Path: typhoon.sonic.net!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.tarot,alt.magick,alt.divination.alt.pagan.magick Subject: Guide to Waite's Pictorial Key From: nagasiva Reply-To: spam@luckymojo.com User-Agent: nn/6.6.0 Lines: 353 Message-ID: Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2004 06:51:02 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 208.201.242.18 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sonic.net X-Trace: typhoon.sonic.net 1073199062 208.201.242.18 (Sat, 03 Jan 2004 22:51:02 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 03 Jan 2004 22:51:02 PST Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick.tyagi:43965 alt.tarot:121013 alt.magick:363586 Orig-To: TarotL@yahoogroups.com # I already know of the existence of the "pictorial key", # [b]ut it seems from reviews I've read it's purposedly # obscure and not THAT useful. that's false, depending on what you're looking for. :> the book by the designer of a deck about which one is seeking information is usually the *first* that one should consult as regards its intended meaning. I've just completed a fairly detailed review of this book and am prepared to offer below an enhanced Table of Contents and preliminary Index for the purpose of those seeking to use the book as some kind of reference, rather than reading it straight through. for years that's precisely how I consulted this book: just referring to its expression on cards, flipping through to see what was said about the Majors or Minors as they entered into a reading. now that I'm more interested in the details beyond the deck, I am confident that Waite has here, perhaps supplementing his text in "Tarot of the Bohemians" by Papus, or in his "Manual of Cartomancy" under the name of 'Grand Orient' (to which he refers many times, never revealing that it was actually he that wrote it), put into words what he thought essential about Tarot. I'd also like to say a few things in reflection of the concept of the 'Secret Doctrine', about which some exchanges have taken place in this forum and have helpfully been compiled and edited, added to the file section. perhaps this prove to be a fruitful contribution to that discussion. ================================================================== --------------- Secret Doctrine --------------- a pictorial key? ----------------------------------------------------------------- I. THE VEIL & READER ITS SYMBOLS MEANING ----------------------------------------------------------------- |H i| III. |s II. Outer Method t| (Secret) of |o Doctrine Oracles r| |i Behind the Veil (divinatory c| meanings) | (trumps and c| meaning) |a r| |d s| ----------------------------------------------------------------- Illustration 1. -- The Picture Waite Portrays in His Key Book ----------------------------------------------------------------- by virtue of Waite's Preface and the content of this book in its portions, it is easily possible to derive greater meaning from its particulars in the construction of Illustration 1 above, implying the means by which the Secret Doctrine might be obtained, and how the Tarot itself constitutes a Key to an encounter with this Doctrine Behind the Veil. Parts I, II, and III are the three parts of PKT, beginning with the historic cards from games to today, moving on to the Secret Doctrine behind the Veil expressed within his deck with Pamela Colman Smith, and proceeding to the divinatory meanings Waite supposedly found so distasteful. within Part II, therefore, we may find the explanation as to what the Secret Doctrine consists and how it relates to the rest of the cosmos. Waite describes therein qualities which may be attributed to the Secret Doctrine, in that it: * is universal * has always existed * was perpetually secret * was recorded in secret literatures (particularly: a) Alchemy (esp. its emblematic pictures); b) Kabalism [sic]; c) Rosicrucian Mysteries; and d) Craft Masonry). he states further: Behind the Secret Doctrine it is held that there is an experience or practice by which the Doctrine is justified. and ...it is the presentation of universal ideas [of which Tarot is a particular emblematic presentation] by means of universal types [of presentation, exemplified by Alchemy, Kabalism, Astrology, or Ceremonial Magic] and it is in the combination of these types -- if anywhere -- that it presents Secret Doctrine. -------------------------------------------------------- "The Pictorial Key to the Tarot", A.E. Waite, U.S. Games, Inc., 1971; pages 60, 62. ================================================================== ----------------------- Expanded Contents Table ----------------------- Preface An explanation of the personal kind; An illustration from mystic literature; A subject which calls to be rescued; Limits and intention of the work. PART I -- THE VEIL AND ITS SYMBOLS The antiquities of the subject and a few things that arise from and connect therewith. 