The French Occult Revival
Paris, 1850–1900: where modern occultism found its voice.
Modern occultism has a French accent. Éliphas Lévi’s Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1854–56) fused Kabbalah, tarot and ceremonial magic into a theory of the astral light, and the English-speaking revival read him almost as scripture.
This study gathers Lévi, Papus and their circle in French originals and English translations, including The Tarot of the Bohemians, the Martinist writings of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, and the esoteric journals of fin-de-siècle Paris.
The French revival has a clear sequence. Saint-Martin’s Christian theosophy comes first, then Éliphas Lévi’s Dogme et Rituel, which fused Kabbalah, tarot and magnetism into a single theory of magic, and finally the fin-de-siècle generation of Papus, Guaita and Péladan who founded orders and wrote systematic textbooks. Several works are available both in the original French and in English translation; where possible compare them, because translators such as Waite added their own judgements. The influence of this shelf on English-speaking occultism, and on the tarot in particular, is difficult to overstate.
On This Shelf (23)
Dogme et rituel de la haute magie par Éliphas Lévi Dogme
Éliphas Lévi
Theosophic Correspondence (with Kirchberger)
Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin
