"that which may lie behind the Lesser Arcana."

Abrac

Waite makes this cryptic statement in his comment on the Ace of Cups in his Pictorial Key to the Tarot. One thing that has always puzzled me about this is he says, may lie behind. Was he not sure? In some of his other writings he leaves clues. For example in The way of Divine Union he talks a great deal about what may lie behind. Here are just a couple of examples:

"Behind the knowledge which comes through channels of sensation, and behind the offices of material thought, there lie the undiscovered realms, the life of grace, the city and the sun thereof, the high-uplifted temple on the holy hill."

and

"Let us get at that heart of the mysteries which lies behind common things: we shall see the rareness of all rareness in that day."

And from his Adeptus Minor ritual in the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross:

"The counsel is always to lose the symbols in their meaning. The material part should dissolve in the light of its spiritual significance, and this is what is meant among us by getting behind the symbol."

and

"All truth, Most High Father, comes down from Thee; the greater blessings and graces dost Thou dispense continually. Thou hast in particular emblazoned the symbolical characters of Nature and hast established that Divine School which imparts their true interpretation. Take us by its leading behind all forms of expression, all pageants of the manifested world, into the state out of place and time, into the still, unspoken peace and the loving silence, where the meaning of all is Thou."

From this it seems clear that Waite knew there was something "behind," but in saying may he wasn't imposing any predetermined definitions of what it was, or is, since it can only be realized through mystical experience on a personal level.

Using the Tree of Life as a template, this can be illustrated. Normally, the four Aces correspond to Kether, but if they're placed below the Veil in relation to their corresponding element, the result is as shown:

Diagram

The four Aces, representative of the lesser arcana, are within the realm of ordinary human consciousness. That which "lies behind" is on the other side of the Veil. :)
 

Zephyros

Or our own perceptions of them. The Aces are crude representations of pure ideas that are so abstract and simple as to defy understanding, much less description.

I agree with you about the placement, very interesting, and it well illustrates in what way we may perceive or experience each element. For example, the urge to create and to "seed" of Fire is felt through our "animal instincts," but it is still a shadow, a far cry from the primal creative urge.

In his entry on the Hierophant in the PKT he mentions something about a "greater hierarchy."
 

Abrac

True, I'd never noticed that.

"He is the order and the head of the recognized hierarchy, which is the reflection of another and greater hierarchic order; but it may so happen that the pontiff forgets the significance of this his symbolic state and acts as if he contained within his proper measures all that his sign signifies or his symbol seeks to shew forth."

A not so subtle jab at the established church as well. :laugh: