A number of histories have been written to
clarify the people and events connected to the founding of the Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn, the most familiar of this century's Secret
Societies and source of most of the Tarot decks sold today.
One of the best of these written works is Mary K. Greer's "The Women
of the Golden Dawn," which not only chronicles the well-documented
events that attended its founding, existence and eventual collapse,
but also examines the role of powerful and magical women who were
neglected in previous treatments of the subject.
From personal experience, I know Ms. Greer to be a scholar and a
gentlewoman who is evenhanded to the extreme. Most of her published
work has been either about the Order or the Tarot decks that have
emanated from it, yet she retains her objectivity about their place
in the history of Tarot. So it was to her book that I turned first
in order to gain an overview of the events that created, and later
destroyed, this association of talented, inspired, highly educated
occultists who changed the face of Tarot for the twentieth century.
That said, I must add that I can present these events with only
a fraction of Mary Greer's understanding. My primary focus for this
website has been on the ancient Mysteries that Tarot preserves.
Therefore, I will leave any more in-depth review of modern Tarots
to future projects, where they can be given their due.
The goal of this essay is only to relate in the simplest terms those
portions of Golden Dawn history that pertain to that group's treatment
of the Tarot Arcana and their body of correspon-dences to the Hebrew
letters, astrology, numbers, paths, angels and the rest of the panoply
of Mystery School tradition inherited from our ancient and Renaissance
esoteric ancestors. A curious person can reference numerous sources
to find a fuller treatment of these fascinating artists, magicians
and scholars and their tumultuous times. The bibliography of Women
of the Golden Dawn makes an excellent starting point for your research.
Eliphas Levi made quite an impression on the
English Rosicrucians in 1853 when he visited Rosicrucian friends
in London. One of those friends, Fred Hockley, decided to send his
young apprentice, Kenneth R.H. MacKenzie, to visit Levi in Paris
and find out more on the state of Levi's research into the mysteries
of the Tarot. The two men visited several times over the course
of a few days in the winter of 1861, and MacKenzie took copious
notes.
Four years later in England, a Rosicrucian group was formed called
the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, and it was made up of master
Masons only. Kenneth R.H. MacKenzie was one of its earliest members,
along with the Rev. A.F.A. Woodford (co-compiler with MacKenzie
of the Masonic Cyclopedia published in 1887), W. Wynn Wescott and
S.L. MacGregor Mathers. Twenty years later, this same group (minus
Woodford) were still associates, between them founding the Golden
Dawn.
Even in these early years before the Golden Dawn, MacKenzie was
fascinated with Eliphas Levi, so when he went on that visit to Paris
in 1861 he made every effort to cultivate a personal relationship
with Levi despite their language barrier. In the detailed notes
he kept about their meetings, he enthused that theirs was a profound
meeting of occult minds and that they shared ideas and compared
experiences like old friends. A decade later he published an article
about their meeting in the Rosicrucian, the short-lived magazine
of the Societas Rosicruciana, describing a number of the subjects
they had covered in their wide-ranging discussions.
This meeting had taken place before any of Levi's work had been
translated into English, so MacKenzie was in effect helping the
English Masons and Rosicrucians "discover" the important contributions
that Levi was making through his publishing and teaching in France.
At the point the article was published, Levi had been the Supreme
Grand Master of the Fraternitas Rosae Crucis of Europe (with the
exception of England) for over sixteen years already, and was to
hold the position for two more years until his death.
Because of their imperfect French/English communications (neither
spoke each other's language), the exchange was bound to be a bit
inexact. MacKenzie, well-known as a creative ritualist and connoisseur
of magical codes and cyphers, had wanted to show Levi some correspondences
he had worked out for the links between Tarot and the Christian
Cabbalah. It is not entirely clear whether Levi was responsive to
these ideas or not because the only version of events ever reported
was MacKenzie's.
For whatever reason, somewhere in the decade between the meeting
and the publication of his article MacKenzie conceived the idea
that Levi had intentionally "blinded" the astro-alphanumeric correspondences
he used when talking about the Major Arcana of Tarot in his books.
