Impact of PCS on the RWS deck (split from: I don't think I could go back to Rider Wai

Teheuti

It helps to read the entire title of Waite's Tarot book:
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Being Fragments of a Secret Tradition under the Veil of Divination

Waite wrote umpteen books on "The Secret Tradition" which was the basis of his own mystical philosophy that he espoused throughout his life - in all of his personal writings. The RWS deck was a pictorial expression of some aspects of his version of the Secret Tradition "under the veil of divination," and it was also informed by the Golden Dawn. Knowledge of the Golden Dawn system was unnecessary to using the deck or getting meaning from the symbols, but a GD inner order initiate could apply this deck to the GD system. It was a multi-purpose deck!

Similarly, chess and checkers are played on the same board and players know what to do whether multi-purpose boards are colored black-and-white or red-and-black.

Waite was one of the few people (if not the only person) who had read all the known works on Tarot and cartomancy in French and English, translated several of them, and researched Tarot's true historical background (in addition to the fanciful myths). Plus, he was deeply knowledgeable about occult orders in Europe and England and knew the esoteric symbology of the Grail, Rosicrucians, Martinists, alchemists, astrologers, Kabbalah, Masons, etc. - writing books on the Secret Tradition in all of them except astrology. For him, mystical Christianity was only a more recent and perhaps ideal expression of a far older "Secret Tradition."

The Secret Tradition was syncretic; the RWS Tarot deck is syncretic. It attempts to speak to both the most knowledgeable and to those without any special knowledge. I believe that Pixie Smith's art, under his direction, being thus syncretic in its execution, fulfills his syncretic intention perfectly.

According to Waite, the Secret Tradition is Knowledge - which is hidden science - handed down from remote ages, concerning the relations between God, man and the universe, or the way of union between man and God. It is not confined to one country, people, single religion or single cycle in literature. There are alleged traces of its existence in far-off times among many nations, through all the chief religions. Waite, The Holy Kabbalah, p. 24-25.

It contains:
• accounts of a loss which has befallen humanity [the Lesser Arcana].
• records of a restitution of that which was lost and a Path of Ascent [the Greater Arcana].

It has been perpetuated in secret by means of Instituted Mysteries [the Mystery Schools & Occult Orders], and cryptic literature [like Alchemy].

It is what he called the "the Soul’s Progress" or "the Soul's Quest” [A term, like Eden Gray’s Fool’s Journey, that Waite used both for the Greater Arcana and the Path of Ascent in the Secret Tradition].

It is:
• a non canonical (unlegislated) transmission from generation to generation through myth and legend.
• the seat [temple] of Eternal Wisdom, built in the heart.
• the prevailing spirit of esoteric, withdrawn power [the Shekinah].

The Tradition contains the Doctrine [teachings and principles] of the “union of an immortal Soul with God and of living in harmony with the Eternal Will,” and a “deeper mystery of love behind the world of grace.”

It culminates in what Waite called the "Mystery of Sex"—the sacred marriage or union of the Shekinah [High Priestess] and the Hierophant in the secret temple in the heart and the birth of the Divine Child within.
 

Abrac

What Waite doesn't do -me thinks- is to reveal all the aspects which he had been shown. At least this is what I sense from his work, that he had a mission which wasn't necessarily revealing to the outside.

Couldn't agree more. Waite was a mystic and he draws a clear distinction between mysticism and occultism.

In occultism, doctrines are passed down from teacher to student. The student learns from the teacher or the Order. In mysticism, the individual acquires insight by direct psychic revelation, brought about by meditation and prayer, or contemplation. The student isn't fed doctrine, but is shown the way and then left to find truth for himself or herself.

Waite is constantly coming under attack for beating around the bush and never actually revealing anything. But he does reveal quite a bit, a lot actually. He shows the way. For a mystic, that's enough. :)
 

Teheuti

Waite is constantly coming under attack for beating around the bush and never actually revealing anything. But he does reveal quite a bit, a lot actually. He shows the way. For a mystic, that's enough. :)
Exactly! People seem to think that because he doesn't give directions like, "Pick up the red sceptre-of-power in your right hand, turn around three times, and pronounce the syllables AR-HO-HUM," that he is not revealing the secrets. They are simply missing the point and not reading him carefully.
 

Richard

......In occultism, doctrines are passed down from teacher to student. The student learns from the teacher or the Order. In mysticism, the individual acquires insight by direct psychic revelation, brought about by meditation and prayer, or contemplation. The student isn't fed doctrine, but is shown the way and then left to find truth for himself or herself.

Waite is constantly coming under attack for beating around the bush and never actually revealing anything. But he does reveal quite a bit, a lot actually. He shows the way. For a mystic, that's enough. :)
What is your point exactly? Why was Waite actively involved in a degree system instead of going the way of the solitary mystic?
 

Zephyros

What is your point exactly? Why was Waite actively involved in a degree system instead of going the way of the solitary mystic?

Very true. We aren't talking about a Friar Tuck kind of person, who would repair to a ford and offer blessings to travellers. Waite may have been a mystic, but it was a brand of mysticism that could be passed on and taught, a highly disciplined kind. That Waite abandoned the magical sides of the Golden Dawn still doesn't mean he abandoned its grade system or core teachings. The use of ritual as pageant of greater mystical processes doesn't negate the mystical attitude.

