Biography of
Eliphas Lévi
Name: Eliphas Lévi (born Alphonse Louis Constant)
Born: February 8,
1810
Location: Paris,
France
Died: May 31,
1875
Location: Paris,
France
Nationality: French
Genealogy
Parents/Siblings:
- Father: A shoemaker
- Mother: Unknown
- Brother(s): Unknown
- Sister(s): Unknown
Wife/Wives/Consort(s):
- Wives: Noemie Cadiot (Married Lévi in 1846, at 18 years
his junior. They separated in 1853. Their marriage was annulled in 1865)
Children/Offspring:
- Son(s): None
- Daughter(s): One daughter that died in early
childhood
Chronicle
Principal Activity or Occupation(s):
- Occultist
- Magician
- Author
- Journalist
Lived In:
- Paris, France
- London, England
Education:
- He attended the seminary of Saint Nichols du Chardonnet and later Saint Sulpice to be educated and trained
for entering the Roman Catholic priesthood. He was ordained a deacon in December 1835, but did not become a
priest. It is said, but not confirmed, that while at the seminary he fell in love.
Teachers and Mentors:
- While at the seminary, he became intrigued by a lesson received from his headmaster. During the course of
the lesson the instructor explained his belief that animal magnetism was a vital energy of the human body
controlled by the “Devil.” This sparked his curiosity and surreptitiously he began to study all that he could
find out about magic and the occult.
- Early in the 1830’s Constant became acquainted with an older couple called 'Ganneau' who practiced magic
and the occult. Ganneau believed himself a prophet and a reincarnation of Louis XVII. He also believed his wife
was the reincarnation of Marie Antoinette. Constant joined Ganneau and became one of his followers delving
deeper into the mysteries of magic and the unexplained.
|