different religious traditions and organizations, like pagan beliefs, Kabbalah, Christian Catholicism, Illuminati, and Freemasonry. He states that true magic is earthed under the parables, fables, and wonder stories with peculiarities in every division. Yet, they all have a common basis, which Lévi describes as the true magic which imparts real science. Lévi enumerates in the preface the nine fundamental tenets of magic, such as magic is real and true; it is kept secret, it gives a man super-human powers, it is ruled, practiced, and shared to us by Magi, initiation to Magi provides a human with power over other human's will and control of thoughts, conventional religions are the parable of the proper knowledge. They are valid for the crowd but not for an initiated person. The book chapters are dedicated to the magic of the Magi, Magic in Ancient Greece, the Kabbalah, primitive symbolism, mysticism, oracles, magical monuments, the relations between magic and Christianity, pagan magic, masons, Illuminati, and more. Lévi's books greatly influenced the development of different occult and mystical movements in Europe and the United States, including the Theosophical Society of Helena Blavatsky.

Аннотация

The Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum is a unique guide into the world of tarot. Within 22 chapters readers will find out the true meaning of each of the twenty-two tarot trumps. Every chapter is enriched with a brief editor's note describing the card's iconography and summarising interpretations. Finally, the book ends with Kabbalistic prayers and rituals, praise of Jesus Christ.

Аннотация

The presented here collection contains two of the most important books by Éliphas Lévi dedicated to his views on the essence of magic and the history of magical studies. Levi thinks that people regard magic erroneously and narrow it to a collection of tricks. On the contrary, magic is practicing the concentration of will, imagination, and psychic power to influence the minds of other people and the phenomena of reality. In The History of Magic, Lévi compares the magical components of different religious traditions and organizations, like pagan beliefs, Kabbalah, Christian Catholicism, Illuminati, and Freemasonry. He states that true magic is earthed under the parables, fables, and wonder stories with peculiarities in every division. Yet, they all have a common basis, which Lévi describes as the true magic which imparts real science. Levi's books greatly influenced the development of different occult and mystical movements in Europe and the United States, including the Theosophical Society of Helena Blavatsky.

Аннотация

The Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum is a unique guide into the world of tarot. Within 22 chapters readers will find out the true meaning of each of the twenty-two tarot trumps. Every chapter is enriched with a brief editor's note describing the card's iconography and summarising interpretations. Finally, the book ends with Kabbalistic prayers and rituals, praise of Jesus Christ.

Аннотация

"Histoire de la magie", de Éliphas Lévi. Publié par Good Press. Good Press publie un large éventail d'ouvrages, où sont inclus tous les genres littéraires. Les choix éditoriaux des éditions Good Press ne se limitent pas aux grands classiques, à la fiction et à la non-fiction littéraire. Ils englobent également les trésors, oubliés ou à découvrir, de la littérature mondiale. Nous publions les livres qu'il faut avoir lu. Chaque ouvrage publié par Good Press a été édité et mis en forme avec soin, afin d'optimiser le confort de lecture, sur liseuse ou tablette. Notre mission est d'élaborer des e-books faciles à utiliser, accessibles au plus grand nombre, dans un format numérique de qualité supérieure.

Аннотация

"Le sorcier de Meudon", de Éliphas Lévi. Publié par Good Press. Good Press publie un large éventail d'ouvrages, où sont inclus tous les genres littéraires. Les choix éditoriaux des éditions Good Press ne se limitent pas aux grands classiques, à la fiction et à la non-fiction littéraire. Ils englobent également les trésors, oubliés ou à découvrir, de la littérature mondiale. Nous publions les livres qu'il faut avoir lu. Chaque ouvrage publié par Good Press a été édité et mis en forme avec soin, afin d'optimiser le confort de lecture, sur liseuse ou tablette. Notre mission est d'élaborer des e-books faciles à utiliser, accessibles au plus grand nombre, dans un format numérique de qualité supérieure.

Аннотация

Аннотация

"The most arresting, entertaining, and brilliant of all studies on the subject." — Arthur Edward WaiteA great work of literature as well as a pioneering classic of occultism, this voluminous historical survey traces the roots and manifestations of magic through the ages as a secret tradition persisting from remote times. Author Éliphas Lévi, pseudonym of Alphonse Louis Constant (1810-75), was a leader of the French occult revival, a spiritual teacher and magus who is today considered by some to be a founding father of the New Age movement. One of his most stunning (and original) revelations connects the Kabbalah with the Tarot, thus helping to inspire the ongoing fascination with the symbols of both, and their correspondences with each other. In this 1860 work, Lévi's discussions include topics that continue to intrigue modern readers, subjects as seemingly disparate as the mathematical magic of Pythagoras, magical monuments, magic and Christianity, the devil, the Knights Templar, alchemy, the illuminati, hallucinations, and many others that are equally alluring.The first part of the book explains the principles underlying magical operations, while the second part addresses the actual ritual and practice of transcendent magic. An essential resource for the library of anyone interested in mysticism and the occult sciences, this influential work appears here in its first English translation (from the original French) by the distinguished scholar and co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, A. E. Waite.