Reading Waite-The Doctrine Behind the Veil

wandking said:

In his writings, while Waite obviously seeks a "secret tradition" in Freemasonry, he also appears interested in uncovering secret traditions in Christianity, which I suspect led him to Martinism.

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Patrick - Yes - the secret traditions in Christianity were his main thrust. Eventually he created his own heavily Christianized Golden Dawn/Rosicrucian rite. And always he put Mysticism (personal direct union with the Divine) at the top.

Mary

I'm a little confussed though

From what I know, Waite accepted ascension into Second Order of the Golden Dawn in March 1899. After attempting to steer the original order away from high magic, Waite and other members initiated the Rectified Order of the Golden Dawn in 1904. With emphasis on research and mysticism, it lasted until 1914. Waite went on to form The Fellowship of the Rosy Cross in 1915.

There seems to be some dispute over the name of the order Waite forms after the GD disolved. Is the Rectified Order of the Golden Dawn its correct name?

Sentences 3 and 4

Sentences 3 and 4:
"Behind the Secret Doctrine it is held that there is an experience or practice by which the Doctrine is justified.
"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."

I addressed sentence 3 in a reply to Cerulean:

The only specific problem I saw with what you wrote was in equating Enlightenment with Doctrine. The doctrine is the body of teachings (dharma?) - not the goal itself - which Waite might call the Sacred Marriage in the Heart - that is, Union or Love (though he rarely used the latter word).

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I've also previously quoted parts of his section describing the Secret Doctrine from the book on Freemasonry that he mentions above. I'm not sure what book on Hermetic Literature he is referring to unless it is "The Hermetic Museum" but that is not Waite's work but an anonymous translation of a 1678 original. Anyway, he's making the point that two important 'phases' of the Secret Doctrine are found in Freemasonry and Hermeticism.

Anyone want to explain further what he means by "experience or practice by which the Doctrine is justified"? I'd like to suggest that the experience is described by what he said about the World card. Anyone agree or disagree?

Mary

Mary,
In making the point "two important 'phases' of the Secret Doctrine are found in Freemasonry and Hermeticism" Waite implies that "phases" represent specific elements of text in a physical doctrine. In some Masonic lodges, initiation into certain grades use direct language from the Chaldean Oracles. Westcott wrote his report on them right before forming the Golden Dawn. He depends on the Stanley translation and fails to mention that fragments of the Oracles occur in any rites. Another body of theosophy, the Corpus Hermeticum, which represents the basis of many Hermetic orders, might also signify a physical "Secret Doctrine" to Waite.
Patrick

Reading Waite

wandking said:

Mary,
In making the point "two important 'phases' of the Secret Doctrine are found in Freemasonry and Hermeticism" Waite implies that "phases" represent specific elements of text in a physical doctrine. In some Masonic lodges, initiation into certain grades use direct language from the Chaldean Oracles. Westcott wrote his report on them right before forming the Golden Dawn. He depends on the Stanley translation and fails to mention that fragments of the Oracles occur in any rites. Another body of theosophy, the Corpus Hermeticum, which represents the basis of many Hermetic orders, might also signify a physical "Secret Doctrine" to Waite.
Patrick

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"The Secret Doctrine" is the exact title of H.P. Blavatsky's great tome on cosmogenesis and anthropogenesis, originally published 1888. It is based upon an interpretation of Tibetan spiritual verses which are enigmatically symbolic. Here, the "Secret Doctrine" is all about the evolution of mind and matter, together, understood through the deeper penetration of symbolic cosmology. How the symbolic language is read is the key. Possibly the same for the Tarot? Seeking through the symbol to the truth to which it points?

Puzzling the names of Madame B, Waite...of the same period

I realize we're writing period names from Madame B. to Waite and even I brought up the later known Manly P. Hall below in all this (my individual comparison)...

1. Madame B.'s channelled teachings and historical Theosophy of circa 1900 that led to Krishna Murti is of the time, but to me, a path that crossed over into something quite different. I'm not certain if the coincidence of names for her channelled "Secret Doctrine" is the same as Waite's ideas?

2. I believed earlier that what I what I read of Manly P. Hall's view* of historic masonry as a contrast to Waite, was fair-minded and an alternative. Note: Wandking corrected me on this point--I need to check out Brother Gilbert, that Wandking quotes below. Thanks for the correction! I also removed an earlier link, as it seems it was misinformation.

3. I also appreciate Teheuti correcting my mixed-up attempt at a parallel analogy.

4. At the moment, I'm learning more about Manly P. Hall*, who was also of the time of Madame B. and Waite, and perhaps that is why delving into Waite has me jumping up and down mentally.

I hope the above, with corrections, is not too confusing. Thanks for helping me!

Best regards,

Cerulean

*P.S. I was referring to Manly P. Hall's collective body of works, but as Wandking pointed out in his later note, there's about 30 years of writing, revision and lecturing before Manly P. Hall became a recognized mason. Given the collected literature in Manly P. Hall's library and his ongoing work was a lifetime achievement, I can see how his early works would be considered as too breezy or not precise. On Manly P. Hall if others are interested:
http://www.getty.edu/research/conducting_research/finding_aids/hall_m4.html

Frank,
Once again the words of Brother Gilbert offer some insight. He writes that after Waite strays from Catholicism he moves on to "the Theosophical Society, which fascinated him although he disliked the anti-Christian bias of works of H. P. Blavatsky who was its driving force. In this way he approached magic in general and Eliphas Levi, in particular, and began to realize where his real dedications lay. He had already written and published many poems and imitation romances but was forced to recognize, reluctantly, his shortcomings as a writer of fiction and entered instead upon his career as a critical expounder of the history and doctrines of occultism in all its forms. Waite was never happy with popular occultism and he rejected from the start its follies and pretensions, for he was an acute, if untrained, critic and recognized the need for historical textual accuracy if anything of value was to be drawn from his chosen field."

