The Doctrine of Transcendental Magic

This foundational text lays out Lévi’s system of occult philosophy, proposing a unified vision of correspondences among religion, symbolism, and natural forces. Historically, it was one of the most important nineteenth-century works to revive ceremonial magic for modern readers and to influence later esoteric movements. Inside are essays on the elements, analogies, talismans, divination, and the philosophical principles behind magical thought.

Éliphas Lévi (Alphonse Louis Constant, 1810–1875) was a French occult writer whose works did much to define modern Western occultism. Books such as Dogme et rituel de la haute magie synthesized ceremonial magic, Kabbalah, and Christian symbolism in a highly influential esoteric idiom.