A. E. Waite

Arthur Edward Waite ( born October 2, 1857 in Brooklyn, New York, NY, USA, † May 19 1942 in London ) was an Anglo-American author of numerous esoteric and occult writings, among other things, on the subjects of Freemasonry, clairvoyance, Rosicrucianism, Kabbalah and alchemy. He is also co-inventor of today's most common, fully illustrated Tarot cards.

Life

Waite visited several small private schools in London, before moving to St. Charles College at the age of thirteen. After finishing school Waite worked as an employee and wrote poetry in his spare time.

When in 1874 his little sister died unexpectedly, Waite felt occult- spiritual investments in themselves and developed a strong interest for " psychic" research, which later parapsychology, and at 21 he began to study all sorts of esoteric literature in the library of the British Museum. He had contacts with the Theosophical Association.

Waite spent many years of his life in England before he returned to the United States. He was always in contact with various publishing houses and brought 1894 to 1895 his own little magazine, The Unknown World ( The unknown world) out. It was not long and Waite was his living expenses by writing various esoteric books. He tried ( in contrast to other occultists before him) to thought- historical and critical studies to be taken seriously with his speculative writings and translated several works of French occultist Eliphas Levi and Papus. Waites book on the Kabbalah is counted by Horst E. Miers to the best standard works of this genre; Gershom Scholem has Waites ' deep understanding of the world of Kabbalah " out, " it is therefore all the more regrettable that he misled by his uncritical attitude towards historical and philological facts and by the faulty and inadequate French translation of the Zohar by Jean de Pauly was that he was forced to use due to his ignorance of Hebrew and Aramaic. "

Waite practiced temporarily from the medical profession, but it is not known whether he did so as a trained physician or medical practitioner.

Waite was known as an occultist and mystic. 1891 after Waites first request was rejected for membership, he was inducted into the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, in which he rose to the Gradus Philosopher, the highest rank of the Outer Order. On Waites recommendation Aleister Crowley was included in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. In 1893 he left the Golden Dawn, but resigned in 1896 and again in 1899 received access to the Second Order.

In the quarrels in the Golden Dawn around 1900 Waite took the side of the rebel group, whose spokesman he was with the intent to take over the management of the whole Order. When this venture failed, Waite joined in 1903 from the Golden Dawn and founded with his group a separate organization, the Independent and Rectified Rite of the Golden Dawn, which rejected the most magical content of the original Order, order by christosophische considerations which he supplemented with Kabbalistic ideas to replace. With these works he intended the connection between the classical secret teachings and Christianity show. The remaining branch of the Golden Dawn was called under the direction Felkin henceforth Stella Matutina. In 1914 there were inconsistencies within Waites Order, so that Waite founded another order, the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, who led Waite until his death. This Order still exists today, however, is organized completely private and is not looking for new members. There is definitely no way similar to this Order Contact (April 2009) Pamela Colman Smith, together with Waite designed the now world famous tarot card deck; the Rider Waite deck, which was released in 1909. This Tarot is inspired by the hitherto quite unknown Sola - Busca Tarot, and as in this small Arcana is fully illustrated. The Rider Waite Tarot considered the most Tarot deck.

Between 1920 and 1921, designed Waite along with his collaborator John Brahms Trinick another Tarot, which was never published as a map set. He is "only" from 22 Major Arcana and is therefore not a complete Tarotset in the traditional sense. Poor quality b / w reproductions can be taken from the book "The History of the Occult Tarot " by Ron Decker and Michael Dummett ( 2002).

Works (selection)

  • Arthur Edward Waite 's Quest of the Golden Stairs. Kessinger Publication, 2003, ISBN 0-7661-4473-9.
  • Collected Poems of Arthur Edward Waite. Kessinger Publication, 2003, ISBN 0-7661-7676-2.
  • The Book of Ceremonial Magic: The Secret Tradition in Goetia, Including the Rites and Mysteries of Goetic Theurgy, Sorcery and Infernal Necromancy. 2005, ISBN 0-7103-1153-2.
  • Steps to the Crown. 2005, ISBN 0-7661-9135-4.
  • The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. Dover Publication, 2005, ISBN 0-486-44255-1.
  • Inner and Outer Order Initiations of the Holy Order of the Golden Dawn. Canada: Burnaby, 2005, ISBN 0-9735931-7-2.
  • Emblematic freemasonry and the evolution of its deeper issues. D. M'Kay ​​Co., Philadelphia, 1925.
  • The alchemical papers of Arthur Edward Waite. Nocalore Press, 1938 OCLC 27,153,506th

Pictures of A. E. Waite

20885
de