A Teacher
A.E. Waite
Scholar-mystic who gave the modern world its definitive tarot.
The transmission
Arthur Edward Waite was an American-born British mystic and prolific scholar of esotericism who joined the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1891. With artist Pamela Colman Smith he devised the Rider-Waite Tarot, published in 1909, which became the most influential tarot deck of the modern era.
After the Golden Dawn fractured he founded his own bodies, including the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, steering toward a contemplative Christian mysticism.
What they gave
He conceived the Rider-Waite Tarot and wrote extensively on the Holy Grail, Rosicrucianism, alchemy, and ceremonial magic.
The line they stand in
A member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, he later led the Independent and Rectified Rite and the Fellowship of the Rosy Cross, blending the order’s ritual with mystical Christianity.