Spotlight Richard Mason: Arthur Edward Waite & the 'Trinick-Pippet' Tarot

Richard Mason returns to discuss A.E. Waite's order, The Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, and the special tarot deck developed for private use in rituals. Waite formed the order in 1915 (during WW1) and enlisted the help of artists and a financial backer to create the tarot 'deck,' that is now housed in the British Museum. Notable in the artwork is the shift from 'magic' to 'mysticism', and this artwork reflects Waite's strong views of a 'secret tradition' - a blend of Christianity with various esoteric concepts. 

Note of Clarification: 'W.M. Yeats' is incorrect; W.B. Yeats was intended during conversation; The master album of the Trinick-Pippet drawings are located at the British Museum (not the British Library). 

Thanks to Richard Mason for generously providing the images used in this video. 

PROGRAM NOTES 

Contact Richard Mason: [email protected] 

Primary Sources: 
-Myer, Isaac, Qabbalah. The Philosophical Writings of Solomon Ben Yehuda Ibn Gebirol or Avicebron, and their connection with the Hebrew Qabbalah and Sepher ha-Zohar (1888) 
-Encausse, Gérard, Qabalah: The Secret Tradition of the West (1892) 
-Édouard E., Blitz, Treatise on The Great Art: A System of Physics According to Hermetic Philosophy and Theory and Practice of the Magisterium (1898) 
-A. E. Waite’s occult journal The Unknown World (1894-95) 
-Waite, A. E., Azoth, or The Star in the East (1893) 
  -The Doctrine and Literature of Kabbalah (1899/1902) 
  -Steps to the Crown (1907) 
  -The Hidden Church of the Holy Grail (1909) 
  -The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry (1911) 
  -The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross (1924) 
  -The Holy Grail its Legends and Symbolism (1933) 
  -The Secret Tradition in Freemasonry (volume II) (1936) 

Secondary Sources: 
-Gilbert, R. A., A. E. Waite: A Bibliography, (1983) 
-Gilbert, R. A., A. E. Waite: Magician of Many Parts, (1987) 
-Hanegraaff, Wouter, “The Mysteries of Sex in the House of the Hidden Light: A. E. Waite and Kabbalah” (2018) 
-Ferguson, Christine, Reading with the Occultists: Arthur Machen and A. E. Waite and the Ecstasies of Popular Fiction (2016) 
-Parisious, Roger, Figures in a Dance: The Rider-Waite Tarot, (1987) 
-Roukema, Aren, Esotericism and Narrative: The Occult Fiction in Charles Williams Fiction, (2018) 
-Südekum, Stuart, “The Secret Tradition of Silence” (2014) 
-Südekum, Stuart, Drinking from the Haunted Well: A mystical exploration in the Fairy Land of A. E. Waite, (2014) 
-Seidmann, Gertrud, The Rev. Greville John Chester and ‘The Ashmolean Museum as a Home for Archaeology in Oxford’. Bulletin of the History of Archaeology, 16(1), (2006), pp.27–33. 

Theme Music: Stephanie Shea