This is actually true of Etteilla, an earlier member of Levi's esoteric
"lineage" in France, so perhaps this seemed a logical assumption
at the time.
But in truth, as we have shown in other chapters, Levi was faithfully
reporting the correspondences as they had come down through the
Hermetic/Alexandrian writers of the first and second centuries AD,
which then were picked up by the Renaissance magi during the Hermetic
Revival. Levi did insert one correction into the ancient pattern
of correspondences, but it was subtle and did not change the ancient
number/letter connections, only two Arcana that were switched between
the last two letter/numbers (see "The Continental Tarots").
Recalling that MacKenzie, Wescott and Mathers
were lodge members in the Societas for years before the Golden Dawn
was ever conceived, we probably can assume that they would talk
to each other about their studies and their personal spiritual work.
It is through this friendly association that Wescott learned of
MacKenzie's project of "adjusting" the system that Levi had taught.
Eventually MacKenzie's adjustment blossomed into an entire system
of his own, but in his lifetime he never shared the details with
Wescott and Mathers. It came into their hands only after MacKenzie
died in 1886, when his impovershed widow was forced to sell the
manuscript to Wescott.
The official story goes that in 1885, after the death of Fred Hockley,
MacKenzie's mentor, a "cypher manuscript" was "discovered" among
his personal effects. Because Hockley, the man who first introduced
MacKenzie and Levi, was an avid collector of ancient magical texts,
the Golden Dawn founders were able to claim they had discovered
a cache of esoteric rituals and teachings that seemed ancient, authentic
and more accurate than those of the French lodges. Among the papers
was found a set of astro-alphanumeric correspondences that appeared
to them to correct the "blind" they felt existed in Levi's work.
Three years passed between the "discovery" of the cypher manuscript
and the founding of the Order of the Golden Dawn. Ostensibly, in
that interval they were translating the manuscript, deducing that
it described the workings of a German lodge, gaining permission
to convene an English branch of this lodge, and fleshing out the
quasi-Masonic rituals for their own use. The first lodge of the
new order was founded March 1, 1888.
Let us remember what Dr. Keizer mentions in his essay "The Esoteric
Origins of the Tarot": "The synthesis they created for the Golden
Dawn rituals combined Rosicrucian and Christian Cabbalistic doctrine
with the kind of layout used on a Masonic floor. The floor and officers
represented Sephiroth, and initiation from 0=0 to 5=6 represented
the upward ascent from Malkuth to Tiphareth." If we review the essay
"The Confluence of the Ancient Systems," we can see what a challenging
and sophisticated task they set themselves to.
Occult scholar R.A. Gilbert eventually managed
to see through this myth of origins, revealing that MacKenzie (possibly
with the aid of his old friend the Rev. A.F.A. Woodford) had superimposed
the new correspondences onto the Renaissance Christian Cabbalah
model (see "Kabbalah/Cabbalah") in such a way that they could present
the "correction" as another historical tradition. Then, when it
came into the hands of Wescott and Mathers, it was fleshed out into
an entire lodge and grade system based upon the new correspondences.
In this way, their new Secret Society had genuine traditional-seeming
secrets of its own.
The deception was revealed to the rest of the members of the Order
of the Golden Dawn in 1900, upon the appearance of an American woman
calling herself "Madame Horos." She was passing herself off as the
fabled German source of the cypher manuscript, the woman who had
supposedly obtained for Wescott and Mathers the charter for their
English lodge. Madame Horos presented herself to MacGregor Mathers
as having come to help them with their "Isis movement" (the mother
lodge of the Golden Dawn was called the Isis-Urania Temple). He
formally introduced her to his group, the Ahathoor Lodge, as the
very woman who had been their contact with the original German lodge.
