The Cloud upon the Sanctuary by Karl von Eckartshausen (28 June 1752–12 May 1803) was a German Catholic philosophical mystic best known in English for this work, given a high status in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, particularly by Arthur Edward Waite. It attracted Aleister Crowley, the founder of Thelema, to the GD.
Eckartshausen joined the order of the Illuminati founded by Adam Weishaupt, but "withdrew his membership soon after discovering that this order only recognized enlightenment through human reason" Eckartshausen experimented with magic lanterns (an early form of phantasmagoria) to create "ghost projections" in front of an audience of four or five people.
The
Hermetic and Rosicrucian Mystery by Arthur Edward Waite
Scanned from the original publication, the periodical "Occult
Review", vol. 8, no. 4, Oct. 1908. Formatted and corrected by hand,
Sept. 2002.
This article will offer important clues to the
Rosicrucian symbolism in Waite-Trinick Tarot.
Translating the Latin:
Vel sanctum invenit, vel sanctvm facit; The Holy makes as the
Holy acts.
Quod semper, quod ubique, quod ab omnibus; That always true, that everywhere, that from all.
Credo in unum Deum; I believe in one God.
unam sanctum catholicam et apostolicam ecclesiam; one holy catholic and apostolic church.
panis quotidianis; of daily bread; panis virus et vitalis; and the salty Bread of Life;
lusus puerorum; child's play; facilis ascensus superno, an easy supernatural ascent.
lapis qui non lapis, lapis tingens, lapis angularis, lapis qui multiplicetur, lapis per quem justus aedificabit domum Domini, et jam valde aedificatur et terram possidebit, per omnia
etc.
the stone which was not a stone, a stone contingent, the corner-stone, the stone which was multiplied, just build a stone house of the Lord by whom, and now very built up and possess the land, in all things.
Est in Mercurio quicquid quaerunt sapientes; There is in Mercury whatever wise men seek.
Laborare ese orare: prayer is work
Et antiquum documentum
Novo cedat ritui:Praestet fides supplementum Sensuum defectui.
Ancient document New rite yields: Afford to reinforce the faith of Where the feeble senses fail.
Est una sola res; There is only one thing.
The Way of
Divine Union by Arthur Edward Waite
This is a central source for guessing what Waite's system of the
illuminative might be about. I suggest also consulting Evelyn
Underhill two works also for same issues.
In April 1987, R.A. Gilbert introduced Roger Parisious, at the Golden Dawn conference as the General Secretary of the Theosophical Society of Ireland and the archivist of the manuscripts of W.B. Yeats, At this conference Mr. Parisious gave a monumental lecture entitled Figures in a Dance: W.B. Yeats and The Waite-Rider Tarot. It was at this lecture that Kuntz the editor of this compendium of Waite’s writings on tarot, first learned of A.E. Waite's system of the Golden Dawn Tarot, which Kuntz’s has termed The Great Dance of the Royal Figures. The ideas that are presented in this book are based upon Mr. Parisious’s lecture. This book should be considered as introductory and further research will be required by the student. The bibliography contains the important sources for that research.
Mysticism: A Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness by Evelyn UnderhillThe 32 Paths of Wisdom
by Rawn Clark, Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition, No. 3,
Vol 1. Autumnal Equinox 2002
At the heart of the Western understanding of the Tree of Life, is
the little document titled "The 32 Paths of Wisdom". Usually, this
document accompanies the English editions of the "Sepher Yetzirah"
and is seen as an explanation or clarification of the S.Y. However,
the concept of 32 Paths of Wisdom stems, not from the S.Y., but from
the Torah, Genesis, Chapter One. Furthermore, the document "32 Paths
of Wisdom" comes to us from the late 13th Century, C.E. - centuries
before the advent of the Western image of the Tree.
The Tree of Life: Filing Cabinet of the Western Mystery Tradition and Methods to Recall the Information by Samuel Scarborough, Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition, No. 3, Vol 1. Autumnal Equinox 2002
The Tree of Life, one of the most recognized symbols of the Western Mystery Tradition is more than just a symbol or graph to understand the Divine Emanations that created the universe in Kabbalistic thought. The Tree is used as a means to place the various Divine Names, planets, Archangels, Angels, and metals in a logical order so that we as magicians can understand the universe around us. Most of us have looked at the information that is ascribed to each of the sephiroth of the Tree of Life and thought what a daunting task it is to learn all that information, and many of the beginning magicians are frustrated with trying to remember which of the sephiroth relates to the Archangel Raphael lapr and which relates to the Sun.
