THE ARCANE ARCHIVE
	a cache of usenet and other text files pertaining to occult, mystical, and spiritual subjects.

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.tarot,alt.magick,alt.divination.alt.pagan.magick
From: nagasiva 
Subject: Guide to Waite's Pictorial Key
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2004 06:51:02 GMT

# 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