The Key of the Mysteries

The true greatness of The Key of the Mysteries lies in its ability to place occult thought firmly in Western religious tradition. It is testimony to Éliphas Lévi's clarity of vision that his work, written nearly two centuries ago, holds relevance for us today. The great 20th-century magician Aleister Crowley deemed this work to be Lévi's masterpiece. To unlock the mysteries of our existence, Lévi begins with the monumental task of proving the existence of God and "true religion." He concludes his argument with an engaging dialogue between Faith, Science, and Reason, in which Reason is the reconciler. Lévi ranges widely in this ambitious work: exploring the secrets of the Qabalah; providing a sketch of the prophetic theology of numbers and the significance of the Hebrew alphabet; examining natural mysteries such as mesmerism, hallucinations and the evocation of spirits, fluidic phantoms, and the Theory of Will. Alphonse Louis Constant, who wrote under the pseudonym Éliphas Lévi, was born in master of the Rosicrucian interpretation of the Qabalah, Lévi attended seminary at Saint-Sulpice but was expelled for teaching doctrine contrary to those of the Roman Catholic Church. Lévi's studies in the occult sciences began in 1825, and he wrote extensively on his findings for thirty years.