Who was Eliphas Levi

 Éliphas Lévi and “As Above, So Below”

Éliphas Lévi (1810–1875), born Alphonse Louis Constant, is the single most important figure in turning the ancient Hermetic maxim “as above, so below” into the foundational principle of modern Western occultism. More than any alchemist, Rosicrucian, or Renaissance magus before him, Lévi transformed the phrase from an alchemical or cosmological observation into the supreme law of magic itself.

Lévi’s Famous Formulation (1855–1856)

In his two masterpieces — Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1855–1856, translated as Transcendental Magic) — Lévi repeatedly returns to the Emerald Tablet and gives the axiom its classic 19th-century occult form:

“The Great Magical Arcanum is summed up in the words of Hermes: ‘That which is above is like that which is below, and that which is below is like that which is above.’

There is a single law for the infinite and the finite, for the visible and the invisible, for heaven and earth.

The microcosm (man) is identical in organization and essence with the macrocosm (the universe).

To know one is to know the other; to act on one is to act on the other.”

For Lévi, this is not poetry or vague mysticism. It is the mechanism by which magic works.

 

The Astral Light: The Medium of Correspondence

Lévi’s greatest original contribution is his doctrine of the Astral Light (Lumière Astrale), a universal plastic mediator that fills all space and serves as the common substance of souls, stars, and physical matter.

•  The Astral Light is the “great agent” of the Emerald Tablet (the Wind that carries the child in its womb).

•  It is polarized: it has an active (above) and a passive (below) face.

•  Every thought, desire, or ritual gesture impresses a form on this fluid, and because of the law “as above, so below,” the impression on the invisible plane must eventually manifest on the visible plane — and vice versa.

In short: the Astral Light is the living proof that the macrocosm and microcosm are not just analogous; they are linked by a real, tangible medium that the trained will can manipulate.

Human Being as the Living Pentagram

Lévi’s most iconic illustration is the Baphomet drawing (the “Sabbatic Goat”) in Dogme et Rituel. The caption reads:

“The Goat of Mendes… bears the signs of the Pentagram on its forehead… because, as Hermes said, ‘That which is below is like that which is above…’

The magician who raises his arm towards heaven and points downward with the other is the living image of the law: he becomes the Pantacle of the Great Arcanum.”

For Lévi, the upright human body with arms raised and one foot forward is the Pentagram incarnate — the microcosmic mirror of the five elements, five planets, and five wounds of Christ. When the magician assumes this posture and pronounces the correct words, he literally becomes the conduit through which the “above” descends into the “below.”

Practical Magic as Applied Correspondence

Lévi turns the axiom into a complete magical technology:

•  To heal a sick organ (below), invoke the planetary force that corresponds to it (above).

•  To bind a spirit, draw its sigil on earth at the exact moment the corresponding star is culminating in heaven.

•  To gain power over another person, work on the astral image of that person, because the astral double and the physical body are linked by unbreakable sympathy.

This is why Lévi insists that “the magician must know astrology, physiology, and the correspondences of the Kabbalah,” because all these sciences are simply tables of the single law of analogy.

Influence and Legacy

Lévi’s interpretation became the DNA of almost every subsequent occult movement:

•  The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn built its entire system of correspondences (Tree of Life, colors, planets, tarot, etc.) on Lévi’s version of “as above, so below.”

•  The famous Golden Dawn ritual gesture of the “Sign of the Enterer” and the “Sign of Silence” is a direct enactment of the ascent/descent cycle in the Emerald Tablet.

•  Aleister Crowley’s core definition of magick — “the Science and Art of causing Change to occur in conformity with Will” — is unthinkable without Lévi’s prior insistence that the law of analogy makes such causation possible.

•  Even the New Age “law of attraction” is a highly diluted descendant of Lévi’s Astral Light doctrine.

Lévi’s Final Word

In the conclusion of Dogme et Rituel, he writes:

“The entire magical work consists in ascending consciously, by the ladder of the four worlds and the thirty-two paths of the Kabbalah, from earth to heaven, and then descending again charged with the power of the things above, to command the things below.”

For Éliphas Lévi, “as above, so below” is not a mystical truism. It is the operating manual of the universe — and the magician who truly understands it becomes, in his own words, “the king of the visible and invisible worlds.”

No one before or since has made the ancient Hermetic axiom feel so alive, so dangerous, and so absolutely practical.

