Eliphas Levi

Dogme et Rituel de l’Haute Magie

This is Levi’s (1810-1875) best-known book and one of the two large works that he wrote, together with The History of Magic. Levi was a Catholic priest who got interested in magic and the Kabbalah. However he was the worst historian ever (this book is notorious for containing nothing but historious errors) especially Dogme et Rituel de la haute Magie has made Levi into THE most influential writer on magic since the Renaissance. The book reads quite easily, is funny at times and is divided in two parts. The first is theoretical, the second practical. The first part reads a bit like Isis Unveiled of Blavatsky, much info from a lot of different corners and fairly chaotic and without much references, but still interesting. The second part is supposed to be practical, but this is not really the case. Levi reveals himself as a Christian speaking of “gnostic herecies” and who is quite anti-magical. The only few rituals he gives are to show how wrong or dangerous they are. The second part is rather boring. Overall this books proves to be most interesting from a historical point of view (everybody knows it), but not really to get to know the magical theories of a French Christian and/or his time.

Strange facts: Leer en Ritueel der Hoge Magie is one of the only two texts of Levi that is available in Dutch. It was published in 1984 and has had six reprints since. For some reason we don’t have History of Magic and in English the Doctrine and Ritual is much more less obtainable.

Histoire de la Magie

For only E 2,50 ($ 3,-) I bought a German translation of this book. History and Levi, this is an impossible combination which proves in this book. Levi starts with a history. The oldest kind of magic in the world of Levi is Kabbalah, but he calls the ancient tradition Kabbalah and does not necessarily refer to Jewish magic. Levi has a strange order: India, Hermetica, Greece, Pythagoras, Kabbalah. After this he speaks about some magicians, practises, mythology, freemasonry, etc. Alright, but I would not recommand this book if you are looking for a serious history of magic. Still, because of the name Levi, this book is a standard book about the subject.