The Great Secret: Or Occultism Unveiled [Paperback]

Eliphas Levi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2000

The Great Secret completes a trilogy of books by Eliphas Levi published in his "Studies in Heretic Tradition" series, the two previous volumes being The Book of Splendours and The Mysteries of the Qabalah. Taken together these writings represent afitting memorial to one who "has been both the keeper of the hermetic tradition and the absolute renovator of esoteric thinking in Europe in the 19th century." So concludes what Eliphas Levi considered to be his last testament, his most important and final treatise, and a summation of his esoteric philosophy. This volume is the conclusion of the work he started with Book One, The Hieratic Mystery or the Traditional Documents of High Initiation, published as The Book of Splendours (Weiser, 1984). The Great Secret contains his final two works: Book Two, The Royal Mystery or Art of Subduing the Powers, in which Levi discusses such topics as Evil, the Outer Darkness, the Great Secret, Magical Sacrifice, Evocations, the Arcana of Solomon's Ring, and the Terrible Secret. Book Three, The Sacerdotal Mystery or the Art of Being Served by Spirits, covers Aberrant Forces, the Chaining of the Devil, Sacred and Accursed Rites, Divination, Dark Intelligence, and the Great Arcanum.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Red Wheel / Weiser (November 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877289387
• ISBN-13: 978-0877289388
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #610,433 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A misleading title, but an interesting read., January 2, 2006

By 

Stephen Triesch (Shoreline/Seattle USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Great Secret: Or Occultism Unveiled (Paperback)

Anyone coming to this book expecting a systematic presentation of occult doctrine will come away disappointed. What we have, instead, is Levi's simultaneous defense and critique of Roman Catholicism, with which Levi - a one-time seminarian - had a lifelong love-hate relationship.

In some ways, Levi is profoundly conservative, and his views will seem reactionary in the extreme. Catholicism, he says, is the only true religion, and its existence nullifies any prior legitimacy that other religions may have once had. To be sure, Levi advocates nothing like an Inquisition or forced conversions - he explicity and repeatedly condemns all such actions - but he states that at a doctrinal level, Catholicism is the only true religion.

But as an occultist, Levi has his own "take" on doctrine, and his interpretation of doctrine will not necessarily correspond to official church teaching. Moreover, Levi is profoundly anti-clerical, viewing the typical priest as ignorant, impotent, and superstitious. Like all occultists, Levi believes that the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and that true religion must be capable of changing people for the better, in ways that are tangible and lasting.

Levi believes that the Catholic Church is the repository of true occultism and true magic, and that this renders suspect any occultism that is not in some way oriented to the truths of the Catholic Church. But - in my view - he never makes it clear whether there is any legitimate occultism apart from the sacraments of the Catholic Church. He SEEMS to criticize divination, evocation, and magic, yet tosses out hints that - under some vague circumstances - these may be legitimate activities if done with the proper intention and understanding. As another writer has pointed out, spellcraft is simply "prayer with props," and the Catholic Church - as its fundamentalist critics are well-aware - is replete with props: rosaries, candles, incense, scapulars, medals, holy water, and the Eucharist itself.

In summary, a pagan occultist will be disappointed or even offended by this book. Levi is often bombastic and pompous, alternately prone to broad generalizations and maddening ambiguity. On the other hand, Christians of an esoteric bent will find much to ponder here, even if Levi is often obtuse and indirect. One thing is certain - Levi is an accomplished stylist, and this book is sprinkled with aphorisms and observations that are truly moving, even when one wonders whether they are true.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well named!, April 8, 2003

By 

Robert S. Lewis (Marietta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Great Secret: Or Occultism Unveiled (Paperback)

Pay attention when he says that the dark path is a mirror image of the light and then he tells you a horror story. Flip it and you will see what others miss. This also works for all the rest of Levi, he seems to feel that the "unworthy" will respond emotionally and miss the "secret." Perhaps he is right. But the unworthy now-a-days will never read something as superstitious as this book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't Buy This Book, September 2, 2007

By 

Jonathan "Jonathan" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Great Secret (Paperback)

Don't buy this. Buy "Paradoxes of the Highest Science" instead, if you're interested.

The content in this "book" is fine; the reason I feel genuinely ripped-off by this "book" is completely due to the publisher. When the "book" arrived in the mail, I was disappointed to find out that "This Article Was Extracted From the Book: Paradoxes of the Highest Science." Think maybe they could have mentioned that a little sooner, before I bought it? Apparently not, because they'd rather rip me off for twelve dollars.

Anyway, if you buy this, you get maybe fourteen pages of actual text - and it's big, vision-impaired-sized, cartoon-sized text. All fourteen pages of it.

And then there are about the same number of blank pages - literally, blank pages - in the back of the book included because, according to the publisher, "blank pages are for our book binding requirements and are blank on purpose" - so the publisher didn't have enough actual text to fill the smallest binding they had. Yet they apparently thought it was enough pages to sell it as a separate "book."

Based on all this, the publisher strikes me as basically dishonest. Their business is apparently re-printing old books that are in public domain, and don't invest or take risks on their own material. Evidently, they're about milking their customers as much as possible, if this is the kind of material they produce. I'd bet old Eliphas wouldn't be too happy.

Anyway, this "article" is included in "Paradoxes of the Highest Science," which also seems to be published by another (real) publishing company, and is less expensive. Buy that instead.