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Originally published on February 16, 2008

Mitch Horowitz, editor-in-chief of Tarcher/Penguin Books, returns in this episode to discuss the life and Great Work of Dr. Paul Foster Case (1884 – 1954). Dr. Case was, in my opinion, the preeminent scholar teaching the Tarot and Qabalah in the 20th century. His masterful work, “The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages,” stands alone as perhaps the single greatest book on the Major Arcana to date.

Our conversation covers Case’s early life in the greater Rochester, NY area, his musical abilities, self-reliance and self-education, interest in the Mysteries, his work with Tarot and other occult subjects, and the organizations that he built to disseminate the Wisdom.

MAY LIGHT BE EXTENDED UPON YOU

In studying the life and Work of Dr. Case, Mitch extracts the important detail that we must be scholars in the same tradition in order that occult subjects are treated with the reverence they deserve.

“IN whatsoever object thou perceivest,
Know me as the Essence,
As the Idea,
And as the Interior Nature.
Because of this the wise come easily to me
By many paths,
Yet in truth these different roads
Are but a single Way.
“If thou canst penetrate in the nature
Of the simplest thing,
There thou shalt find me.
This is the key to the mystery of the sacred letters.
Fix thy mind on the object set before thee by any letter,
And hold thy thought to meditate thereon.
Then shall the inner nature of that object
Be made known to thee,
And by this means shalt thou draw nigh
To some aspect of my being.

- from “The Meditation on Heh” in “The Book of Tokens”

relevant links:

Mitch Horowitz (previously appeared in Podcast 21)

Paul Foster Case Resource Page

“Paul Foster Case” Wikipedia entry

“The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages” by Paul Foster Case

“An Introduction to the Study of the Tarot” by Paul Foster Case (PDF download, 159 KB)

“The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order: An Interpretation of the Rosicrucian Allegory and An Explanation of the Ten Rosicrucian Grades” by Paul Foster Case

“Esoteric Keys of Alchemy” by Paul Foster Case

“The Great Seal of the United States: Its History, Symbolism and Message for the New Age” by Paul Foster Case – “Dr. Case reveals the Great Seal to be a profound spiritual glyph created by the Founding Fathers as a representation of the ideals of the Novo Ordo Seclorum, the New World Order.”

“Masonic Letter G” by Paul Foster Case – “Paul Foster Case develops with clarity a link between the Masonic degrees and the Qabalistic tradition.”

“Daniel, Master of Magicians and the Name of Names” by Paul Foster Case – “Two books in one. Daniel, Master of Magicians develops the astrological underpinnings of the book of Daniel. The Name of Names reveals the true significance of the name Yeheshua or Jesus.”

“The Book of Tokens” by Paul Foster Case

“The Kybalion” by Three Initiates

Kybalion Resource Page

“Claude Bragdon” Wikipedia entry

“William Walker Atkinson” Wikipedia entry

“Ann Davies” Wikipedia entry

B.O.T.A. (Builders of the Adytum)

“Ascended Masters Discussion”

intro music by HipGnosis