Eliphas Levi

Éliphas Lévi, born Alphonse Louis Constant, was a French esotericist, poet, and writer who initially pursued a career in the Catholic Church before abandoning the priesthood in his mid-twenties to become a ceremonial magician and occultist. At age 40, amid financial and spiritual crisis, he delved deeply into esotericism, adopting the pseudonym Éliphas Lévi—claimed as the Hebrew equivalent of his name—and authored over 20 influential books on magic, Kabbalah, alchemy, and Tarot. His works, including Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, played a pivotal role in reviving occultism in 19th-century Europe.