Waite's inaccuracies?

Draegyn said:

What is a "Yod"?

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Yod is the tenth letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

It’s value is 10, and depending on which school you follow, is represented by either The Hermit or the Wheel of Fortune (Enlish/American schools would say The Hermit, Continental schools the Wheel of Fortune).

It is said that if you blow upon Yod, you create all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

Yod is the perfect pattern of primal creation, it is Phi – the logarithmic spiral of snails (ever wonder about the snail on the 9 of Pentacles?), Spiral Galaxies, the letter G in Masonic lore, the DNA double helix, a Ram’s horn, chaotic movements of smoke, fingerprints…

It rules pathway 20, connecting Chesed and Tephareth.

It is a simple letter.

By itself it means ‘hand’. Ever as a child wonder at the beauty of yours? You gazed upon the mysteries of Yod.

I got my first copy of PKT back in the 70's. Hated it. Tossed it as 'worthless'. Picked it up years later. Thought it was a hoot.

Seriously - if you really want to understand the book, begin by reading the Bibliograpy (A CONCISE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE CHIEF WORKS DEALING WITH THE TAROT AND ITS CONNEXIONS). Once you understand 'where' AEW is coming from, it makes the rest soooo much more enjoyable.

I recomend enjoying this book with a nice Port, or perhaps a very old Cognac (Brandy will not do). A good English blend of pipe tobacco in a half-bent rhodesian helps (although personally I prefer a half-bent bulldog).

Waite and Robert M. Place

In his "The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination", Robert M. Place quotes Waite at the beginning of each chapter. Some of the quotes are amazing. For instance, I like this:

Waite THE PICTORIAL KEY - Part II - THE TAROT AND SECRET TRADITION said:

The Tarot embodies symbolical presentations of universal ideas, behind which lie all the implicits of the human mind, and it is in this sense that they contain secret doctrine, which is the realization by the few of truths imbedded in the consciousness of all, though they have not passed into express recognition by ordinary men.

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From what I understand of Waite, he made heavy use of intuition, as most tarotists do. So he can often be inaccurate, being an intuitionist. People like Dummett will always be accurate.

Marco

Umbrae said:

I recomend enjoying this book with a nice Port, or perhaps a very old Cognac (Brandy will not do). A good English blend of pipe tobacco in a half-bent rhodesian helps (although personally I prefer a half-bent bulldog).

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Also a fire in a fireplace and a comfy chair and a good friend with whom to share guffaws as you read the text out loud to each other.

Hint - it's really important to understand precisely what Waite meant by the Secret Doctrine or, more usually in his terminology, Secret Tradition. Once you've got that down then the rest of it falls into place.

I've begun a new thread called "Reading Waite" that can give us a chance to explore a little of what Waite means.

Mary

I also appreciate the link haven't gone through it yet but will soon...At present I also have and am drawn to the Thoth deck. Crowley's book also a complete waste of time "the book of thoth" I am now more confused than before....about the thoth deck...I will use the rws am still very new so any help from this group would be great..

BB

course link

Great link I downloaded that weeks ago ..Forgot I even had it.....

2 cents worth

ever wonder about the snail on the 9 of Pentacles?

Thankyou I was just wondering about that funny litle snail today!! It made me think of Gunter Grass but that was all, now I have snail knowledge


Can I try?

yod. dew manna: a manifestation of collective consciousness for the sake of our recognizing it.

