Éliphas Lévi: definition

Éliphas Lévi (1810-1875) was a French author and occultist, a central figure in the magical and symbolic re-reading of tarot within modern esotericism. His work marked a before and an after.

He decisively helped turn tarot into a major object of esoteric speculation, above all by relating it to Hebrew kabbalah, hermeticism and other great symbolic systems of his time.

His idea of matching the twenty-two major arcana with the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet had an enormous influence and is still present in many contemporary esoteric readings.

Works such as his treatise on high magic spread a vision of tarot as a universal key, a ciphered book capable of summing up all knowledge. That ambition far exceeded the ludic origin of the cards.

His influence extends to numerous later occultist currents, including the tradition that would later give rise to the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, partly heir to these correspondences.

Knowing Éliphas Lévi helps situate historically many widely spread associations: much of what is considered the traditional knowledge of esoteric tarot comes, directly or indirectly, from his work.

For all that, his name is an obligatory reference in the history of esoteric tarot: understanding his work helps read with perspective many associations that are taken for granted today.

Knowing his place, then, is less about adopting his system than about reading the whole esoteric tradition with the historical perspective it deserves.