Genre as Argument in the Sefer Yetsirah: A New Look at Its Literary Structure by Marla Segol from Journal of the American Academy of Religion, December 2011, Vol. 79, No. 4, pp. 961–990; © The Author 2011. The Sefer Yetsirah, the Book of Creation, is a cosmogonic work, narrating the creation of the world with the ten sefirot and the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The text is semantically difficult, its reception is varied, and its structure is poorly understood. Various commentators have made competing claims about the nature of the Sefer Yetsirah. Some say it is practical, or theosophical, while others believe it to be a work of philosophy. I propose that there is a discernible pattern in its organization which is key to understanding its meaning and function. This pattern is a ring composition, a form commonly used in the Hebrew Bible and in late antique and early medieval works. The ring-composition form highlights passages that emphasize the practical application of the Sefer Yetsirah. Its generic form is just as important as its words in conveying meaning. With the aid of formal analysis, it is possible to better understand the meaning and function of the text, as well as the history of its reception.
Plotinus' On Intellectual Beauty is an excerpt of both tandard English translations. Important description of Plotinus's own experience and nature of images in Egyptian temples.
GIORDANO BRUNO AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION by FRANCES A. YATES 1964
A wonderful, readable classic, still one of the best introductions
to magic in the Renaissance
This book emphasises the primary importance of Hermetism in
Renaissance thought. The Hermetic treatises were believed to be by
an ancient Egyptian, prophet of Christianity; these associations
strengthened their enormous impact on Ficino and the Neoplatonic
movement.
Pico ella Mirandola yoked Hermetism with Cabalism and the Hermetic-Cabalist tradition continued as an "occult philosophy" both magical and mystical.
Giordano Bruno is here for the first time placed within the context of this tradition of which he represents an original variation. He emerges as a Hermetic philosopher and magician with an unorthodox religious message. Even his support of Copernican heliocentricity is associated with Ficino's solar magic. This revolutionary reinterpretation profoundly affects our understanding of Bruno and of his death at the stake.
The Hermetic tradition is followed beyond the death of Bruno into the seventeenth century, particularly in Campanella. The correct dating in 1614 of the Hermetic treatises marked the end of the dominance of Hermetism though it continued to exert a hidden influence.
The controversies of Fludd with Mersenne and Kepler are seen as a conflict between a late revival of the Hermetic-Cabalist tradition and the seventeenth-century scientific movement.
RRenaissance Hermetism stimulated new attitudes towards the cosmos and towards operating with cosmic forces. It affected the religious issues, making towards toleration; Bruno's message on its religious side was a variant of the religious Hermetism widespread in the sixteenth century. His use of magically significant imagery and language raises the question of his influence on the poets of the English Renaissance
THE ART OF
MEMORY by FRANCES A.YATES 1966
“Few people know that the Greeks, who invented many arts,
invented an art of memory which, like their other arts, was passed
on to Rome whence it descended in the European tradition. This art
seeks to memorise through a technique of impressing 'places' and
'images' on memory. It has usually been classed as 'mnemotechnics',
which in modern times seems a rather unimportant branch of human
activity. But in the ages before printing a trained memory was
vitally important; and the manipulation of images in memory must
always to some extent involve the psyche as a whole. Moreover an art
which uses contemporary architecture for its memory places and
contemporary imagery for its images will have its classical, Gothic,
and Renaissance periods, like the other arts. Though the
mnemotechnical side of the art is always present, both in antiquity
and thereafter, and forms the factual basis for its investigation,
the exploration of it must include more than the history of its
techniques. Mnemosyne, said the Greeks, is the mother of the Muses;
the history of the training of this most fundamental and elusive of
human powers will plunge us into deep waters.”
(please download file rather than try to listen to it as streaming)
See digital images of the Waite-Trinick Tarot from the British Museum Research website where one can download for one's own personal study all 43 images.
For access to study material see annotated study Guide
Handouts:
Golden Dawn Major Arcana as Drawn by Wang under the direction of Regardie