Eliphas Levi's Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, issued by Germer Bailliere in two parts between 1854 and 1856, is the primary text that systematised the link between the tarot's trumps, the Hebrew alphabet and the paths of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, a scheme with no basis in the tarot's actual fifteenth century origin but with enormous influence on every later occult tarot system. Levi's own ordering places the Fool between Judgement and the World rather than at the head of the sequence, a detail later systems frequently revised without saying so. Its authority is as the founding primary source of this correspondence system; it is not a historical account of the tarot and its claims are the tradition's own, not independently verified fact.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier3
Eliphas Levi's Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie, issued by Germer Bailliere between 1854 and 1856, the lower tier reflecting that it is the founding primary source of the correspondence linking the tarot's trumps, the Hebrew alphabet and the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, a scheme with no basis in the tarot's actual fifteenth century origin, notwithstanding its enormous influence on every later occult tarot system, cited as the tradition's own founding claim rather than independently verified fact. NotesIssued in two parts between 1854 and 1856; the year recorded here is that of the completed work. The source of the systematic link between the tarot trumps, the Hebrew alphabet and the paths of the Tree of Life. Levi places the Fool between Judgement and the World, not at the head of the sequence.
Citation
AuthorEliphas Levi (Alphonse Louis Constant)
PublisherGermer Bailliere
Paris, 1856, the Rituel volume of Eliphas Levi's two-part Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (Dogme, 1854; Rituel, 1856), per Internet Archive and rare-book-trade catalogue descriptions. Publication Year1856
Source Typebook
Claims Backed By This Source (13 claims)
This source backs 13 claims across the atlas. As facts: 9 well-attested. Plus 4 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Sources, 7 claims: 7 well-attested.
- Tarot, 3 claims: 3 general references.
- Mythical Creatures, 2 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 general references.
- Articles, 1 claims: 1 well-attested.
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