It is not at all clear why he would do such a thing, as subsequent
events show that he knew she was a fraud. The very day that Madame
Horos was intro duced to his group, Mathers wrote a letter to Florence
Farr, one of the most active of the founding women of the Golden
Dawn, denouncing Wescott and calling into question Wescott's avowed
connection with the Secret Chiefs of the order. Mathers was clearly
rattled, angry and feeling betrayed by the appearance of the impostor
Madame Horos, as well as by internal difficulties that were threatening
to break up his lodge from within. In the state of mind he found
himself in that day, he must have felt he had nothing to lose. Upon
receiving this devastating news, Flo-rence Farr, who was a scrupulously
honest soul, meditated on what to do. She formed a seven-member
committee to investigate the matter. Together they wrote a letter
to Mathers asking him to either prove or disprove these very serious
allegations. He refused to answer any questions, pro or con, and
dismissed Florence summarily from the Order.
Over the next few years, amidst much acrimony, the Golden Dawn flew
into fragments, with each founder accusing the other of intellectual
dishonesty of various kinds. MacGregor and his wife Moina Mathers
were expelled from the Golden Dawn, Florence eventually resigned,
and the movement, so illustrious at the outset, became principally
a legend in its own time.
Twelve years after the dissolving of the original lodge, Aleister
Crowley, himself a member, published the Golden Dawn astro-alphanumeric
correspondences along with their grade rituals and other materials
that had previously been kept private. People have responded warmly
to the system as set forth by Crowley, so it has continued in use
and has spread around the world.
The eighteen-year life span of the Golden Dawn
is merely a passing hour in relation to the history of Tarot. But
in this case, it was a very significant hour. The effort the Golden
Dawn undertook to create the impression of having an authentic body
of teachings and practices was so convincing and so thorough that
they singlehandedly managed to call into question the veracity of
the two previous centuries of esoteric scholarship.
How were they able to so convincingly package their version as part
of the historical record? For one thing, parts of the cypher manuscript
were inscribed upon antique paper, giving it the right look of venerability.
Also, its creator used a great deal of the older Christian Cabbalah
paradigm that had been inherited from the Renaissance magi and the
first and second century Hermeticists. In all honesty, however,
the changes the Golden Dawn founders and followers instituted upon
the Renaissance model rendered it no longer either Christian or
Cabbalah (see "Kabbalah/ Cabbalah").
The main method used by English esotericists
to insert their new version into the historical record was to become
the primary translators of Eliphas Levi's works into English. In
this way they were able to carefully craft footnotes and explanatory
insertions into his works, thereby casting doubt upon Levi when
his teachings diverged too far from those that the Golden Dawn was
promoting. For example, the preface to the second edition of The
Mysteries of Magic, a digest of the writings of Eliphas Levi collected
by Waite, illustrates the typical commentary laced all through this
compilation (available through Kessinger Publishing Co. in Kila,
Mont.).
In his preface, Waite justifies the new ordering he has imposed
upon Levi's writings. Waite abandoned the one-chapter-per-Arcanum
structure which Levi favored in his magical writings, and which
Levi's students felt "cast great light upon the mysteries of magical
interpretation." Waite counters with these remarks:
"While I in no way deny that there is weight in this objection from
the Kabbalistic standpoint, I submit that the great light men-tioned
exists mainly for those who are in possession of the true attribution
of the Tarot keys, which attribution neither was nor could be given
by Eliphas Levi in writing"( p. xiv-xv).
Furthermore, Waite complains that he has "incurred . . . some unpopularity
for a time among extreme occultists by tabulating a few of the discrepancies
and retractions which occur in the writings of Eliphas Levi, and
are either typical of different stages in the growth of his singular
mind, or difficulties willfully created for the express purpose
of misleading the profane." He means us, dear reader; Waite says
that Levi is willfully creating difficulties for us, the profane.
He continues: ". . . it is rather generally admit-ted by those who
consider themselves in a position to adjudicate upon such matters,
that Eliphas Levi was not a 'full initiate,' a fact which might
account naturally for his occa-sional deflections from the absolute
of infalli-bility."
