A. E. Waite
Arthur Edward Waite | |
---|---|
Rider–Waite tarot deck | |
Spouses | Ada Lakeman
(m. 1888; died 1924)Mary Broadbent Schofield
(m. 1933) |
Children | 1 daughter |
Arthur Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942) was a British poet and scholarly
He was a
He spent most of his life in or near London, connected to various publishing houses and editing a magazine, The Unknown World.
Early life and education
Arthur Edward Waite was born on 2 October 1857 in Brooklyn, New York, America, to unmarried parents.[2] Waite's father, Capt. Charles F. Waite, died at sea when Arthur was very young, and his widowed mother, Emma Lovell, returned to her home country of England, where he was then raised.[2] They were well enough off to educate Waite at a small private school in North London.
When he was 13, he was educated for two terms at St. Charles' College.
Career
Part of a series on the |
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn |
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Golden Dawn
Waite joined the Outer Order of the
in 1902.In 1903 Waite founded the Independent and Rectified Order R. R. et A. C. This Order was disbanded in 1914. The Golden Dawn was torn by internal feuding until Waite's departure in 1914; in July 1915 he formed the
Freemason
Waite was interested in the higher grades of Freemasonry and saw initiation into
Writer and scholar
Waite was a writer and many of his works were well received in the esoteric circles of his time, but his lack of academic training is visible in his limitations as a historian and in his belittling of other authors.[2]
He wrote texts on subjects including
Waite also wrote two allegorical fantasy novels, Prince Starbeam (1889) and The Quest of the Golden Stairs (1893), and edited Elfin Music, an anthology of poetry based on English fairy folklore.[11]
Tarot deck
Waite is best known for his involvement with the
Personal life
In 1888, he married Ada Lakeman (also called "Lucasta"), and they had one daughter, Sybil. From 1900 to 1909, Waite earned a living as a manager for Horlicks, the manufacturer of malted milk.[2]
Lucasta died in 1924.[2] In 1933, Waite married Mary Broadbent Schofield.[13]
In popular culture
H. P. Lovecraft's short story "The Thing on the Doorstep" includes a character named Ephraim Waite. According to Robert M. Price, this character was based on A. E. Waite.[14]
Works
- Waite, A. E. (1886a). Israfel: Letters, Visions and Poems. London: Allen.
- Waite, A. E. (1886b). The Mysteries of Magic: A Digest of the Writings of Eliphas Levi. London: George Redway.
- Waite, A. E. (1887). The Real History of the Rosicrucians. London.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Waite, A. E. (1888a). Alchemists Through the Ages.
- Waite, A. E. (1888b). Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers. London: George Redway.
- Waite, A. E. (1888c). Songs and Poems of Fairyland: An Anthology of English Fairy Poetry. London.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Waite, A. E. (1891). The Occult Sciences: A Compendium of Transcendental Doctrine and Experiment. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd.
- Waite, A. E. (1893). The Alchemical Writings of Edward Kelly. London.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Waite, A. E. (1896). Devil-Worship in France. London: George Redway.
- Waite, A. E. (1898). The Book of Black Magic and of Pacts.
- Waite, A. E. (1909). The Hidden Church of the Holy Grail.
- Waite, A. E. (1910). Steps to the Crown.
- Waite, A. E. (1911a). The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. London: William Ryder & Son, Ltd.
- Waite, A. E. (1911b). The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry. London: Rebman. Two volumes.
- Waite, A. E. (1912). The Book of Destiny and The Art of Reading Therein. London: William Rider & Son Ltd.
- Waite, A. E. (1913). The Book of Ceremonial Magic. London.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Waite, A. E. (1913). The Secret Doctrine in Israel A Study of the Zohar and Its Connections. London: William Rider & Son Limited.
- Waite, A. E. (1914). The collected poems of Arthur Edward Waite, in two volumes. London: William Rider & Son Ltd.
- Waite, A. E. (1916). The Unknown Philosopher The Life of Louis Claude de Saint-Martin and the Substance of His Transcendental Doctrine. London.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - Waite, A. E. (1921). A New Encyclopedia of Freemasonry.
