Hitchhiker's Guide to Religion
Esoteric

Eliphas Levi

The Reviver

Esoteric Ceremonial magic, Tarot-Kabbalah correspondence, Baphomet, the modern occult synthesis
Attribute Value
Combat
ATK 50
DEF 60
SPR 80
SPD 70
INT 92
Rank Defrocked deacon / Occultist / Author / Systematizer
Domain Ceremonial magic, Tarot-Kabbalah correspondence, Baphomet, the modern occult synthesis
Alignment Esoteric / Catholic-haunted
Weakness His scholarship is often inventive rather than rigorous; his historical claims (e.g., Tarot's Egyptian origins) are frequently wrong but became canonical anyway
Key Act Published *Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie* (1854-1856), the foundational text of modern occultism. Mapped the 22 Major Arcana of the Tarot to the 22 Hebrew letters -- the central correspondence of all later Western magic. Drew the famous Baphomet image (the Sabbatic Goat) that has defined occult iconography ever since
Source Levi, *Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie* (1854-56); *Histoire de la Magie* (1860); *La Clef des Grands Mystères* (1861)

“Magic is the divine science.” — Eliphas Levi, Dogme

Born Alphonse Louis Constant (1810), trained for priesthood, ordained a deacon, then dismissed for falling in love, Levi spends his life rebuilding Western magic from the ground up. He bridges Renaissance magic and the modern occult revival. Without Levi: no Golden Dawn; without Golden Dawn: no Crowley; without Crowley: no modern ceremonial magic. His Tarot-to-Hebrew-letter mapping — largely his own invention (Levi, Dogme et Rituel, Book II) — founds every later esoteric Tarot system (see Tarot.md). His Baphomet image (1856) — goat head, torch, breasts, SOLVE et COAGULA on arms — becomes occultism’s most recognizable icon, even though it is Levi’s invention, not a medieval Templar artifact. The Templars almost certainly never worshipped “Baphomet.”


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Combat Radar

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