In light of what we now know about Levi's Supreme Grand Mastership
of nearly twenty years, about which Waite was fully aware, I just
wonder what accounts for Waite's "occasional deflections from the
absolute of infallibility"? "Those who consider them- selves in
a position to adjudicate upon such matters" must be Waite's own
cronies and students.
In Levi's "The Key of the Mysteries" as translated by Crowley (published
in 1959 by Rider & Co.), we reach a segment where Levi wants to
talk about the construction of the Hebrew alphabet according to
its three divisions--the three mother letters, the seven double
letters and the twelve single letters. Levi had just launched into
the line "Now, this is what we find in all Hebrew grammars" when
we run into a footnote by Crowley. His insertion reads, "This is
all deliberately wrong. That Levi knew the correct attributions
is evident from a manuscript annotated by himself. Levi refused
to reveal these attributions, rightly enough, as his grade was not
high enough, and the time not right. Note the subtlety in the form
of his statement. The correct attributions are in Liber 777.‹A.C."
Crowley makes it sound as if Levi kept a private list of the "correct
attributions" which he could not share "because his grade was not
high enough." Or is Crowley perhaps implying that the cypher manuscript
contains Levi's annotations? Note the subtlety of the form of his
statement!
Following is a quote from W. Wynn Wescott in his preface to The
Magical Ritual of the Sanctum Regnum Interpreted by the Tarot Trumps,
Translated from the Manuscript of Eliphas Levi (this too is available
through Kessinger): "The twenty-two Tarot Trumps bear a relation
to numbers and to letters; the true attributions are known, so far
as is ascertainable, to but a few students, members of the Hermetic
schools: the attributions given by Levi in his Dogme and Rituel,
by Christian, and by Papus are incorrect, presumably by design.
The editor has seen a manuscript page of cypher about 150 years
old which has a different attribution, and one which has been found
by several occult students, well known to him, to satisfy all the
conditions required by occult science" (p. ix).
We can guess who those "several occult students" are. And in these
few sentences, we can see the device by which all Levi's writings
as well as those of his published followers, each scholars in their
own right, are called into question‹on the "prior historical claim"
of the cypher manuscript, which they each knew was a fake as they
were writing those foot-notes. This was not a simple misunderstand-ing
among friends. Wescott, Waite and Crowley are not saying "we like
our corre-spondences better" or "there are other versions than Levi's".
No, they are saying that Levi and his followers deliberately misinformed
their public, and the English fellows have "the correct attributions,"
known only to "full initiates" like themselves.
These quotes are just the tip of the iceberg, I assure you. I have
read many translations through the years and have never encountered
a phenomenon like this anywhere else. In the innocence of my first
studies in the 1970s, I could not understand why a person would
bother to translate a book if they felt the author was a humbug!
Little did I know the issues‹and the egos‹that were involved.
I possess two books written by Levi that were translated by W.N.
Schoors and published by Weiser in the 1970s, The Book of Splendours
and The Mysteries of the Qabalah. These volumes do not have all
the extra commentary, so annoying and disparaging, that is found
throughout the books translated by the English group. I would hope
that future printings of these earlier translations will include
a dis-claimer about the commentaries, so that sincere students reading
them in present and future times don't have to wade through the
thicket of "attitude" without a context.
To me, the real cause of the propagation of
erroneous esoteric history is the fact that the English-speaking
world, as a rule, does not feel the need to research what our "experts"
tell us about the Tarot. William Wescott published several books
before he cofounded the Golden Dawn, and in them he actually reveals
the Hermetic/Alexandrian correspondences, presenting them without
guile in their proper historical context. But few people compare
those books with the Golden Dawn version and notice that the story
had changed. Mathers had published a booklet in 1888, on the eve
of the founding of the Golden Dawn, referring to the French Occult
Tarot and employing the sequence and enumeration taught by Eliphas
Levi. No one inside the Order seemed to question how different the
Golden Dawn sequence was from the Continental mode. Aleister Crowley
dropped many hints to lead his readers to the writings of Levi (which
he, Wescott and Waite worked hard to translate into English), but
very few people bother to look Levi up and read him for themselves.
