PKT:Secret Trad#1 - Study Group

Abrac

"Behind the Secret Doctrine it is held that there is an experience or practice by which the Doctrine is justified."

Here he's talking about the practical application leading to the experience of reunion with Divinity. The Doctrine isn't just an empty intellectual exercise.

"It is obvious that in a handbook like the present I can do little more than state the claims, which, however, have been discussed at length in several of my other writings, while it is designed to treat two of its more important phases in books devoted to the Secret Tradition in Freemasonry and in Hermetic literature."

All he can do in the present work is say that there is such a practice and experience.

The way the sentence is constructed it's not easy to follow what he says in the second part; but I think when he says "it is designed" he's talking about the present work, and that it's designed to treat two of the more important phases of the experience. I have no idea what he means by ". . . in books devoted to the Secret Tradition in Freemasonry and in Hermetic literature." I also have no idea what the "two phases" are. I could be interpreting the whole thing wrong. :)
 

Abrac

I think I now see what it might be saying.

2. "It is obvious that in a handbook like the present I can do little more than state the claims [about the Secret Doctrine], which, however, have been discussed at length in several of my other writings, while it [the present work] is designed to treat two of its more important phases [found] in books devoted to the Secret Tradition in Freemasonry and in Hermetic literature."

The two phases might be "loss and recovery." These are two "important" phases that come to mind right now. These themes are dealt with in the cards. In The Lovers there are Adam and Eve in the Garden with suggestions of the Fall. In The Devil Adam and Eve are again represented as after the Fall. In other cards like The Sun and Judgement there are themes of renewal, restoration and resurrection.
 

Richard

......I tried Kabbalah, too complicated and ended up losing interest,.....

The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford is designed to make the process of getting an overview of the basics of Qabalah less painful. Nonetheless, it still takes time and effort, and if one is adamantly averse to patient study and a certain amount of memorization, even Chicken Qabalah may not help.

Why should everything worthwhile necessarily be easy? Instant gratification seems to be the norm nowadays. Do you have any input on this issue?
 

INIVEA

The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford is designed to make the process of getting an overview of the basics of Qabalah less painful. Nonetheless, it still takes time and effort, and if one is adamantly averse to patient study and a certain amount of memorization, even Chicken Qabalah may not help.

Why should everything worthwhile necessarily be easy? Instant gratification seems to be the norm nowadays. Do you have any input on this issue?

Thanks for the Book Recommendation. I didn't have that book when I started learning Qabalah, it would've made things easier. I was reading Dion Fortune, and another book, I don't recall the name, it was an online book.

Actually I devoted a long time to learning it, approx. a year or so, and no it wasn't for instant gratification, we'll see how this study group goes, I may get inspired to get back into it, or it just isn't my cup of tea.
 

INIVEA

Waite is trying to summarize in this short chapter the key, relevant points he makes in the dozens of books he wrote throughout his lifetime on the Secret Tradition. Each sentence is actually very significant in terms of the "secret" he sought to share. BTW, this Secret Doctrine is essentially the same as the Theosophical one, about which Helena Blavatsky wrote two huge books. The concept is just viewed through a different lens (though very important in their differences).

Okay, I haven't read Waite's other books at all, so that show right there I'm not up to speed.

Could you please explain in a little more detail of "Secret" I just got lost, don't know Helena Blavatsky, so now I am really lost.

please in brief and simple terms explain (note: learning disability here sorry)
 

Yelell

Okay, I haven't read Waite's other books at all, so that show right there I'm not up to speed.

Could you please explain in a little more detail of "Secret" I just got lost, don't know Helena Blavatsky, so now I am really lost.

please in brief and simple terms explain (note: learning disability here sorry)

:confused:
As far as I can figure, it is the idea that there is hidden knowledge of

salvation and understanding of God
and/or the comprehension of the universe
and/or the nature of the soul
and/or total ecstasy and harmony

which can be achieved internally through intuition, study, examination of the mind, etc after realizing this hidden knowledge.

I do like Waite (I have a stack of his decks that I keep buying over and over) but I don't really mesh well with all of it.
 

