PKT:Secret Trad#1 - Study Group

[Richard]

I guess I just assumed he would want a 'correct order' because of the later positioning of the fool before the world, but I suppose that's unrelated to what he's saying in this part.

In PKT Waite discusses the Trumps in the Levi ordering (almost), because this was customary at the time. However, he does not think that the Fool belongs in that position, nor should it be the final Trump.

That which hereinafter follows should be taken, for purposes of comparison, in connexion with the general description of the old Tarot Trumps in the first part. There it will be seen that the zero card of the Fool is allocated, as it always is, to the place which makes it equivalent to the number twenty-one. The arrangement is ridiculous on the surface, which does not much signify, but it is also wrong on the symbolism, nor does this fare better when it is made to replace the twenty-second point of the sequence.

ETA. Waite may have changed his mind later about whether there is a "correct" ordering, but I think I can prove that his stance in PKT is that there is indeed a preferred order. Otherwise certain of his statements make no sense whatsoever.

 

[Abrac]

18. That combination may, ex hypothesi, reside in the numbered sequence of its series or in their fortuitous assemblage by shuffling, cutting and dealing, as in ordinary games of chance played with cards.

19. Two writers have adopted the first view without prejudice to the second, and I shall do well, perhaps, to dispose at once of what they have said.

20. Mr. MacGregor Mathers, who once published a pamphlet on the Tarot, which was in the main devoted to fortune-telling, suggested that the twenty-two Trumps Major could be constructed, following their numerical order, into what he called a “connected sentence.”

21. It was, in fact, the heads of a moral thesis on the human will, its enlightenment by science, represented by the Magician, its manifestation by action—a significance attributed to the High Priestess —its realization (the Empress) in deeds of mercy and beneficence, which qualities were allocated to the Emperor.

22. He spoke also in the familiar conventional manner of prudence, fortitude, sacrifice, hope and ultimate happiness.

23. But if this were the message of the cards, it is certain that there would be no excuse for publishing them at this day or taking the pains to elucidate them at some length.

Sentence 21 is a little fuzzy. What "moral thesis" is he talking about. Is it one of Mathers' papers?

 

[Teheuti]

ETA. Waite may have changed his mind later about whether there is a "correct" ordering, but I think I can prove that his stance in PKT is that there is indeed a preferred order. Otherwise certain of his statements make no sense whatsoever.

Good point. I think Waite was making it clear to GD members that he is depicting the GD correspondences, which he clearly committed himself to during this period, as is clear from one of his GD teaching papers. At the same time I don't think he was totally convinced that it was 'perfect.'

 

[Teheuti]

Sentence 21 is a little fuzzy. What "moral thesis" is he talking about. Is it one of Mathers' papers?

I think that "heads of a moral thesis" means that Mathers' meanings for the Trumps are the heads (first lines or 'talking points') of a moral thesis. The Trumps taken together as a whole, as defined by Mathers, form his moral thesis on human will, etc.

Thank you for bringing us back to the last bit of text we were supposed to be discussing.

 

[Teheuti]

Here's the next bit:

24. "In his Tarot of the Bohemians, a work written with zeal and enthusiasm, sparing no pains of thought or research within its particular lines—but unfortunately without real insight—Dr. Papus has given a singularly elaborate scheme of the Trumps Major.

25. "It depends, like that of Mr. Mathers, from their numerical sequence, but exhibits their interrelation in the Divine World, the Macrocosm and Microcosm.

26. "In this manner we get, as it were, a spiritual history of man, or of the soul coming out from the Eternal, passing into the darkness of the material body, and returning to the height.

27 "I think that the author is here within a measurable distance of the right track, and his views are to this extent informing, but his method—in some respects—confuses the issues and the modes and planes of being."

Ah, Waite at his best: damning with faint praise!

While Papus is well worth reading, I'm not sure if we want to spend any time going through his work to determine what Waite is alluding to. I should note that Papus bases much of his explication of the cards on a dialectic theory of thesis, antithesis, synthesis, result/new thesis.

 

[Abrac]

Does "moral thesis" refer back to the "pamphlet" in line 20, or something else?

