"I've just finished a big job for very little cash!"

Fulgour

Crowley's Review

THE KEY TO THE TAROT.
By A. E. WAITE.
W. Rider and Sons, Limited.

Mr. Waite has written a book on fortune-telling, and we advise servant-girls to keep an eye on their half-crowns. We have little sympathy or pity for the folly of fashionable women; but housemaids need protection ~ hence their affection for policemen and soldiers ~ and we fear that Mr. Waite's apologies will not prevent professional cheats from using his instructions for their frauds and levies of blackmail.

As to Mr. Waite's constant pomposities, he seems to think that the obscurer his style and the vaguer his phrases, the greater initiate he will appear. Nobody but Mr. Waite knows "all" about the Tarot, it appears; and he won't tell. Reminds one of the story about God and Robert Browning, or of the student who slept, and woke when the professor thundered rhetorically, "And what "is" Electricity?" The youth jumped up and cried (from habit), "I know, sir." "Then tell us." "I "knew," sir, but I've forgotten." "Just my luck!" complained the professor, "there was only one man in the world who knew ~ and he has forgotten!"

Why, Mr. Waite, your method is not even original. When Sir Mahatma Agamya Paramahansa Guru Swamiji (late of H. M. Prisons, thanks to the unselfish efforts of myself and a friend) was asked, "And what of the teaching of Confucius?" ~ or any one else that the boisterous old boy had never heard of ~ he would reply contemptuously, "Oh, him? He was my disciple." And seeing the hearer smile would add, "Get out you dog, you a friend of that dirty fellow Crowley. I beat you with my shoe. Go away! Get intellect! Get English!" until an epileptic attack supervened.

Mr. Waite, like Marie Corelli, in this as in so many other respects, brags that he cares nothing for criticism, so he won't mind my making these little remarks, and I may as well go on. He has "betrayed" (to use his own words) the attributions of some of the small cards, and Pamela Coleman
Smith has done very beautiful and sympathetic designs, though our own austerer taste would have preferred the plain cards with their astrological and other attributions, and occult titles. (These are all published in the book "777," and a pack could be easily constructed by hand. Perhaps we may
one day publish one at a shilling a time!) But Mr. Waite has not "betrayed" the true attributions of the Trumps. They are obvious, though, the moment one has the key (see "777"). Still, Pamela Coleman Smith has evidently been hampered; her designs are cramped and forced. I am infinitely sorry for any artist who tries to draw after dipping her hands in the gluey dogma of so insufferable a dolt and prig.

Mr. Waite, I believe, is perfectly competent to produce indefinite quantities of Malted Milk to the satisfaction of all parties; but when it comes to getting the pure milk of the Word, Mr. Waite gets hold of a wooden cow.

And do for God's sake, Arthur, drop your eternal hinting, hinting, hinting, "Oh what an exalted grade I have, if you poor dull uninitiated people would only perceive it!" Here is your criticism, Arthur, straight from the shoulder. Any man that knows Truth and conceals it is a traitor to humanity; any man that doesn't know, and tries to conceal his ignorance by pretending to be the guardian of a secret, is a charlatan. Which is it?

We recommend every one to buy the pack, send Mr. Waite's book to the kitchen so as to warn the maids, throw the Major Arcana out of window, and play bridge with the Minor Arcana, which alone are worth the money asked for the whole caboodle. The worst of it all is: Mr. Waite really does know a bit in a muddled kind of way; if he would only go out of the swelled-head business he might be some use.

But if you are not going to tell your secrets, it is downright schoolboy brag to strut about proclaiming that you possess them. Au revoir, Arthur.

ALEISTER CROWLEY.

http://www.the-equinox.org/vol1/no3/eqi03014.html
 

Chronata

LOL! That is too funny, Fulgour!

good ol' Crowley...
god I love him!
 

mac22

Thing that good ole al forgot is when ya start pointing fingers you have 4 fingers pointing back at ya... :lightbulb
 

wizzle

I found these advertistments in a 1910 publication ..... (guess which one it is first then look)


A PACK OF 78 TAROT CARDS: Exquisitely drawn and coloured, from new and original designs by PAMELA COLEMAN SMITH. Each card has a separate allegorical meaning. This is without question the finest and most artistic pack that has ever been produced. Price 6s. net, post free.

THE KEY TO THE TAROT: Giving the history of the Tarot Cards, their
allegorical meaning and the methods of divination for which they are
adapted. By ARTHUR EDWARD WAITE. Royal 32mo, cloth gilt, 2s. net.
Essential to the interpretation of the Tarot Cards. The Cards and Key
will be supplied in neat box for 8s. post free.

*
*
*
*
*
*
These were run in that same 3rd issue of the Equinox where Uncle Al panned Waite's book. Now ya just have to wonder about a guy who will on one hand pan a book and on the other hand take money to advertise it. Can we say "no scruples" all together now?

It might also be well to keep in mind that Crowley was almost entirely self-published; books, Equinox, etc. On the other hand, Waite was published by Rider. Can we say "sour grapes" loudly while facing east?
 

mac22

It might also be well to keep in mind that Crowley was almost entirely self-published; books, Equinox, etc. On the other hand, Waite was published by Rider. Can we say "sour grapes" loudly while facing east?

Can we say Rider were no fool they published what sold.... and both Al & the Equinox were turkeys :p
 

rumple

Amazing read, thanks for the very interesting fact of life...
 

Fulgour

Chronata said:
LOL! That is too funny, Fulgour!
As a Scorpio, my sense of humour can be pointed,
but there is always a twinkle in my eyes. Thanks!
 

Rainbow Aurora

The London of Her Day

My first deck was a 'Blue Box Rider' it just said
Tarot Cards on the front and to be quite honest,
I never thought much else about it for years.

I just read the cards. Then began to wonder why
the newer editions had 'Rider Waite' on the front
of them~ it didn't really make much sense to me.

Since becoming a little more knowledgeable, I now
think of life as it was in the early 1900's for women.

For Pamela Colman Smith to have her own apartment,
to have her own business and to flit across the pond
numerous times for her Art exhibitions was remarkable.

Just my opinion, but I think she deserves full credit
for this deck. And truly, she never said otherwise.

Rainbow
 

The 78th Fool

What I find really interesting about this facsimile letter is that towards the bottom PCS clearly states that she provided the publisher with line drawings only, which were subsequently coloured by the lithographer. Interesting also to see that she has little or no faith in his ability to do the job - implying that he wasn't working under her supervision.

Chris. xx
 

Vetch

I can't stand Crowley, but I love his humour! He always cracks me up.

This is so fascinating! I really miss Fulgour; seems he has abandoned AT.

I know this is a quite meaningless post; but this thread deserves to be seen.