- Waite, A. E. (1922). Saint-Martin: The French Mystic and the Story of Modern Martinism.
- Waite, A. E. (1924). The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross: Being Records of the House of the Holy Spirit in its Inward and Outward History. London: William Rider & Son Ltd.
- Waite, A. E. (1925). Emblematic Freemasonry and the Evolution of its Deeper Issues. London: William Rider & Son Limited.
- Waite, A. E. (1926). The Secret Tradition in Alchemy: Its Development and Records. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
- Waite, A. E. (1929). The Holy Kabbalah.
- Waite, A. E. (1933). The Holy Grail, Its Legends and Symbolism. Rider & Co, Ltd.
- Waite, A. E. (1938). Shadows of Life and Thought: A Retrospective Review in the Form of Memoirs. London: Selwyn and Blount.
Translations
- Jennis, Lucas (1893) [1625]. Musaeum Hermeticum [The Hermetic Museum]. Translated by A. E. Waite. London.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Two volumes. - Anonymous (1894) [c. 900]. Turba Philosophorum [Assembly of the Philosophers]. Translated by A. E. Waite.
- Petrus Bonus (1894) [c. 1330-1339]. Margarita Preciosa Novella [New Pearl of Great Price]. Translated by A. E. Waite. James Elliott and Co.
- Papus(1958). The Tarot of the Bohemians. Translated by A. E. Waite.
References
Citations
- ^ Gilbert (1987), p. 361.
- ^ a b c d e f g Gilbert (1986).
- ^ Gilbert (1986), fn. 4.
- ^ Caleb (2007), p. 316 n. 2.
- ^ King (1989), p. 52.
- ^ Anon (n.d.).
- ^ Prosser (2004).
- ^ Howe (1972), p. [page needed].
- ^ Waite (1938), p. [page needed].
- ^ Gilbert (1987), p. [page needed].
- ^ Stableford (2009), pp. 420–21.
- ^ Waite (1911a).
- ^ Graham (2018), Timeline.
- ^ Price (1995), p. vi.
Works cited
- Anon (n.d.). "Arthur E. Waite". Freemasonry.bcy.ca. Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- Caleb, Amanda Mordavsky, ed. (2007). (Re)creating Science in Nineteenth-century Britain. Cambridge Scholars Pub. ISBN 978-1847182203.
- Gilbert, R. A. (1986). "The Masonic Career of A. E. Waite". Ars Quatuor Coronatorum. 99. Archived from the original on 5 September 2010. Retrieved 23 May 2010 – via MasterMason.com.
- Gilbert, R. A. (1987). A. E. Waite: Magician of Many Parts (1st ed.). Wellingborough, Northamptonshire: Crucible. ISBN 185274023X.
- Graham, Sasha (2018). Llewellyn's Complete Book of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot: A Journey Through the History, Meaning, and Use of the World's Most Famous Deck. ISBN 978-0738753195.
- Howe, Ellic (1972). The Magicians of the Golden Dawn. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
- ISBN 978-1853270321.
- Price, Robert M., ed. (1995). The Azathoth Cycle: Tales of the Blind Idiot God. Oakland, California: Chaosium. ISBN 978-1-56882-040-8.
- Prosser, Lee (6 April 2004). "Arthur Edward Waite". Ghostvillage.com. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
- ISBN 978-0-8108-6829-8.
Further reading
- Gilbert, R. A. (1987b). The One Deep Student, a life of Arthur Edward Waite. Wellingborough.
External links
- Short Biography
- Works by Arthur Edward Waite at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about A. E. Waite at Internet Archive
- Works by A. E. Waite at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Works by Arthur Edward Waite at sacred-texts.com (plain text and HTML)
- Arthur Edward Waite at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Arthur Edward Waite at Library of Congress, with 97 library catalogue records
- Media related to Arthur Edward Waite at Wikimedia Commons
- Quotations related to A. E. Waite at Wikiquote
- Fellowship of the Rosy Cross