BEHIND
the veil of all the hieratic and mystical allegories of ancient
doctrines, behind the darkness and strange ordeals of all initiations,
under the seal of all sacred writings, in the ruins of Nineveh or
Thebes, on the crumbling stones of old temples and on the blackened
visage of the Assyrian or Egyptian sphinx, in the monstrous or
marvellous paintings which interpret to the faithful of India
the inspired pages of the Vedas, in the cryptic emblems of our old
books on alchemy, in the ceremonies practised at reception by all secret
societies, there are found indications of a doctrine which is
everywhere the same and everywhere carefully concealed.
A.E. Waite
Arthur
Edward Waite (2 October 1857 – 19 May 1942) was a British scholarly
mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the
co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. As his biographer R. A.
Gilbert described him, "Waite's name has survived because he was the
first to attempt a systematic study of the history of western
occultism—viewed as a spiritual tradition rather than as aspects of
proto-science or as the pathology of religion."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._E._Waite
(Marylebone Lodge 1305, London)
