''Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie'' ( en, Dogma and Ritual of High Magic) is the title of Éliphas Lévi's first published treatise on

ritual magic Ceremonial magic (ritual magic, high magic or learned magic) encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic. The works included are characterized by ceremony and numerous requisite accessories to aid the practitioner. It can be seen as an e ...

, which appeared in two volumes between 1854 (''Dogme'') and 1856 (''Rituel''). Each volume is structured into 22 chapters, which parallel the

Tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...

Translations

Lévi's ''Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie'' was translated into English by

Arthur Edward Waite Arthur Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942) was a British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider–Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider–Waite–Smith o ...

as ''Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual'' (1896). Waite added a biographical preface and footnotes. A revised edition of this translation was published in 1923. A second translation, ''The Doctrine and Ritual of High Magic: A New Translation,'' by John Michael Greer and Mark Mikituk, was published in 2017 by TarcherPerigee.

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Contemporary

Modern

The work has recently attracted the attention of scholars for its views on the study of

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

and

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...

. Lévi sees magic as occupying a place between science and religion and believes that it has the potential to act as a conciliatory or mediating function between the two views. Lévi rejects views, such as E. B. Taylor's, that magic or religion is inherently irrational and has been superseded by modern science. Instead he posits magic as an "esoteric science" and suggests that Hermeticism could be adapted to find the underlying truth behind all magical systems, calling for a "comparative magic." Levi thus posits a type of Perennialism buttressed by

comparative theology Comparative theology is a relatively new discipline within theology, which holds together "comparative" and "theology" in creative tension. It represents a particular type of theological practice committed to deep interreligious learning ("comparati ...

and

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study of religion yie ...

, anticipating modern-day religious studies and paralleling contemporary comparative projects in

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

and

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

such as the work of

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...

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