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Tarot History )

To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.tarot,alt.magick,alt.divination
From: Jess Karlin 
Subject: Re: Tarot History (was Re: Pamela Smith Deck (was ....))
Date: Wed, 03 Jul 1996 06:49:38 +0000

an627449@anon.penet.fi wrote:
> 
> In article <4r7evm$akk@news.acns.nwu.edu>, "Elaine M. Petersen"
>  wrote:
> 
> >Do what thou will shall be the whole of the Law.
> >
> >joshua@alkahest.isas.com (joshua geller) wrote:
> >>In article <4qtj6c$mdi@news.acns.nwu.edu> "Elaine M. Petersen"
> >> writes:
> >>
> >>>   Well, Case and Waite were both, at one time, members of the Golden Dawn.
> >>>   It seems that Waite did take his vow to conceal the teachings of the
> order
> >>>   seriously, and changed some imagery in his deck in order to maintain his
> >>>   vow.  Case's imagery is actually a bit closer to the GD deck, or so I am
> >>>   told.
> >>
> >>but as you point out later the waite deck was much earlier. it is
> >>quite obvious that the waite/smith deck influenced the case/parke
> >>deck.
> >
> >I think that this is true. However, I wanted to point out the G.'.D.'.
> >connection and let people come to their own conclusions.
> 
> Bosh.  How can you think that this is true?  You state that Case and Waite
> were both members of the GD.  You say that Waite, with a few changes,
> emulated the GD deck.  You say that Case, with fewer changes, also
> emulated the GD deck.  How can you then agree with Josh that Waite
> influenced Case?  

I don't think such a statement is inaccurate at all. Look
at the decks. If they were done today I suspect someone would
be litigating against someone else over 'look and feel' issues.

Furthermore, Case references Waite constantly, and to suggest 
he was doing this WITHOUT suggestions or clear indications
of 'influence' from Waite (positive or negative) is just silly.
There is no question that Case saw himself largely as 
ammending and clarifying what Waite had designed and written
on the tarot.

Case certainly felt somewhat less constrained by his 'vows'
of secrecy, operating on the rationalization that since the
beans will spilt, and should never have been kept in the
can anyway, he would now happily spill some more. And in this
it is very useful to compare Waite and Case and their writings
on the two decks. However, even Case resorts to the same kind
of coy hinting and outright distortion of the truth that
all occultists seem to think is their medium of exchange to 
the public.

Anyone who would like to see this dynamic at work should
compare Levi-Waite-Case on the card, Chariot. There
is a particular component of this card (what Waite depicts
as a little white square on the chest of the charioteer)
that gains in detail and in written explanation as
we go through the evolutions from Levi (who describes the thing
but does not depict it at all) to Case (who does tell us
superficially what it looks like but then intentionally
inverts it) of its revealed symbolism.

So imagine that kind of silliness is going on all through
Waite's deck, which it is. Add to this his natural tendency
to both add extremely esoteric details (a lot of it originating
in 'fraternal' symbolism that was NEVER intended to be
understood properly by the public) and his 'honest' lying, 
and you have a pretty clear idea of why people write such 
pathetic bullshit about this most popular deck and its 
derivations.

(jk)

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