The Magister 1

by Marcus Katz

  [181] Gray, E. Mastering the Tarot. New American Library: New York, 1971, p.66.

  [182] Gray, E. Mastering the Tarot. New American Library: New York, 1971, p.29.

  [183] In fact, it could be proposed that each of the 10s in the Waite-Smith deck contain a reference to another card: the 10 of Cups shows the family whose parents first meet in the 2 of Cups (the red-roofed cottage and trees are seen in both), the 10 of Swords shows the murdered Hierophant (he is the martyred Thomas Beckett who wears the same clothing and is making the same blessing sign) and the 10 of Wands perhaps implies that they must be bound together to make a singular Ace of Wands.

  [184] Waite, A.E. Pictorial Key to the Tarot. Rider & Company: London, 1974, p.154-155.

  [185] See Da Free John. The Four Fundamental Questions. The Dawn Horse Press: Clearlake Highlands, 1980, pp.14-17.

  [186] From the 1990 American psychological horror film, Jacob’s Ladder, directed by Adrian Lyne.

  [187] Waite, A.E. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. Rider & Company: London, 1974, p.274.

  [188] Brunton, P. The Hidden Teachings beyond Yoga. Rider & Co: London, 1941, p.161.

  [189] These are also to be found depicted as the Aces in the Union Deck of the Tarot of Everlasting Day.

  [190] See Fohrer, G. Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary of the Old Testament. Walter de Gruyter: 1973, under ללה.

  [191] If you are interested in exploring more about the Path of Love, including how transference, ‘threeness’ and even kaballah relate to this journey, see Chapter 11, ‘Love’s Angel’, in Haule, J. Pilgrimage of the Heart: The Path of Romantic Love. Shamballa: Boston, 1992.

  [192]

  Crowley, A. The Book of Thoth. Samuel Weiser: York Beach, 1985, p.194-195.

  [193]

  Conforti, M. Field, Form and Fate: Patterns in Mind, Nature and Psyche. Spring Journal Inc: New Orleans, 2003.

  [194] For his thoughts on initiation, see Eco, U. Foucault’s Pendulum. Picador: London, 1990, p.215.

  [195] Crowley, A. Magick Without Tears. Falcon Press: Phoenix, 1982, pp.109-121.

  [196] For more on the initiatory journey through the tarot, you may wish to also read Ozaniec, N. The Element Tarot Handbook: Initiation into the Key Elements of the Tarot. Element: Shaftesbury, 1994. For more on the wounded healer, see the Bibliography and Sandford, L.T. Strong at the Broken Places. Virago Press Ltd: London, 1991. Also Sedgewick, D. The Wounded Healer: Countertransference from a Jungian Perspective, Routledge: Hove, 1994.

  [197] Waite, A.E. Unpublished notes.

  [198] Fortune, D. Sane Occultism. Aquarian Press: Wellingborough, 1979, p.115.

  [199] Hine, P. ‘Graded Grains Make Finer Flour’. See http://www.philhine.org.uk/writings/gp_grains.html [last accessed 22nd August 2014]. See also Staley, M. ‘Graded Grains Make Finer Flour’, in SKOOB: Occult Review, Issue 4, 1991.

  [200] The Tetrys is the triangular shape composed of ten points arranged from one point at the apex to four points at the base. It is a fundamental symbol in Pythagorean philosophy. To the Adeptus Minor, it symbolises the completion of the elemental grades and the new phase of bringing harmony to all aspects of life and creation.

  [201] Yeats, W.B. (Under the pseudonym of D. E. D. I.), ‘Is the Order of R. R. & A. C. to remain a magical order?’ Typescript. Yorke Collection, NS11.d.

  [202] Howe, E. Magicians of the Golden Dawn. London: Routledge, 1972. pp. 288-9.

  [203] Crowley, A. Magick. Routledge & Kegan Paul: London, 1985. p.328.

  [204] Letter from Dr. S.W. Brathwaite to Gerald Yorke, dated 05 May 1932. Yorke Collection, OSD12.

  [205] Reply from Gerald Yorke to Dr. S.W. Brathwaite, corrected by Aleister Crowley. Yorke Collection, OSD12.

  [206] Ibid.

  [207] Ibid.

  [208] Kaczynski, R. Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley. New Falcon Publications: Arizona, 2002, p.373.

  [209]

  Ibid.

  [210]

  Ibid.

  [211] Letter between Sidney French and Gerald Yorke, dated 18 April 1932. Yorke Collection, OSD12.

  [212] Crowley, A. ‘Liber O vel Manus et Sagittæ’, in Symonds, J. & Grant, K. Magick. Guild Publishing: London, 1988, pp.448-59.

  [213] Magick, op. cit., p.448.

  [214] Ibid.

  [215] Crowley, A. ‘Liber LXXI’ including the ‘Seven Portals’, Equinox Vol.III. No.I, also called the ‘Blue Equinox’. Universal Publishing Co: Detroit, 1919, p.87.

  [216] Letter from Sidney French to Gerald Yorke, dated 20 July 1932. Yorke Collection, OSD12.

  [217] Yorke Collection, OSD12.

  [218] Kaczynski, R. Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley. New Falcon Publications: Arizona, 2002, p.373.

  [219] Letter between Sidney French and Gerald Yorke, dated 18 April 1932. Yorke Collection, OSD12.

  [220] See, for example, Marcus Katz, ‘Tarot on the Threshold: Liminality and Illegitimate Knowledge’ in Augur, E. (editor). Tarot in Culture.

  [221] Letter from Violet Firth (Dion Fortune) to Gerald Yorke, dated 02 July 1928. Yorke Collection, OSD12.

  [222] Ibid.

  [223] Ephraim, F.G. Der Rosenkreutzer in Seiner Blösse. Amsterdam, 1781.

  [224] Documents viewed in private collection.

  [225] Kuntz, D. The Complete Golden Dawn Cipher Manuscript. Holmes Publishing Group: Edmonds, 1996, p.38. See also the original publication of Magister Pianco, Der Rosenkreuzer in seiner Blösse. Amsterdam, 1781, p.107-111.

  [226] See the S.R.I.A. rituals as given by Alex Sumner, demonstrating the alchemical basis of the grades and the usage of these titles: http://www.golden-dawn.com/eu/UserFiles/en/File/ pdf/sria.pdf pp.2-3 [last accessed 06 August 2012].

  [227] The name is given at the conclusion of the initiatory ritual. See the Zelator grade in Regardie, I., The Golden Dawn. Llewellyn: St. Paul, 1989, p.152.

  [228] The poet and Golden Dawn initiate W.B. Yeats described the grade in allusion within his play, The Unicorn from the Stars (1907). One character, Father John, even muses about the Latin title: “I heard it in some place ...” Whilst we will detail this in a subsequent volume, the extract from that play where Martin describes his vision of the unicorns to Father John can be read for a stunning evocation of the work of this grade, familiar to Yeats. We must also look to the quoted Biblical psalm in the extract, Calix meus inebrians quam praeclarus est, “My chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly it is!” as a further indication of the nature of the grade.

  [229] Personal conversation with the present author. Eric Muhler is a jazz pianist and the grand-son of Aleister Crowley.

  [230] Crowley, A. Magick. Routledge & Kegan Paul: London, 1985. pp.327-338.

  [231] Young, L.B. The Unfinished Universe. Simon and Schuster: New York, 1986, pp.205-206.