 

[Teheuti]

Does "moral thesis" refer back to the "pamphlet" in line 20, or something else?

I believe moral thesis refers back to Mathers' brief statements that end each Trump description in his small book on The Tarot (1888):

Mathers:
"1. The Juggler or Magician. Before a table covered with the appliances of his art stands the figure of a juggler, one hand upraised holding a wand (in some packs, a cup), the other pointing downwards. He wears a cap of maintenance like that of the kings, whose wide brim forms a sort of aureole round his head. His body and arms form the shape of the Hebrew letter Aleph, to which this card corresponds. He symbolises Will.

2. The High Priestess, or Female Pope. A woman crowned with a high mitre or tiara (her head encircled by a veil), a stole (or a solar cross) upon her breast, and the Book of Science open in her hand. She represents Science, Wisdom, or Knowledge.

from http://sacred-texts.com/tarot/mathers/index.htm

The sentences I've marked in bold type are the "heads" - main themes - of Mathers' moral thesis as he perceives it is presented in the Tarot. Waite simply shows us how they can be strung together into a connected statement.

Remember that this booklet describes the Tarot of Eliphas Lévi and Etteilla and not that of the Golden Dawn!

 

[Abrac]

Okay thanks. I see now what you're getting at. The way Waite worded it seems strange but it's a lot clearer now.

Here's the "sentence" Waite's talking for those who haven't seen it. It's from The Tarot—Its Occult Significance, Use in Fortune-Telling, and Method of Play, Etc. (Mathers, 1888). Mary linked to it above.

"Thus the whole series of the twenty-two trumps will give a connected sentence which is capable of being read thus:—The Human Will (1) enlightened by Science (2) and manifested by Action (3) should find its Realization (4) in deeds of Mercy and Beneficence (5). The Wise Disposition (6) of this will give him Victory (7) through Equilibrium (8) and Prudence (9), over the fluctuations of Fortune (10). Fortitude (11), sanctified by Sacrifice of Self (12), will triumph over Death itself (13), and thus a Wise Combination (14) will enable him to defy Fate (15). In each Misfortune (16) he will see the Star of Hope (17) shine through the twilight of Deception (18); and ultimate Happiness (19) will be the Result (20). Folly (0), on the other hand, will bring about an evil Reward (21)."​

 

[Teheuti]

I believe Waite was also pointing to what Paul Christian wrote in The History and Practice of Magic (1870) - Christian was a student/follower of Lévi:

"The Science of Will, the principle of all wisdom and source of all power is contained in twenty-two Arcana or symbolic hieroglyphs, each of whose attributes conceals a certain meaning and which, taken as a whole, compose an absolute doctrine memorised by its correspondence with the Letters of the sacred language and with the Numbers that are connected with these Letters. Each letter and each Number, contemplated by the eye or uttered by the mouth, expresses a reality of the divine world, the intellectual world and the physical world. Each arcanum, made visible or tangible by one of these paintings, is the formula of a law of human activity in its relationship with spiritual and material forces whose combination produces the phenomena of life."

 

[Teheuti]

Okay thanks. I see now what you're getting at. The way Waite worded it seems strange but it's a lot clearer now.

Here's the "sentence" Waite's talking for those who haven't seen it. It's from The Tarot—Its Occult Significance, Use in Fortune-Telling, and Method of Play, Etc. (Mathers, 1888). Mary linked to it above.

"Thus the whole series of the twenty-two trumps will give a connected sentence which is capable of being read thus:—The Human Will (1) enlightened by Science (2) and manifested by Action (3) should find its Realization (4) in deeds of Mercy and Beneficence (5). The Wise Disposition (6) of this will give him Victory (7) through Equilibrium (8) and Prudence (9), over the fluctuations of Fortune (10). Fortitude (11), sanctified by Sacrifice of Self (12), will triumph over Death itself (13), and thus a Wise Combination (14) will enable him to defy Fate (15). In each Misfortune (16) he will see the Star of Hope (17) shine through the twilight of Deception (18); and ultimate Happiness (19) will be the Result (20). Folly (0), on the other hand, will bring about an evil Reward (21)."​

Yes!!!