Author: Christopher McIntosh
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438435584
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 259
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Book Description
This classic study of the French magician Eliphas Lévi and the occult revival in France is at last available again after being out of print and highly sought after for many years. Its central focus is Lévi himself (1810-1875), would-be priest, revolutionary socialist, utopian visionary, artist, poet and, above all, author of a number of seminal books on magic and occultism. It is largely thanks to Lévi, for example, that the Tarot is so widely used today as a divinatory method and a system of esoteric symbolism. The magicians of the Golden Dawn were strongly influenced by him, and Aleister Crowley even believed himself to be Lévi's reincarnation. The book is not only about Lévi, however, but also covers the era of which he was a part and the remarkable figures who preceded and followed him – the esoteric Freemasons and Illuminati of the late 18th century, and later figures such as the Rosicrucian magus Joséphin Péladan, the occultist Papus (Gérard Encausse), the Counter-Pope Eugène Vintras, and the writer J.-K. Huysmans, whose work drew strongly on occult themes. These people were avatars of a set of traditions which are now seen as an important part of the western heritage and which are gaining increasing attention in the academy. Christopher McIntosh's vivid account of this richly fascinating era in the history of occultism remains as fresh and compelling as ever.
Author: Christopher McIntosh
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 9781441687111
Category : Occultism
Languages : en
Pages : 259
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Book Description
A searching study of Eliphas Lvi and the French occult revival.
Author: Christopher McIntosh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 264
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Book Description
Author: Éliphas Lévi
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 823
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Book Description
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.
Author: Thomas A. Williams
Publisher: Williams & Company
ISBN: 9781878853394
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 276
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Book Description
The only existing biography in English of this fascinating 19th century figure. Choice says, "An often enjoyable, wwll-documented, readable biographical book on Lévi and his influenxe...A significant book"
Author: Tobias Churton
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1620555468
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 758
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Book Description
How fin-de-siècle Paris became the locus for the most intense revival of magical practices and doctrines since the Renaissance • Examines the remarkable lives of occult practitioners Joséphin Peladan, Papus, Stanislas de Guaïta, Saint-Yves d’Alveydre, Jules Doinel, and others • Reveals how occult activity deeply influenced many well-known cultural movements, such as Symbolism, the Decadents, modern music, and the “psychedelic 60s” During Paris’s Belle Époque (1871-1914), many cultural movements and artistic styles flourished--Symbolism, Impressionism, Art Nouveau, the Decadents--all of which profoundly shaped modern culture. Inseparable from this cultural advancement was the explosion of occult activity taking place in the City of Light at the same time. Exploring the magical, artistic, and intellectual world of the Belle Époque, Tobias Churton shows how a wide variety of Theosophists, Rosicrucians, Martinists, Freemasons, Gnostics, and neo-Cathars called fin-de-siècle Paris home. He examines the precise interplay of occultists Joséphin Peladan, Papus, Stanislas de Guaïta, and founder of the modern Gnostic Church Jules Doinel, along with lesser known figures such as Saint-Yves d’Alveydre, Paul Sédir, Charles Barlet, Edmond Bailly, Albert Jounet, Abbé Lacuria, and Lady Caithness. He reveals how the work of many masters of modern culture such as composers Claude Debussy and Erik Satie, writers Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire, and painters Georges Seurat and Alphonse Osbert bear signs of immersion in the esoteric circles that were thriving in Paris at the time. The author demonstrates how the creative hermetic ferment that animated the City of Light in the decades leading up to World War I remains an enduring presence and powerful influence today. Where, he asks, would Aleister Crowley and all the magicians of today be without the Parisian source of so much creativity in this field? Conveying the living energy of Paris in this richly artistic period of history, Churton brings into full perspective the characters, personalities, and forces that made Paris a global magnet and which allowed later cultural movements, such as the “psychedelic 60s,” to rise from the ashes of post-war Europe.
Author: Robert L. Uzzel
Publisher: Michael Poll Publishing
ISBN: 9781887560764
Category : Cabala
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
A masterful account of liphas Lvi, one of the most celebrated Kabbalistic authors of all times. The influence Lvi exerted on such esoteric movement leaders as A.E. Waite; Madame Blavatsky; Papus; Aleister Crowley; Rudolf Steiner; Max Heindel; H. Spencer Lewis; Paul Foster Case and others is explored as well as remarkable insights into Lvi's life and times. A chapter is devoted to Masonic legend Albert Pike and analyzes Pike's classic Morals and Dogma revealing entire sections Pike took verbatim from the works of Lvi. This is a powerful and essential book by a respected Masonic and esoteric scholar.
Author: Éliphas Lévi
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486121070
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 386
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Book Description
DIVA great literary work as well as a classic of occultism, this 1860 survey chronicles the practice of magic through the ages. Intriguing topics include hypnotism, astrology, and the Illuminati. /div
Author: Christopher McIntosh
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438435614
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 223
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Book Description
This new edition of Christopher McIntosh's classic book on the Golden and Rosy Cross order is eagerly awaited. The order stands out as one of the most fascinating and influential of the high-degree masonic and illuminist groups that mushroomed in Europe from the 18th century onward. Active mainly in the German-speaking lands, it recast the original Rosicrucian vision and gave it renewed vitality. At one point it became politically influential when the Prussian King, Frederick William II, was a member of the order. Historians have often perceived the Golden and Rosy Cross as having had a conservative, anti-Enlightenment agenda, but this study – drawing on rare German sources – shows that the matter was more complex. The members of the order practiced alchemy and operated a degree system that was later imitated by later orders such as the Golden Dawn. Like the latter, the Golden and Rosy Cross exerted a wide and enduring cultural influence. Both the alchemy of the order and its powerful ritual system are insightfully described in Christopher McIntosh's clear and compelling style.
Author: Chaim Wirszubski
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780674863132
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description