Abrac
Waite has been know to refer to himself as a Catholic Mystic. His use of this phrase has been the subject of some debate, but I ran across something that seems to shed some light on the matter; apparently it has a double meaning.
In The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal, p. 669 of the 1909 edition, he says:
This suggests that these braches of esotricism were outgrowths of Latin Catholicism.
In Waite's later revision, The Holy Grail, History Legend and Symbolism, 1933, he does something interesting. A lot has been left out and now there's a footnote:
This brief note reveals a couple of things. The first part refers to Catholic as in Roman Catholicism, i.e., Roman Catholicism on its "higher" or transcendental side. It refers to the Mystics and Mysticism within the Church proper. But the second part shows another sense; its Mysticism outside the purview or control of the Church, Catholic in the sense of universal inclusiveness; but Catholic also in that it retains elements of Latin church, most notably the Eucharist.
It seems more likely to me that Waite means the second sense when referring to himself. He never renounced his Catholicism and never taught that a person should renounce their religion, only that they should transcend within it; but he was clearly not a practicing Catholic in the external sense. Perhaps he still thought of himself as a Catholic Mystic in the first sense, but as far as his actual life and practices he's more within the second sense.
In The Hidden Church of the Holy Graal, p. 669 of the 1909 edition, he says:
"The secret doctrine reflected into the literature [i.e., reflected into the Graal literature] abode in a secret school. Out of this school but not in an official sense there developed at later periods spiritual alchemy, symbolical craft Masonry, certain Rosicrucian institutions and certain Christian high grades of Masonic complexion, as successive veils. It was a school of Christian mystics, and it was Latin for a long time on its external side. It is of necessity catholic at heart."
This suggests that these braches of esotricism were outgrowths of Latin Catholicism.
In Waite's later revision, The Holy Grail, History Legend and Symbolism, 1933, he does something interesting. A lot has been left out and now there's a footnote:
"The secret doctrine reflected into the literature abode in a Secret School. It was a school of Christian Mystics and was of necessity Catholic at heart.*"
*Catholic in the sense of Rome at the highest point of Roman Catholic experience in the way of the Mystic Life; but Catholic also in the sense unacknowledged by Rome and officially beyond its purview.
This brief note reveals a couple of things. The first part refers to Catholic as in Roman Catholicism, i.e., Roman Catholicism on its "higher" or transcendental side. It refers to the Mystics and Mysticism within the Church proper. But the second part shows another sense; its Mysticism outside the purview or control of the Church, Catholic in the sense of universal inclusiveness; but Catholic also in that it retains elements of Latin church, most notably the Eucharist.
It seems more likely to me that Waite means the second sense when referring to himself. He never renounced his Catholicism and never taught that a person should renounce their religion, only that they should transcend within it; but he was clearly not a practicing Catholic in the external sense. Perhaps he still thought of himself as a Catholic Mystic in the first sense, but as far as his actual life and practices he's more within the second sense.