Transcendental Magic
Eliphas Lévi – translated by Arthur Edward Waite
Behind the veil of ruined temples, Kabbalistic diagrams, alchemical emblems and secret initiations, Eliphas Lévi discerned a single hidden doctrine running like a golden thread through the ages. In Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual, his most influential work, he sets out to reveal that doctrine – and to restore magic as the “traditional science of the secrets of nature”.
Born Alphonse Louis Constant in 1810, the shoemaker’s son who was educated for the priesthood at Saint Sulpice, expelled for unorthodox views and later reborn as Eliphas Lévi, drew on Christian symbolism, Hermetic philosophy, Kabbalah and alchemy to forge a new, modern esotericism. In these pages, Lévi explores the astral light, the pentagram and the tarot, the hierarchy of spirits, the nature of the magus, and the ethical demands of initiation, insisting that true magic is neither superstition nor stage trickery, but a disciplined, philosophical path of will, imagination and spiritual responsibility.
First published in mid-nineteenth-century France and presented here in Arthur Edward Waite’s classic English translation – together with his substantial biographical preface – Transcendental Magic became the cornerstone of modern ceremonial magic. Its ideas shaped the major occult revivals of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries; much of what is now taken for granted in Western ritual magic can be traced back to this book.
This freshly typeset Troy Books edition offers a carefully prepared text for the modern reader, while preserving the character and language of the original. Whether approached as a historical monument of the occult revival, or as a living manual for the sanctum regnum – the “holy kingdom” of the magus – this volume provides a powerful, demanding initiation into Lévi’s vision of magic as the meeting of reason, faith, and the will to transform.
Bibliography
Paperback Edition
Publication date/copyright date: September 2026
Original price: £20.00
Contributors
• Translator: Arthur Edward Waite
• Typeset/Layout: Troy Books states that this is a newly typeset edition
Physical Description
Dimensions: Royal format, 234 × 156 mm
Page Count: 456
Binding
Binding: Gloss laminate cover
Paper: Cream paper stock
Hardback Edition
Publication date/copyright date: September 2026
Original price: £34.50
Contributors
• Translator: Arthur Edward Waite
• Typeset/Layout: Troy Books states that this is a newly typeset edition
Physical Description
Dimensions: Royal format, 234 × 156 mm
Page Count: 456
Illustrative content: Full-colour images
Other physical details: Not found in available sources
Binding
Binding: Gloss laminate cover with gloss-laminated dust jacket
Paper: White paper stock
