Upside-down M solved [maybe]

Yes, it relates to Christian Hermetic Cabbalah / Masonry; a development Waite sometimes followed, and developed further. Which is why I thought that would 'make more sense' ... to Waite ( considering the coming of the Messiah - that is, HE realised it had happened *) ... than the original pre- Christian version.

But, of course, that doesnt effect the possible association with 'M' . (Unless Waite's take on the Zohar was off ? )


* He did accept Jesus, didn't he ?

ravenest said:

......* He did accept Jesus, didn't he ?

Click to expand...

He didn't use the name Jesus very much. He seems to associate it with Christian literalism, which he thinks misses the point (which essentially is the incarnation of God in each human being). He prefers the term Christ, the eternal cosmic entity, the Logos, the "light of men" referred to in the first chapter of John's Gospel. (John apparently was an anti-Semite, but the first chapter of the Gospel is pretty good.) Waite is ambiguous about the Atonement. His beliefs are similar to those of Louis Claude de Saint-Martin.

I think his insistence that he was a Christian is explained by Pascal's comment that you might as well believe, because you have everything to gain, and nothing to lose, to which I would add, nothing to lose except your integrity.

I wonder, then, how he viewed the Holy Scriptures. Accepting as he was of the deeper mystical ideas of Christianity but not so much its literal applications, would he see the Bible as myth? folk tales? actual histories?

Or perhaps his view was that it was "received knowledge," channeled by people who (as he would perhaps surmise) utilized much the same initiatory techniques as he did.

closrapexa said:

I wonder, then, how he viewed the Holy Scriptures.

Click to expand...

He rarely directly quotes from them. However, his writing is sometimes sprinkled with phrases that are found in the bible. I have a copy of PKT that was previously owned by a Catholic priest (I bought his Tarot collection after he died). He IDed quite a few biblical phrasings as well as phrases that appear in Waite's other writings. This is one of the things that sent me on my quest.

If the symbol is rotated right it means 'savior'. I have always felt that Waite and Smith were having fun playing around with letters throughout the deck.



Freddie

I'm finding more evidence that the Supreme Mystery of Faith could be indicated. In Waite's Fellowship of the Rosy Cross Practicus (Water) ritual it says, "Herein is reflected the Supreme Mystery of Faith..." (see Picture). I found an original manuscript of this ritual online, and unlike my book, it's capitalized as above.

In The Hidden Church Waite associates the Mystery of Faith with the Eucharist. I also found something interesting in The Secret Doctrine in Israel (1913):


The Ace of Cups is a very good illustration of a "well fed by a spring" and the "union of male and female." Here, and in other of Waite's writings, he describes the Supreme Mystery of Faith in sexual language.

In the PKT Waite says there are four streams issuing from the Cup. I think he was fully-aware there are five but he says four. This is interesting in light of what he wrote above.

From the FRC Practicus ritual: "Warden of the Temple: Fountain of fountains, and of all fountains. Chalice of saving rain. Grace on the soul descending, as rain on the dry grass. Life-giving Rain of Doctrine. Mystical Fruit of the Doctrine. Dew of Divine Speech, falling in stillness on the heart, filling the soul with Knowledge. Enter into the heart and purify; come into the soul and consecrate."

And from the PKT: ". . . the dew of water is falling on all sides."

The attached picture illustrates Waite's text from the ritual. Shekinah in Transcendence (a.k.a Matrona), is "reflected" into Hod below. His description of the clothing worn by the Officers of the ritual is also of interest. The Honorable Frater Practicus: "His collar is of violet silk, from which depends a circular lamina, inscribed with the letter He, being the first He of the Divine Name."

In conclusion, I see good evidence from Waite himself that the "Mystery of Faith" could be symbolized by the reflected M. But there's still Matrona or Mother, all good candidates.

Another way of looking at the lower "reflected triad" is:

Wands = Chokmah
Cups = Binah
Swords = Daath
Pentacles = Kether

From Hermetic Papers of A. E. Waite: "And because the Sephira Malkuth is outside the three Triads, alone in a place that is lowest, it is mentioned especially concerning it that the vestige of Kether is therein, so that it is properly and fully incorporated; and all that is above is within it and it is contained by all that is beyond."

I updated the picture above to illustrate this.

Abrac said:

In conclusion, I see good evidence from Waite himself that the "Mystery of Faith" could be symbolized by the reflected M. But there's still Matrona or Mother, all good candidates.

Click to expand...

Yea! I agree completely. Waite always looked at symbols as being multi-valenced - but around a clear theme as we've seen here in this discussion.

Waite deals extensively with the Mystery of Faith in The Secret Doctrine in Israel. It's hard to sum it up briefly, but I'd like to make one point, that is the sexual aspect or the union of male and female.

"In the previous chapters I have been content to lead up as I could to certain intimations which have formed part of each concerning that mystery of sex which is called Mystery of Faith and Supreme Mystery in the Zohar. . ."

It's through the union of male and female that both become one and Shekinah is manifested (through the female). This is a Mystery that's impossible to understand intellectually and thus, the Mystery of Faith. I don't think it's talking strictly about a physical union, but spiritual also.

In 1891 Waite attempted to form an order called the Order of the Spiritual Temple which never got off the ground. But a prospectus was drawn up and it's included as an appendix in Gilbert's Magician of Many Parts. This short quote is fairly enlightening:

"There are also four chief processes in Mysticism--Regeneration, Illumination, Dedication, and the Mystic Marriage, or communication with Deity. These will be represented in the four divisions of the service--Regeneration through Aspiration by an opening aspirational rite, Illumination by the instruction of lessons and discourses, Dedication by a sacrificial service, the Mystic Marriage by a Eucharistic rite."

This explains a couple of things. First, the union of male and female (the Mystery of Faith) corresponded to the Eucharistic Rite. And second, it shows Waite was thinking in terms of a mystic order long before the creation of the Waite-Smith tarot and was even drawing up plans.

Also from The Secret Doctrine in Israel, which may or may not have anything to do with anything. I just found the part about "engraving the Mystery of Faith in letters" interesting.

"When the Holy One created the world He engraved the Mystery of Faith in letters of sparkling light ; He engraved it above and below, because it is the same mystery and because the world below is the mirror of that which is above. By means of the Mystery of Faith He created the worlds."

"It will seem at first sight that she [Shekinah] occupies in Kabalism the same position of intercessor which is ascribed to the Blessed Virgin by the devotion of the Latin Church, yet having regard to Shekinah’s incorporation with the Divine Hypostases, I incline to think that the analogy is misleading. In view of all that has been done to Christianise Kabalism by every good means, and by so many that are bad intellectually, one has to be very careful of reading Christian implicits into the text of the [Kablistic] literature." - Waite, The Secret Doctrine in Israel, 1913

Despite the Christian flavor of Waite's mysticism, after reading him the core of his doctrine is decidedly Kabalistic. When he came up with the idea of the reflected "M" I doubt he had Mary in mind, especially after reading the above.