1 -- Introductory and General. 2 -- Class I. The Trumps Major, otherwise Greater Arcana. 3 -- Class II. The Four Suits, otherwise Lesser Arcana. 4 -- The Tarot in History. A. The Cards in Their History. 1. Introduction. 2. Baldini (Pseudo-Mantegna). 3. Gringonneur. 4. Minchiate. 5. Bolognese. 6. Sources. 7. Conclusion. B. The Speculative Aspects. 1. Court de Gebelin. 2. Alliette. 3. Eliphas Levi. 4. Conclusion. PART II -- THE DOCTRINE BEHIND THE VEIL The symbolism according to its higher aspects and introduction to the complete and rectified Tarot. 1 -- The Tarot and Secret Tradition. 2 -- The Trumps Major and their Inner Symbolism. 3 -- Conclusions as to the Greater Keys. PART III -- THE OUTER METHOD OF THE ORACLES A harmony of the meanings which have been attached to the various cards, and one method of working that has not been published previously. 1 -- Distinction between the Greater and Lesser Arcana. 2 -- The Lesser Arcana, otherwise, the Four Suits of Tarot Cards. A. The Suit of Wands. B. The Suit of Cups. C. The Suit of Swords. D. The Suit of Pentacles. 3 -- The Greater Arcana and their Divinatory Meanings. 4 -- Some Additional Meanings of the Lesser Arcana. 5 -- The Recurrence of Cards in Dealing. 6 -- The Art of Tarot Divination. 7 -- An Ancient Celtic Method of Divination. 8 -- An Alternative Method of Reading the Tarot Cards. 9 -- The Method of Reading by Means of Thirty-five Cards. BIBLIOGRAPHY ================================================================== Index For Non-Divinatory Concepts and Card Cross-Reference ---------------------------------------------------------- Being a list of references not contained in the relevant section above and constituting additional reference. Ace of Cups (card) 9. Albigensians 8-11. Alphabets 29. Aroux (Eugene) 8. Astraea 21. Baldini (deck) 35, 37. Bayley (Harold) 8. Boiteau (B.R.P. d'Ambly) 52. Book of Lambspring 61. Book of Thoth (Tarot; an emblematic device) 60. Bourgeat (M.) 28. Burns (Robert) 68. Card Symbolism (general) vi, vii, 4, 5. Cartomancy vii. Charlatanism 7, 53. Chatto (W.A.) 51, 67. Chemical Marriage vi. Christian (Paul) 31. Cooper-Oakley 8. Crown 23. Cupid 15, 22. De Gebelin (A.C.) 9, 16, 22, 26, 27, 29, 43ff. Divination vii, ix, 17, 42, 44, 64, 294. Divine Law 13. Divine Unity 12. Divine World 63. Duchesne 51. Elixir 61. Emperor (trump) 13, 45. Etteilla (Alliette) 9, 27, 28, 30, 48, *49*. Fortune-Telling v, 5, 12, 17, 20, 23, 44, 50, 65, 66, 167, 294. Gipsies 52, 54-5. Gnosis 13. Gnosticism (Christian) 10. Graal (Holy) 10. Greater Symbols (trumps) 6, 9, 17. Hermanubis 21. Hierophant (Pope, trump) 8, 31. High Priestess (trump) 8, 14, 44, 45-6. House of God vi, 26. House of Gold 18. Isis 27. Justice (trump) 16, 18. King 15, 24, 31. King of Heaven vi. Lamp 22. Laws of Grace vi. Lenormand (Mlle.) 48. Levi (Eliphas) 12, 17, 23, 25, 28, 30, 31. Light of Occult Science 17. Mangetus 60. Manichaeanism 11. Mantegna (Andrea) 35-7. Manual of Cartomancy (by AEW) 20, 64, 155. Marseille (deck) 9. Masonry 21. Mathers (S.L.M.) 62-3. Merlin (Romain) 37, 54. Microcosm/Macrocosm 63-4. Minor Arcana (general) 69. Moon (trump) 45. Mutus Liber 60. Mysteries (The) 4, 5, 13, 21, 61. Mystic Quest 67. Mystic Schools v. New Light on the Renaissance (by Bayley) 8, 10. Occult Arts vi, 3. Occultism Schools viii, 34, 44. Orsini (Julia, 'The Queen of Cups') 48. Osiris 16. Papus 25, 28, 31, 49, 63, 71. Peter 31. Playing Cards viii. Pope (Hierophant, trump) 8, 31. Rescuing Tarot vii. Rosetti (Gabriele) 8. Rule of Silence viii. Sceptre 25. Secret Orders vi, 6 Secret Place of Transmutation vi. Secret Science of Symbolism 12. Secret Tradition 5, 6, 13, 68. Sequence (trumps) 65. Shekinah 13. Singer (Samuel Weller) 51. Sirius (Dog Star) 27. Smith (Pamela Colman) 67. Solomon's Temple 26. Sons of the Doctrine 5. Sphinx 21. Star (trump) 45. Tarot (word) 46. Tarot History viii, 7, 11. Tarot of the Bohemians (by Papus) 6, 24, 34, 43, 63, 166, 298. Tarot Origins 7. Tower (trump) 8, 18, 27. Trappola (deck) 51. Typhon 21. Vaillant (J.A.) 54. Virtues 17-19. Wand 17, 21, 30. Wisdom of God vii. ================================================================== Major Errors in The Pictorial Key to the Tarot ----------------------------------------------- page 32 the historical suit correlates are incorrect; they should be: Wands => Clubs Cups => Hearts Swords => Spades Pentacles => Diamonds page 36 "conditions of life" s/b "System of the Heavens" ================================================================== END