Yelell

I do have paraphrased notes from this section that I had saved.
The summary of what I got from it, however, was Waite trying to demonstrate or justify how the symbolism of tarot is appropriate for communicating this hidden information.

The tarot &secret tradition -- OR what connection is there between the "secret tradition" and tarot cards?

-tarot cards are composed of symbols, symbols that represent a "universal" truth
-the secret doctrine is the understanding and recognition of this truth
- the potential is there inside every human mind HOWEVER- most people do not know this, cannot perceive this
-a few select individuals have been aware of this through time, and have passed this knowledge on quietly - also secretly written

LIKE alchemy & kabalism, rosicrusicainism, craft masonry *all used symbols*
(Teachings/societies respected by other occultists of the time? How about the common people, or the budding occultist? Known to them? ). GIVES CREDIBILITY TO WAITE using symbols

"Living summary" - these teachings still exist inside the knowledge of members of these societies of today (during Waite's time.)

It is held(known) that there is experience (proof) that what I say is justified ( not fiction)
ie--There is a valid basis for what I'm saying. I'm not going to go into all of that completely in this book (read my other books to get more info!) .....{just trust me??)

However: (he goes on to give more proof anyways)

Imputed secret doctrine has been demonstrated symbolically before in alchemy. Imputed book of thoth was therefore not the only one using symbols

( imputed??-- like the biblical? Used here to place these at a level of great/high importance? )

(More justification for his tarot cards made of symbols - able to truly convey these teachings -- he keeps bringing all these other sources in as support for his argument that symbols matter) (as opposed to just writings?)
 

Teheuti

Waite's Secret Doctrine tells us that the Soul "cometh from afar" and that the Soul returns whence it came, but it delineates the Path of Ascent'." All esoteric practices and traditions, whether pagan mysteries, Hermeticism, Gnosticism, alchemy, the Hebrew Kabbalah, the legends of the Holy Grail, Rosicrucianism, Christian mysticism or Freemasonry, were secret paths to a direct experience of God.

The Secret Tradition is a perennial underground stream of writings and teachings, containing, 'firstly, the memorials of a loss which has befallen humanity; and, secondly, the records of a restitution in respect of that which was lost ... the keepers of the tradition perpetuated it in secret by means of Instituted Mysteries and cryptic literature.’ [In the Judeo-Christian tradition this appears as the loss in the Garden of Eden; in Masonic literature there's the loss of the Master Builder, Hiram Abiff.] 'The Secret Tradition is the immemorial knowledge concerning man's way of return whence he came by a method of the inward life.'

The Secret Doctrine is a House or Temple that must be built in the heart, within which is the Eternal Wisdom—
There came a time when the primeval knowledge began to be veiled in emblems, which resulted in initiatory mysteries. The True Initiation was revealed only to these, but in time they fell into corruption. The Valid Initiation remained, with its doctrine of union of an immortal soul with God and of living in harmony with the Eternal Will.

In his book, The Holy Grail, Waite writes that traces of the Secret Doctrine as relates to the Grail can be found in:
1) the Sacramental Mystery of Alchemy as corresponding to the Eucharistic Mystery of the Holy Grail;
2) the mystical pageant of Kabbalism as analogical to the Grail pageant;
3) certain quests in Masonry as synonymous with the Grail Quest.

"The Secret Church is the integration of believers in the higher consciousness."

The following terms, used by others, tend to refer to the same idea:
Wisdom of the Ages
Perennial Philosophy
Secret Teachings of the Ages
Ageless Wisdom Tradition
This tradition lies at the root of the New Age book & video "The Secret" (with additions from America's late 19th century "New Thought" teachings):
http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Rhonda-Byrne/dp/1582701709/

I discuss this later lineage here: https://marygreer.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/articles/
 

Abrac

#5 seems pretty self-explanatory. The Tarot (Book of Thoth) isn't the only device that uses pictorial symbols to transmit secret doctrine.
 

Teheuti

#5 seems pretty self-explanatory. The Tarot (Book of Thoth) isn't the only device that uses pictorial symbols to transmit secret doctrine.
I agree, adding only that alchemy like Tarot (conjectured to have come from Thoth), contains emblems that present teachings of the so-called Secret Doctrine.