Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental Magic
Diaphane
Lévi gives the soul a diaphane to which evoked images may be referred. It mediates the encounter between the image-bearing light and the imagination of the observer. He distinguishes a clear imagination from one clouded by reflections, using transparent glass and impure glass as comparisons. The distinction explains why he considers some visions lucid and others misleading.
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In the sources
Principal account
InterpretationLévi gives the soul a diaphane to which evoked images may be referred. It mediates the encounter between the image-bearing light and the imagination of the observer.
Further detail
InterpretationHe distinguishes a clear imagination from one clouded by reflections, using transparent glass and impure glass as comparisons. The distinction explains why he considers some visions lucid and others misleading.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows Lévi’s argument in Waite’s English translation. This is Lévi’s technical vocabulary for visionary reception; it is not an independently demonstrated anatomical organ. The correspondences are attributed to this occult synthesis rather than presented as a universal account of every earlier tradition.
Original passages
Source 1
Transcendental Magic
refer them to its diaphaneOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental Magic; active reader leaf 95
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0026-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0026-E001-P0095
- Original scan leaf
- 95
- Recorded leaf number
- 95
- Current Reader position
- 89
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Transcendental Magic
the imagination of the adept is diaphanousOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental Magic; active reader leaf 93
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0026-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0026-E001-P0093
- Original scan leaf
- 93
- Recorded leaf number
- 93
- Current Reader position
- 87
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed