kapoore
A. E. Waite
Hi Mary and all,
I have an origin theory for A. E. Waite's "Secret Doctrine." I think Waite guessed the true origin, at least in part. The pictorial key is based on (Pseudo) Dionysius. He wrote, "I feel that the time has come to say what it is possible to say, so that the effect of current charlatanism and unintelligence may be reduced to a minimum." Here is the clue. As regards the VERBAL MEANINGS. The clues to the origin are in the verbal descriptions. Let me give an example of the Fool. Waite: "With light step, as if earth and its trammels had little power to restrain him, a young man in gorgeous vestments pauses at the brink of a precipice among the great heights of the world." Dionysius: "Then, freely and untrammeled by anything beneath him, he returns to his own starting point without having any loss. In his mind he journeys toward the One." The key Dionysius's words implanted in the paragraph are "trammeled and the concept of the abyss or in Dionysius words "anything beneath him." It's not easy reading the Dionysius Corpus and shifting through every word, but I am convinced that not only is this the secret doctrine of Waite but a major clue to the source of imagery of the the Trumps.
Let's look at some of the descriptions of symbols in Dionysius and connect this to Waite. Dionysius: "The spears and the axes represent discriminating skills amid the unlikeness of things, the sharp clarity and efficacy of powers of discernment." Perhaps the suit of swords.
Dionysuis: "The bare feet and body signify detachment, freedom independence, the fact of being untarnished by anything external, the greatest possible conforminty to the divne simplicity" Think Waite's Temperance and Star.
Dionysius: They are also named "winds" as a sign of the virutally instant speed with which they operate everywhere, their coming and going from above to below and again from below to above as they raise up their subordinates to the highest peak and as they prevail upon their own usperiors to proceed down into fellowship with the concern for those beneath." Wands
What does being "seated." Dionysius: What, then, are we to say regarding the divine attributes of "resting and sitting" ...the unstirring god moves and goes out into everything." ETc.
Here is what Waite had to say about Dionysius: "I shall make a beginning with Dionysius, because he is the spring and the fountain both of doctorine and procedure, and at least in one respect the root of the whole subject." (The Way of Divine Union: chapter 111)
I do understand there is a major cultural conflict between Christian Platonism of the 5th Century and modern Tarot as an interactive art form. One could barely understand the other. Still, if we can suspend judgement and recognize that one does not necessarily have to limit the other; and yet there is a tangential relationship. Perhaps there is a way out of the morass of ignorance. Few may choose to take the journey as Dionysius says,"We have therefore to run counter to mass prejudice and we must make the holy journey to the heart of the sacred symbols. and we must certainly not disdain them, for they are the descendants and bear the mark of the divine stamps. They are the manifest images of unspeakble and marvelous sights."
This is the not the entire origin story, but my guess it is a good start...
Hi Mary and all,
I have an origin theory for A. E. Waite's "Secret Doctrine." I think Waite guessed the true origin, at least in part. The pictorial key is based on (Pseudo) Dionysius. He wrote, "I feel that the time has come to say what it is possible to say, so that the effect of current charlatanism and unintelligence may be reduced to a minimum." Here is the clue. As regards the VERBAL MEANINGS. The clues to the origin are in the verbal descriptions. Let me give an example of the Fool. Waite: "With light step, as if earth and its trammels had little power to restrain him, a young man in gorgeous vestments pauses at the brink of a precipice among the great heights of the world." Dionysius: "Then, freely and untrammeled by anything beneath him, he returns to his own starting point without having any loss. In his mind he journeys toward the One." The key Dionysius's words implanted in the paragraph are "trammeled and the concept of the abyss or in Dionysius words "anything beneath him." It's not easy reading the Dionysius Corpus and shifting through every word, but I am convinced that not only is this the secret doctrine of Waite but a major clue to the source of imagery of the the Trumps.
Let's look at some of the descriptions of symbols in Dionysius and connect this to Waite. Dionysius: "The spears and the axes represent discriminating skills amid the unlikeness of things, the sharp clarity and efficacy of powers of discernment." Perhaps the suit of swords.
Dionysuis: "The bare feet and body signify detachment, freedom independence, the fact of being untarnished by anything external, the greatest possible conforminty to the divne simplicity" Think Waite's Temperance and Star.
Dionysius: They are also named "winds" as a sign of the virutally instant speed with which they operate everywhere, their coming and going from above to below and again from below to above as they raise up their subordinates to the highest peak and as they prevail upon their own usperiors to proceed down into fellowship with the concern for those beneath." Wands
What does being "seated." Dionysius: What, then, are we to say regarding the divine attributes of "resting and sitting" ...the unstirring god moves and goes out into everything." ETc.
Here is what Waite had to say about Dionysius: "I shall make a beginning with Dionysius, because he is the spring and the fountain both of doctorine and procedure, and at least in one respect the root of the whole subject." (The Way of Divine Union: chapter 111)
I do understand there is a major cultural conflict between Christian Platonism of the 5th Century and modern Tarot as an interactive art form. One could barely understand the other. Still, if we can suspend judgement and recognize that one does not necessarily have to limit the other; and yet there is a tangential relationship. Perhaps there is a way out of the morass of ignorance. Few may choose to take the journey as Dionysius says,"We have therefore to run counter to mass prejudice and we must make the holy journey to the heart of the sacred symbols. and we must certainly not disdain them, for they are the descendants and bear the mark of the divine stamps. They are the manifest images of unspeakble and marvelous sights."
This is the not the entire origin story, but my guess it is a good start...