Besides, I get the feeling "mystic" is being bandied about here in the same way as "intuitive." Being a mystic does not necessarily mean you adhere to nothing. If you're talking about direct experience of the Divine, well, that was what the GD was basically all about, but it was not a religion. You wouldn't have needed to leave the GD in order to practice mysticism, it isn't as if Adepts would receive the word of God from some caste of priests, that wasn't what the GD was about. When you're talking about "doctrines" passed from teacher to student it wasn't about eating fish on Fridays or else you'll go to hell. It was about the methods and technology of attainment.

"Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, give him a pole and..." etc., etc. It wasn't about being taught to fish, but perhaps about making great fish recipes, because of the ready made grade system.

In any case Pam would probably have connected the images and meanings to traditional Christianity, because that was what she knew. This is perhaps why her images look a bit like a book of Bible stories for children.
 

ravenest

Well Waite did follow 'the' secret tradition ... he just Waitised it and obscured it when he 'struck out on his own' - and developed his own take on it, mixed up with his other stuff (that we talked about before and there is a thread here on the many influences that 'made the man').

Nowadays its relatively simple to track the 'sexual end' of this particular tradition of western esoteric tradition ;

G. D. < German Order of the Gold and Rosy Cross < Order of the Asiatic Brethren ('Masonic') < Frankism < Sabbateanism ('Kabbalistic') .

another branch was what Crowley was working ( as well as his G.D. / A. A. 'inheritance' )


O.T.O. < Hermetic Brotherhood of Light / Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor * < Order of Asiatic Brethren

This tradition focused more (than the G.D. did) on the male female partnership aspect ; the 'active Shekinah' and produced the first 'western tantrics' * ; P. B Randolph, Max Theon, The HBL 'upper members' ... even Blavatsky in her 'pre-India days'. Their early work was associated with Women's suffrage, sexual rights (and rites ) , and for the purpose of securing the family and producing advanced children (the 'divine child without' ) , this later started being used as a practice for other ends , and (any other usage) caused a great new split ... into a type of 'left handed tantra'.

http://www.theomagica.com/on-the-occult-order-of-the-asiatic-brethren/
 

Teheuti

Well Waite did follow 'the' secret tradition ... he just Waitised it and obscured it when he 'struck out on his own' - and developed his own take on it, mixed up with his other stuff
You make it sound as if there is an "orthodox" Secret Tradition that was crystal clear to all and to which everyone agreed compared to which Waite's was a bastardized version. Please, what text epitomized this 'authorized' version that everyone else agreed upon? Blavatsky's "Secret Doctrine" oerhaps comes closest to what Waite's contemporaries would have been familiar with, but she did not focus on the same areas as Waite (see my post above for the list of Waite's main areas of focus). Much later Manly Plamer Hall tried to sum up his own version in The Secret Teachings of the Ages. What is the key text of THE Secret Tradition to which you are referring?

Also, Waite's idea of the "Mystery of Sex" had little to do with the sex magic or 'left-handed tantra' that was going the rounds of the magical organizations you mention. To lump them together as if they were all one and the same shows no understanding of each, nor of Waite's text on the subject. You can't just substitute the teachings of these other groups for the concept that Waite was presenting and say they were the same, as you indicate.

Each of the points I made defining Waite's "Secret Tradition" in my earlier post have very specific references and implications that he elaborates upon at length in his books, including many references to specific symbols that appear in the RWS deck.
 

Teheuti

The key to a specific understanding the RWS symbols - especially in the Greater Arcana - is "according to Waite." He references the symbols and concepts that appear in the Greater Arcana in most of his other books, so we can read about his intentions there as these intentions were remarkably consistent throughout his publishing career.

OTOH, he felt that the Tarot symbols were universal and could speak to each person in their own way. He wanted the images to work on many different levels - to each their own. I think he and PCS succeeded brilliantly in this.
 

ravenest

There is no ' key text of an authorised tradition that everyone agreed upon' . I never wrote that.

That is why I put the the in 'the' secret tradition in inverted commas. Waite's title says 'A Secret tradition'. Not 'The Secret Tradition'.

To go deeper into this than I have already would be off the topic of this thread.

If the words in my post are read carefully it is all explained there. The brevity might cause confusion but there is extensive knowledge and research in the link I attached, if anyone wants to examine the issue in depth.
 

Teheuti

If one wants to know why there are Palms and Pomegrantes on the veil in the High Priestess card of the RWS deck, I find that Waite's own explanation may be more specific to their appearance on the card than references from other sources even if those other sources can add symbolic possibilities unmentioned or unrecognized by Waite. It all depends on if you want to know 1) why the palms and pomegrantes were deliberately added to the Popess/Priestess card, OR 2) if you want to know what they could potentially symbolize for your own use or edification.

I found that the following summary of a generalized Secret Tradition by Antoine Faivre on the Asiatic Brotherhood site applies quite well to Waite. I think it can be found that each group and commentator personalized these ideas in their own way, while being influencd by others who came before, although rarely in a strict lineage, but rather in odd branchings that many are still trying to unravel.
According to the theosophers, man possesses in himself a faculty – generally dormant but always potentially present – that enables him to connect directly with the divine world or generally with superior beings, and that is able to “branch out” to them. This faculty is due to the existence of a special organ within us, a kind of intellectus, which is none other than our imagination – understood in quasi-magical fashion as a force of creation as well as perception. Once achieved, this contact (1) permits an exploration of all levels of reality, (2) assures a kind of co-penetration of the divine and the human, and (3) gives our spirit the possibility of ‘fixing’ itself in a body of light, that is to say, of effectuating a ‘second birth’.
— Antoine Faivre, in: Haanegraaff, p.2591 quoted here: http://www.theomagica.com/on-the-occult-order-of-the-asiatic-brethren-4