The book of ceremonial magic: The secret tradition of Goëtia, including the rites and mysteries of Goëtic theory, sorcery and infernal necromancy, illustrated - Hardcover

Waite, Arthur Edward

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1566196442 ISBN 13: 9781566196444

Publisher: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997

Synopsis

Arthur Edward Waite (1857 - 1942) was a scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. As his biographer, R.A. Gilbert described him, "Waite's name has survived because he was the first to attempt a systematic study of the history of western occultism - viewed as a spiritual tradition rather than as aspects of proto-science or as the pathology of religion.Waite was born in the United States. His father, Capt. Waite, died when he was at a very young age, and his widowed mother, Emma Lovell, returned to her home country of England, where he was then raised. He was educated at aprivate school in London. When 13, he went to St. Charles' College. He left school to become a clerk he wrote verse in his spare time. The death of his sister in 1874 attracted him into psychical research. At 21 he began to read regularly in the Library of the British Museum, studying many branches of esotericism. When he was almost 30, he married. He spent most of his life in or near London, connected to various publishing houses, and editing a magazine The Unknown World. He joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in January 1891 after being introduced by E.W. Berridge. He became a Freemason in 1901, and entered the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia in 1902. The Golden Dawn was torn by further internal feuding until Waite's departure in 1914. Later he formed the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, not to be confused with the Societas Rosicruciana. By that time there existed some half-dozen offshoots from the original Golden Dawn, and as a whole it never recovered. Aleister Crowley, foe of Waite, referred to him as a villainous Arthwate in his novel Moonchild and referred to him in his magazine

About this edition

• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Books
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 1566196442
• ISBN 13: 9781566196444
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336