Seven Stars around the Star

Gofannon

"If a person wants to get a look into what Waite was thinking when his tarot images were created"

Waite (or Smith) did not create the images, the same symbolism occurs in earlier decks. Therefore whatever Waite wrote was his interpretation of the symbolism.

Yes, there are many groups of seven. At a deep level I believe they are all related, or a different expression of the same thing. 7 planets, 7 chakras, 7 days of the week, 7 stars in the Pleiades, 7 stars in Orion, etc.

I must admit though, I do need to read more of Waite's text. Is there a bibliography of his work somewhere?
 

Abrac

There might be a bibliography somewhere on the web. I've got one I'll post shortly.
 

Abrac

This is a list of his major works including works by others he translated. Hope it's useful.

1877 An Ode to Astronomy, and other Poems

1879 A Lyric of the Fairyland and other Poems

1886 Israfel: Letters Visions and Poems; The Mysteries of Magic. A Digest of the Writings of Eliphas Lévi [tr. and ed.]

1887 A Soul’s Comedy; The Real History of the Rosicrucians

1888 Songs and Poems of Fairyland. An Anthology of English Fairy Poetry [ed.]; Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers [ed.]; The Magical Writings of Thomas Vaughan [ed.]

1889 Prince Starbeam. A Tale of Fairyland; A Handbook of Cartomancy, by Grand Orient [i.e. A. E. Waite; ed.]

1890 Lucasta: Parables and Poems

1891 The Occult Sciences

1892 A Lexicon of Alchemy or Alchemical Dictionary, by Martinus Rulandus [ed.]

1893 The Golden Stairs; Tales from the Wonder-World; A New Light of Mysticism. Azoth: or The Star in the East; The Hermetic Museum Restored and Enlarged [ed.]; A Golden and Blessed Casket of Nature’s Marvels, by Benedictus Figulus [ed.]; The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, by Basilius Valentinus [ed.]; Collectanea Chemica [ed.]; The Alchemical Writings of Edward Kelly [ed.]

1894 Belle and the Dragon: an Elfin Comedy; The New Pearl of Great Price, by Petrus Bonus of Ferrara [ed.]; The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus [ed.]; Avalon: a Poetic Romance, by Dora Stuart-Menteath [ed., but see p. 64]

1896 Devil-Worship in France; The Turba Philosophorum, or Assembly of the Sages [tr. and ed.]; Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual, by Eliphas Lévi [tr. and ed.]

1898 The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts
The Gift of the Spirit, a selection from the Essays of Prentice Mulford [ed.]

1899 Braid on Hypnotism [ed.]

1901 The Life of Louis Claude de Saint-Martin, the Unknown Philosopher

1902 A Book of Mystery and Vision; The Doctrine and Literature of the Kabalah

1903 Obermann, by Etienne Pivert de Senancour [tr. and ed.]; The Cloud upon the Sanctuary, by the Councillor von Eckartshausen [ed.]

1904 The House of the Hidden Light, by the High Fratres Filius Aquarum [i.e. Arthur Machen] and Elias Artista [i.e. A. E. Waite]

1906 Strange Houses of Sleep; Studies in Mysticism and certain aspects of the Secret Tradition; Steps to the Crown

1909 The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal

1910 Rituals of ‘The Holy Order of the GD under the obedience of the Independent and Rectified Rite’ [seven in number]; The Tarot of the Bohemians, by Papus [ed.]; Lumen de Lumine, or A New Magical Light, by Thomas Vaughan [ed.]

1911 The Pictorial Key to the Tarot; The Book of Ceremonial Magic; The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry

1912 Some Characteristics of the Interior Church, by I. V. Lopukhin [ed.]; The Book of Destiny, by Grand Orient

1913 The Secret Doctrine in Israel; The History of Magic, by Eliphas Lévi [tr. and ed.]

1914 The Collected Poems

1915 The Why of Divine Union

1916 Rituals of the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross [eight in number; additional texts and revisions appeared up to 1942]

1917 The Harmonial Philosophy. A Compendium and Digest of the Works of Andrew Jackson Davis [ed.]

1919 The Works of Thomas Vaughan [ed.]

1921 A New Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry
The Book of the Holy Graal

1922 Raymund Lully
Saint-Martin the French Mystic

1923 Lamps of Western Mysticism; The Book of Formation (Sepher Yetzirah), by Rabbi Akiba ben Joseph [ed.]

1924 The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross

1925 Emblematic Freemasonry

1926 The Secret Tradition in Alchemy; The Book of Life in the Rose [successive parts appeared up to 1928]

1927 The Quest of the Golden Stairs

1929 The Holy Kabbalah

1933 The Holy Grail, its Legends and Symbolism

1937 The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry

1938 Shadows of Life and Thought
 

Gofannon

Thank you, Abrac. Wow, I didn't realise he wrote so much. No TV in those days, huh? That'll keep me busy for a while.