Patrick

Cerulean,
The Lost Keys of Freemasonry is a work by Manley Hall often quoted by anti-Masons due to some of the statements he makes about the religious nature of Freemasonry. Published in 1923, it was written when Hall was barely 21 years of age some 31 years before he became a Mason. The book represents merely personal theories of a non-Mason. Further, according to a recognized Masonic website, "Hall was a self-avowed mystic and hardly a leading authority of Freemasonry."

I checked out the site you posted and upon seeing its title, went straight to their blerb on Crowley where I knew they might not quite be on the level (like many anti-mason sites that mention Uncle Al) and found this: "The Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon, however, admits to his initiation into Craft Freemasonry."

Actually, the website that particular Canadian lodge sponsers offers this "By Bro. Martin P. Starr "IT MAY SURPRISE some and horrify others to learn that Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), the 20th century's best-known mage, was ever remotely associated with the masonic fraternity. Although, unbeknown to him at the time of joining, all his affiliations were with unrecognized and irregular bodies" of Freemasonry.

I certainly do not place the opinions of whoever Star is with those of Gilbert. After all, Gilbert extensivly studies occultists with ties to the craft and had full access to the Masonic archives.

Patrick

I don't know the full history of the term "Secret Doctrine." I did find this: 1833: Publication of vol. 1 of _Anacalypsis: An Attempt to Draw Aside the Veil of the Saitic Isis; or an Inquiry into the Origin of Languages, Nations, and Religions_ by Godfrey Higgins (vol. 2 – 1836). This is the book on which Helena Blavatsky based her first book, Isis Unveiled (1877), as noted by Leslie Shepard. He comments, “The plain fact is that Anacalypsis is the important prototype of the Theosophical framework. … Throughout his book Higgins insists on ‘a secret doctrine’ of esoteric knowledge guarded by priests.” [from The Book of Dzyan by Tim Maroney]. Blavatsky's work entitled _The Secret Doctrine_ was published in 1888 (the same year that the Golden Dawn was founded).

Anna Kingsford, who was the first president of the Theosophical Society in London, explained her understanding of the Secret Doctrine in the intro to her book _The Virgin of the World_:

"However various the manifestation of the universal consciousness, or being, whether as regards its different planes, or its different modes on the same plane, they all are according to one and the same law, which, by its uniformity, demonstrates the unity of the informing spirit, or mind, which subsists eternally and independently of any manifestation.
"For: “The Essence of all is One.”

"From the oneness of original Being comes, as a corollary, the law of correspondence between all planes, or spheres, of existence, in virtue of which the macrocosm is as the microcosm, the universal as the individual, the world as man, and man as God. “An earthly man,” says “The Key,” “is a mortal God, and the heavenly God is immortal man.” The same book, however, is careful to explain that by man is meant only those men who are possessed of the higher intelligence, or spiritual consciousness, and that to lack this is to be not yet man, but only the potentiality of man. It avoids also the error of anthropomorphism by defining Divinity to be, itself, neither life, nor mind, nor substance; but the cause of these.

"Ignorance of God is pronounced to be the greatest evil, but God is not to be discerned in phenomena, or with the outer eye. The quest must be made within oneself. In order to know [gnosis], man must first be. This is to say, he must have developed in himself the consciousness of all the planes, or spheres, of his fourfold nature, and become thereby wholly man. It is to his inmost and divine part, the spirit, that the mystery of existence appertains, since that is Pure Being, of which existence is the manifestation. … In such degree as man develops this consciousness he becomes an organon [intuition] of knowledge, capable pf obtaining certitude of truth, even the highest; and from being “agnostic” and incapable of knowledge, he becomes “Gnostic,” or has the Gnosis, which consists in the knowledge of himself and of God, and of the substantial identity of the two." [end of Kingsford quote]

Mary

Blavatsky's definition of Secret Doctrine

Here's how Blavatsky defines Secret Doctrine in the book by that name:

"The Secret Doctrine is the accumulated Wisdom of the Ages, and its cosmogony alone is the most stupendous and elaborate system.... But such is the mysterious power of Occult symbolism, that the facts ... are all recorded on a few pages of geometrical sign and glyphs. The flashing gaze of those seers has penetrated into the very kernel of matter, and recorded the soul of things there, where an ordinary profane, however learned, would have perceived but the external work of form. But modern science believes not in the 'soul of things,' and hence will reject the whole system of ancient cosmogony.... [It] is the uninterrupted record covering thousands of generations of Seers whose respective experiences were made to test and to verify the traditions passed orally by one early race to another, of the teachings of higher and exalted beings, who watched over the childhood of Humanity. That for long ages, the 'Wise Men' of the Fifth Race, of the stock saved and rescued from the last cataclysm and shifting of continents, had passed their lives in learning, not teaching. How did they do so? It is answered: by checking, testing, and verifying in every department of nature the traditions of old by the independent visions of great adepts; i.e., men who have developed and perfected their physical, mental, psychic, and spiritual organisations to the utmost possible degree. No vision of one adept was accepted till it was checked and confirmed by the visions -- so obtained as to stand as independent evidence -- of other adepts, and by centuries of experiences" (SD 1:272-3).

Mary