Alphonse Louis Constant was born the son of a shoemaker in 1810. At an early age he caught the attentions of a Parish Priest who arranged for Alphonse to be sent to the seminary of Saint Nichols du Chardonnet and latterly to Saint Sulpice. It was here that he studied Roman Catholicism with the intent of joining the Priesthood.
He gave up the collar of Catholicism to become an Occultist in the nineteenth century. Some claim he was thrown out of the Church for his heretical views or as the story goes for "preaching doctrines contrary to the Church." Before his death in 1875 Lévi is said to have reconciled with the Catholic Church and died having received last rites.
While alive he followed the esoteric path and adopted the Jewish pseudonym of Eliphas Lévi, which he claimed was a Hebrew version of his, own name. Although known for many books on ritual Magic, Lévi is perhaps best known for his work regarding the alleged deity of the Knights Templar, the Baphomet.
Lévi considered the Baphomet to be a depiction of the absolute in symbolic form. His treatment of the Baphomet Mythos is best seen in his illustration of the Baphomet shown below, which he used as a front piece to one of his many books. According to the author Michael Howard, he [Lévi] based the illustration on a Gargoyle that appears on a building owned by the Templars; the Commandry of Saint Bris le Vineux.
It is believed that within Lévi's Baphomet, are contained the dualistic nature of life and the male female aspects of creation. The image combines both male and female qualities; one arm masculine, one feminine; the breasts of a woman with a phallic object on its lap; one arm pointing skyward while one pointing down, perhaps a representation of the Hermetic axiom "As Above...So Below". The illustration also shows one arm points toward a white crescent moon the other towards a dark crescent moon, perhaps a representation of the waxing and waning phases of the moon but it could also represent the duality of good and evil. On the right arm is written "Solve" Solution and on the Left "Coagula" Coagulation. These are references found in alchemy a study that Lévi not only undertook but also wrote about in his books.
Not commonly know, is that Eliphas Lévi was the first to separate the pentagram into good and evil applications. It was Lévi who first incorporated his goat headed Baphomet into the inverted pentagram attributing the qualities of evil to the new symbol.
Eliphas Lévi died on