The stuff you don't know about yet but can be resolved that it's on it's way.


re-solved
* little solutions! *

Its early in the morning here and instead of sleeping I am scurrying through the forums like a restless rat and when whilst reading this interesting thread....I thought 'Waddayamean Secret oaths?" There's ol Waite who has made a masonic Oath not to divulge anything- so to get around it he divulges a secret code??? Huh !!!! and obscurificates knowledge and then prints it?? I told my kids that dissembling was the same as lying in 'fancy clothes' or committing adultery is still adultery even if no one finds out. If you make an Oath to keep quiet then we would not know anything about his views would we? I find this very weird- I am going to hold a seance and call my Great Grandfather to the table and get him to spill some beans on Masonic Oaths- being dead I presume releases him from secrecy oaths? or maybe he could just channel a picture to me and tell me gobblygook to see if I could add 2 + 2 and get 4 without damaging his past life Oaths. ~~Rosanne

Fulgour said:

This thread it titled "Waites's Inaccuracies" and not
"If we re-write Waite's book what would it mean?"

I have read Waite's book, and it is an agonizing waste
of time, boring and foolish.. and full of inaccuracies.
Nobody seems to care ~ obviously, neither did Waite.

Let's stop making excuses for Arthur Edward Waite.
He was an ambitious little man who would be King,
but nobody seemed to want him to be their leader.

He wrote for spare change to make a quick buck.

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Fulgour,

I love your take on old Arthur :0 I have just recently received this book in the post (good old Ebay), I am soooo glad I didn't pay a lot of money for it, what a load of drivell! And not to mention pompous confused ramblings! I suppose we must remember that it was written in the begining of the 20th century, so I musn't be too hard on him, he did along with Pamela of course revolutionise Tarot.

I would be interested in hearing something else in his defence - anyone?

If you make an Oath to keep quiet then we would not know anything about his views would we? I find this very weird- I am going to hold a seance and call my Great Grandfather to the table and get him to spill some beans on Masonic Oaths- being dead I presume releases him from secrecy oaths? or maybe he could just channel a picture to me and tell me gobblygook to see if I could add 2 + 2 and get 4 without damaging his past life Oaths. ~~Rosanne

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You don't need to get your Grandfather; you can find the masonic oaths in most libraries or online, along with all the rituals. They've been in print since before Waite's time. ;-) It's a little like Crowley commented when joining the golden dawn, something like "They extract dire oaths then entrust you with the hebrew alphabet." As a mason myself, I figure it's fine to talk about symbolism, especially in regards to things that are published and well known, all long as good judgement is used. (no casting of pearls before swine!)

However, I *personally* see very little masonic symbolism in his tarot. It may be that I'm just dense, but if there's much, it isn't overt. If anyone can point some out, I'd be happy to learn!

MikeTheAltarboy said:

I *personally* see very little masonic symbolism in his tarot. It may be that I'm just dense, but if there's much, it isn't overt. If anyone can point some out, I'd be happy to learn!

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I point out some of the Masonic symbolism that's in the Minor Arcana in my article in _Llewellyn's 2006 Tarot Reader_. Similar points have been made in the past by David Hulse (_The Key to It All, Book II_) and others.

Waite was more of a syncretist and so he combined symbolism from Grail mythology, alchemy, astrology, Kabbalah, Hermeticism, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, earlier Tarots, and the ancient mystery schools, in such a way that no one of them dominated. He referred to the Major Arcana as a depiction of the "soul's progress." Ultimately he wanted to express a kind of Christian mysticism involving the marriage of the Shekinah/Sophia and the Christ-within that takes place in the inner sanctuary of the heart. This he depicted more specifically in the Trump cards drawn by Trinick (see Dummett and Decker's _A History of the Occult Tarot_).

Personally, I find _The Pictorial Key to the Tarot_ to be an impressive book, written so simply (once you get past his awkwardness and occasional tirades) that it's taken me near 30 years to take him seriously enough to find the gold. That's precisely why it's "occult" (i.e., hidden) - because the real gems are "hidden" in plain sight, in the simplest of terms, waiting for anyone who "has the eyes to see." It certainly helps to read his other works although they are incredibly repetitive and parts are unbearably boring.

There is a reason why people like Evelyn Underhill, Charles Williams, Arthur Machen, and C.S. Lewis found his Fellowship of the Rosy Cross of interest.

Mary