Éliphas Lévi’s Baphomet (1856): A Complete Key to the Symbolism

The famous drawing appears as the frontispiece to the second volume of Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1856). Lévi himself titled it “The Goat of Mendes” and later simply “Baphomet.” It is not a devil, not a deity to be worshipped, and certainly not a random satanic fantasy. It is, in Lévi’s own words, “the hieroglyphic image of the Great Magical Arcanum,” the synthesized emblem of the entire occult doctrine “As above, so below.”

Here is what every major element actually means according to Lévi’s own explanations (scattered through Dogme et Rituel, Histoire de la Magie, and his letters):

Overall Posture and Gesture

•  Androgynous winged goat-headed figure seated in a perfect frontal pose on a stone cube.

•  Right hand points upward to a white moon, left hand points downward to a black moon → the solved Great Arcanum: “That which is above is like that which is below.”

•  The posture is the exact living embodiment of Hermes Trismegistus’ law. The figure itself IS the solved Emerald Tablet.

Head and Face

•  Goat’s head: the traditional symbol of the element Earth and of the generative force in nature (the same goat that pulls Thor’s chariot, that was sacrificed in ancient rites, etc.).

•  Torch between the horns: the flame of Intelligence, the Promethean fire, the divine spark in matter.

•  Pentagram on the forehead (point upward): the dominion of Spirit over the four elements; the human being who has achieved magical equilibrium.

Torso and Breasts

•  Female breasts + visible phallus (caduceus rising from the groin): perfect androgyne, the Rebis of alchemy (rebis = res bina, “double thing”). The solved Mercury, male-female united.

•  Dark and light breasts: the duality of forces (mercy/severity, attraction/repulsion) reconciled in the Adept.

Arms and Hands

•  Arms bear the Latin words SOLVE (left) and COAGULA (right): the great alchemical rhythm — dissolve and coagulate, separate and join. The entire magical process in two words.

•  The same words appear on the arms of the Baphomet in Crowley’s Thoth Tarot Trump XV, showing direct descent.

Wings

•  Bat-like or dragon wings: the sublimated volatile principle, the power of ascent from earth to heaven (line 8 of the Emerald Tablet).

Lower Body

•  Scaled reptilian legs ending in hooves: the mastery of the lowest, most material forces.

•  Seated on a stone cube: the Cube of Perfection, the philosophical salt, the fixed and perfected matter.

Caduceus Rising from the Groin

•  The twin serpents of the caduceus intertwine around a central rod that rises from the genitals.

•  Exact symbol of equilibrated desire: sexual energy transmuted into spiritual force. Kundalini, the serpent power, raised and balanced.

The Two Moons (on the pedestal in some versions)

•  Crescent moons, one white, one black, with the figure pointing to both.

•  The solved lunar polarity: the Astral Light in its dual aspect.

The Surrounding Elements (in the full plate)

•  Two chained figures (sometimes shown, sometimes omitted): humanity before initiation — bound to matter.

•  The stone globe or black sphere behind: the primordial chaos that the Adept has ordered.

Lévi’s Own Summary Statements

•  “The goat… represents the equilibrated forces of nature, the synthesis of all dogmas, the universal equilibrium.”

•  “Baphomet is the hieroglyph of magical omnipotence… the image of the Pantheomorphic Absolute.”

•  “If one were to pronounce the divine name while making the sign of Baphomet (arms in the ‘as above, so below’ gesture), one would evoke the creative force itself.”

Crucial Point: Baphomet Is Not Satan

Lévi explicitly contrasts his figure with the Christian Devil:

“The devil of the Christians is nothing but a perversion of our goat… We rehabilitate the true Baphomet, the great magical agent in its unity.”

For Lévi, the Christian Satan is the Astral Light misused and unbalanced; Baphomet is the Astral Light mastered and equilibrated.

Legacy

Every subsequent depiction of Baphomet — from the Golden Dawn, to the Taxil hoax, to LaVey’s Church of Satan sigil, to modern metal album covers — derives ultimately from Lévi’s 1856 drawing, but almost always loses the original meaning. Lévi’s Baphomet is not evil, not a being to worship, and not a historical Templar idol. It is a philosophical and magical synthesis: the human being who has become the living bridge between heaven and earth, the perfect illustration of the solved Hermetic maxim “As  above, so below.”