Posts Tagged ‘Tarot’
Rider-Waite tarot deck
November 17th, 2009 | 
Author: Psychic
Author: Psychic
Rider-Waite tarot deck
The Rider-Waite tarot deck is the most popular Tarot deck in use today in the English-speaking world between the real psychic readers. The Tarot de Marseille being the most popular deck in the Latin countries. Over the years it has also been known as the Rider-Waite-Smith, Waite-Smith, Waite-Colman Smith or simply the Rider deck.
The images were drawn by artist Pamela Colman Smith, to the instructions of academic and mystic Edward Waite, and published by the Rider Company. While the images are deceptively simple, almost child-like, the details and backgrounds hold a wealth of symbolism. The subjects remain close to the earliest decks, but usually have added details. Significantly, Waite had the Christian imagery of older tarot decks cards toned down—the Pope card became the Hierophant, the Popess became the High Priestess.
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A master of the Tarot
November 10th, 2009 |
Author: Psychic
Author: Psychic
A British scholar and historian of occultism and mysticism. Waite was born on October 2, 1857, in Brooklyn, New York, and brought to London, England, by his family when he was an infant. He was educated in Roman Catholic schools. As a boy, he cherished an affection for “penny dreadfuls,” the romantic popular pulp literature of the day.
Waite grew up during the first European renaissance of occultism which stretched from the end of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of World War I, and his personal friends included Arthur Machen, William Butler Yeats and Aleister Crowley.
For some twenty years he edited anonymously its monthly “Re-view of Periodical Literature.” During this period he acquired a knowledge of the major current developments in occultism all over the world.
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The Tarot and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
November 2nd, 2009 |
Author: Psychic
Author: Psychic
One must now digress into the history of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the British society reconstituted by Dr. Westcott and his colleagues, in order to show further evidence as to the authenticity of the claim of the promulgators of the cipher manuscript.
Among these papers, besides the attribution of the Tarot, were certain skeleton rituals, which purported to contain the secrets of initiation; the name (with an address in Germany) of a Fraülein Sprengel was mentioned as the issuing authority. Dr. Westcott wrote to her; and, with her permission, the Order of the Golden Dawn was founded in 1886.
(The G .’. D .’. is merely a name for the Outer or Preliminary Order of the R.R. et A.C., which is in its turn an external manifestation of the A .’. A.’. which is the true Order of Masters—See Magick, pp.229-244.) [An impudent mushroom swindle, calling itself "Order of Hidden Masters", has recently appeared---and disappeared.]
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