I am assured as well that Waite encouraged his students to look
beyond his writings to see the truth for themselves, but most lay
readers would not have the knowledge or motivation to question the
legacy left by these three turn of the century esotericists.
I encourage you to acquire and read the English translations of
Levi's works that are currently available, but if you do, be prepared
for the fierce editorial commentary if the translator is affiliated
with the Order of the Golder Dawn. Occasionally these translators
will grant him a point, but the overwhelming impression is that
Levi was not the magus he was thought to be. To achieve the true
value from Levi's work, one has to learn how to read through this
overlay, which seems also to have been carried over into those works
of his currently available on the Internet.
Another way to finally clear up all this controversy would be for
a non-aligned scholar of the Secret Societies to publish a book
detailing the change of relations which emerged between the Continental
lodges and the English ones. Such a project could also address the
emergence of the modern Spanish school of Tarot, which also appeared
at the turn of this century. Dr. Keizer mentions the French/ English
rift in his essay "The History of Esoteric Tarot," but I am sure
a full exposition of the interior philosophical, political and personality
dynamics would help us all see those pivotal times in a clearer
light.
We in the West may be guilty of loving the
fad of Tarot too much and the history too little. Because we crave
novelty, something new and different, we overlook the ancient and
long-term traditions that give Tarot its very form and content (see
"Confluence of the Ancient Systems" essay). Those systems of thought
and spiritual practice have not lost their value just because fashions
have moved on! As a matter of fact, those most ancient strata of
the Tarot mysteries, the Astrology Wheel, the Hebrew Kabbalah and
its Hermetic/ Alexandrian counterpart, and the astrological angels
of the Minor Arcana have been at the foundation of all the Mosaic
religions‹ Judaism, Christianity and Islam. These are truly the
Western Mysteries, and they are just as relevant today as in Biblical
times.
We also have to be clear about the "magical theory" we are bringing
to the Tarot and the operations we might do with the cards. If we
believe that these ancient letters, Arcana, numbers and angels refer
to something real in the worlds within worlds that is this life,
then perhaps the ancient correspondences, either the Hebrew or the
Alexandrian/ Hermetic, are worthy of study and deep meditation.
At least we know that generations of souls have walked this path
and smoothed the road before us, working out the kinks and throwing
light into the dark night of the soul. We have a developed and profound
wellspring of philosophers, artists, magicians and healers to study
and emulate in the work of becoming our own God-selves.
Of course there will always be pioneers, those who steer a course
into uncharted waters, who refuse to stay between the lines. Innovative
souls exist in every generation. We see these characteristics in
the founders of the Golden Dawn, who like the Spanish School(s)
departed from the Hermetic/Alexandrian model at the turn of this
century. Again, perhaps all the questions can only be answered by
some-one who has cordial relations with all the relevant lodges,
someone who can shine a light on the revolutionary tendencies that
were shaping Tarot at the end of the 1800s and the beginning of
the 1900s.
In the future, let us not be such passive consumers of Tarot but
instead take the time to learn about the various systems available
so we can evaluate them intelligently. Tarot is such a powerful
tool that we should want to know what our options are, philosophically
and spiritually. As we create a Tarot culture wherein imagination
and inventiveness can be coordinated with the true history of the
Western Mysteries, we will see scholarship and innovation become
better partners rather than work at cross-purposes, as they sometimes
seem to at present.
My hope is that in the twenty first century we can complete the
excavation of this intellectual monument and see once again the
beautiful architecture of Tarot as still strong and true to its
Hebrew/Alexandrian/Gnostic/Renaissance roots. This project has only
just begun. When we have more fully fathomed this treasure from
our ancestors and more correctly apprehended its stature as a spiritual
and philosophical vehicle of the highest subtlety, we will be better
able to evaluate its variations and realize their best applications
within our lives.
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