Arthur Edward Waite

Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) was an American-born British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider-Waite-Smith or Waite-Smith deck). His biographer R. A. Gilbert observed that "Waite's name has survived because he was the first to attempt a systematic study of the history of western occultism...." Waite was a prolific author, writing occult texts on divination, esotericism,...See more

Arthur Edward Waite (1857-1942) was an American-born British poet and scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite tarot deck (also called the Rider-Waite-Smith or Waite-Smith deck). His biographer R. A. Gilbert observed that "Waite's name has survived because he was the first to attempt a systematic study of the history of western occultism...." Waite was a prolific author, writing occult texts on divination, esotericism, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, ceremonial magic, Kabalism, alchemy and the Holy Grail. A number of his volumes remain in print, including The Book of Ceremonial Magic (1911), The Holy Kabbalah (1929), A New Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry (1921), and his annotated translations of Éliphas Lévi's 1854-56 Transcendental Magic, its Doctrine and Ritual (1910) and Levi's 1860 The History of Magic (1913). Waite also wrote two allegorical fantasy novels, Prince Starbeam (1889) and The Quest of the Golden Stairs (1893), and edited Elfin Music, an anthology of poetry based on English fairy folklore. See less