Although the writings of Levi would be the cornerstone of much occult literature produced during, and many years after his death, he was not above criticism. For instance, occult scholar, A. E. Waite, wrote: "When I published a few years ago my English version of Levi's "Transcendental Magic" I stated that it was the work of a writer who had received initiation into a school of traditional knowledge, nor must I deny that this school possesses the respect of its participants." However, by the time that Waite wrote "The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabbalah" (Completed in 1899, and published in 1902.), he had become disenchanted: "I do not think that he [Lévi ever made an independent statement upon any historical fact to which the least confidence could be given with prudence."