The Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum: Interpreted by the Tarot Trumps (Cambridge Library Collection - Spiritualism and Esoteric Knowledge) - Softcover

Lévi, Éliphas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108044298 ISBN 13: 9781108044295

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Éliphas Lévi, born Alphonse Louis Constant, (1810-75) was instrumental in the revival of Western occultism in the nineteenth century, and published several influential books on magic that are also reissued in this series. This posthumous publication (1896) is a translation by William Wynn Westcott, co-founder of the 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn', of an unpublished French manuscript by Lévi, then owned by the spiritualist Edward Maitland. It includes eight of the author's drawings. Each short chapter outlines the meaning of one of the twenty-two tarot trumps and is followed by a brief editor's note describing the card's iconography and summarising interpretations (sometimes deliberately misleading) given in Lévi's earlier publications. The book ends with Kabbalistic prayers and rituals, praise of Jesus Christ as the great initiate, and a surprising assertion that Christianity has superseded ancient magic, revealing the life-long tension between Catholicism and magic in Lévi's personality and thought.

About this title

Book Description:

Éliphas Lévi (1810-75) was instrumental in the revival of Western occultism in the nineteenth century. This posthumous publication (1896), translated from an unpublished manuscript, outlines the meanings of the twenty-two tarot trumps and includes editorial notes on their iconography. It concludes with Kabbalistic prayers and occult and religious maxims.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1108044298
• ISBN 13: 9781108044295
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 134