Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) · 72 of 96 · tr. A.E. Waite
15. Black Magic
SAMAEL AUXILIATOR We APPROACH the mystery of Black Magic. We are about to confront, even in his own sanctuary, the black god of the Sabbath, the formidable goat of Mendes. At this point those who are liable to fear should close the book; even persons who are a prey to nervous impressions will do well to divert their attention or to abstain. We have undertaken a task, and we must complete it. Let us first of all address ourselves frankly and boldly to the questions: Is there a devil? What is the devil? As to the first point, science is silent, philosophy denies it at hazard, religion only answers in the affirmative. As to the second point, religion states that the devil is the fallen angel; occult philosophy accepts and explains this definition. It will be unnecessary to repeat what we have said previously on the subject, but we may add a further revelation: IN BLACK MAGIC, THE DEVIL IS THE GREAT MAGICAL AGENT EMPLOYED FOR EVIL PURPOSES BY A PERVERSE WILL. The old serpent of the legend is nothing else than the Universal Agent, the eternal fire of terrestrial life, the soul of the earth, and the living centre of hell. We have said that the Astral Light is the receptacle of forms, and these when evoked by reason are produced harmoniously, but when evoked by madness they appear disordered and monstrous: so originated the nightmares of St. Anthony and the phantoms of the Sabbath. Do therefore the evocations of goetia and demonomania produce a practical result? Yes, certainly - one which cannot be contested, one more terrible than could ever be recounted in legends! When anyone invokes the devil with intentional ceremonies, the devil comes and is seen. To escape dying from horror at that sight, to escape catalepsy or idiocy, one must be already mad. Grandier was a libertine through indevotion and perhaps also through scepticism; excessive zeal, following on the aberrations of asceticism and blindness of faith, depraved Girard and made him deprave in his turn. In the fifteenth chapter of our “Ritual” we shall give all the diabolical evocations and practices of “Black Magic,” not that they may be used, but that they may be known and judged, and that such insanities may be put aside for ever. M. Eudes de Mirville, whose book upon table-turning made a certain sensation recently, will be contented possibly and discontented at the same time with the solution here given of Black Magic and its problems. As a fact, we maintain like himself the reality and prodigious nature of the facts; with him also we assign them to the old serpent, the occult prince of this world; but we are not agreed as to the nature of this blind agent, which, under different leadership, is the instrument of all good or of all evil, the minister of prophets or the inspirer of pythonesses. In a word, the devil, for us, is force placed temporarily at the disposal of evil, even as mortal sin is, to our thinking, the persistence of the will in what is absurd. M. de Mirville is therefore a thousand times right, but he is once and one great time wrong. Whatsoever is arbitrary must be excluded from the realm of things positive. Nothing happens by chance, nor yet by the autocracy of a good or evil will. There are two houses in heaven, and the tribunal of Satan is restrained in its extremes by the Senate of Divine Wisdom.
Themes
◆Astral Lightcosmology
The universal fluid or medium of occult philosophy — Lévi's Great Magical Agent — that transmits will, thought, and magical influence between minds and matter, and preserves the impress of all forms and actions as a book of consciences; cognate with akasha and the anima mundi. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of hidden affinity) in being a substantival medium that can be charged, directed, and abused.
The text describes the Astral Light as a receptacle of forms that respond to reason or madness, illustrating the sympathetic link between internal will and external manifestation. [Converted from cosmic_sympathy reject to astral_light accept per operator decision 2026-07-15: chunk substantively expresses the Astral Light doctrine.]
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The Astral Light is described as the 'eternal fire of terrestrial life' and a universal agent, functioning as a luminous medium for magical operations.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The author asserts that nothing happens by chance and that the tribunal of Satan is restrained by the Senate of Divine Wisdom, indicating active divine ordering.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
The devil is defined as force placed at the disposal of evil and sin as persistence in the absurd, suggesting evil is a perversion or misuse rather than an independent substance.
Transgressive knowing acquired against divine prohibition — the Watchers' teaching of metallurgy, sorcery, and cosmetics in 1 Enoch, the Gnostic Eve narratives, the Promethean mytheme; explicitly contrasted with gnosis_direct_knowledge, which is salvific.
The passage explicitly discusses Black Magic and diabolical evocations as dangerous practices that should be known for judgment but not used, framing them as transgressive knowledge.
Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.
The passage details intentional ceremonies and evocations that produce practical results by engaging spiritual forces, fitting the definition of ritual engagement with powers.