Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental Magic
Sylphs in Lévi
Lévi assigns sylphs to the east and connects them with the eagle hieroglyph. His elemental scheme also links them with a temperament and an appropriate symbolic means of command. He contrasts their prompt activity with shallow caprice, explaining command through a distinction between the useful quality of an element and its characteristic defect.
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In the sources
Principal account
InterpretationLévi assigns sylphs to the east and connects them with the eagle hieroglyph. His elemental scheme also links them with a temperament and an appropriate symbolic means of command.
Further detail
InterpretationHe contrasts their prompt activity with shallow caprice, explaining command through a distinction between the useful quality of an element and its characteristic defect.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows Lévi’s argument in Waite’s English translation. The entry concerns the beings as arranged in Lévi’s synthesis, without presenting the asserted temperament effects as medical facts. 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
that of the sylphs at the eastOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental Magic; active reader leaf 253
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0026-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0026-E001-P0253
- Original scan leaf
- 253
- Recorded leaf number
- 253
- Current Reader position
- 247
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Transcendental Magic
prompt and active, like the sylphsOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental Magic; active reader leaf 254
Exact passage checked against active scan text and original-leaf mapping; scan line breaks normalised.
- Edition
- IMJ-0026-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0026-E001-P0254
- Original scan leaf
- 254
- Recorded leaf number
- 254
- Current Reader position
- 248
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed