The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot: Decoding the Imagery
By Emilia Wellesley · Published May 5, 2026 · Updated September 10, 2026 Last updated: September 10, 2026. What Is the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot? The Rider-Waite-Smith tarot is a 78-card deck published in London in 1909, designed by occultist Arthur Edward Waite and illustrated by artist Pamela Colman Smith. It was the first widely circulated deck […]
Natal Chart Interpretation: The Sky at Birth
By Emilia Wellesley · Published May 5, 2026 · Updated May 13, 2026 Last reviewed: May 5, 2026. What Is a Natal Chart? A natal chart, also called a birth chart or horoscope, is a two-dimensional diagram of the sky drawn for the exact moment, date, and place of a person’s birth. It plots the […]
The Pentagram: A Star with Many Stories
By Emilia Wellesley · Published May 5, 2026 · Updated September 10, 2026 Last updated: September 10, 2026. What the Pentagram Actually Is The pentagram is a five-pointed star drawn with one continuous line of five straight segments. Its name comes from the Greek pentagrammon, meaning “having five lines.” Across more than five thousand years […]
Gnosis: Direct Knowledge of the Divine
By Emilia Wellesley · Published May 5, 2026 · Updated May 13, 2026 Last reviewed: May 5, 2026. What Is Gnosis? Direct Knowledge of the Divine, Defined Gnosis is the Greek word for knowledge, but in religious and philosophical contexts it names a specific kind: direct, experiential knowing of the divine, the self, and the […]
Freemasonry Secrets and Their Lost Symbolisms
By Emilia Wellesley · Published May 5, 2026 · Updated May 13, 2026 Last reviewed: May 5, 2026. What Are the Secrets of Freemasonry, and Which Symbolisms Have Been Lost? Freemasonry‘s secrets are not hidden doctrines but modes of recognition: the grips, words, and signs that identify a brother across lodges. Its symbolisms come from […]
The Magnum Opus: Alchemy’s Great Work
By Emilia Wellesley · Published May 4, 2026 · Updated May 13, 2026 Last reviewed: May 4, 2026. What Is the Magnum Opus in Alchemy? The Magnum Opus, Latin for “Great Work,” is the central process of Western alchemy. It describes a multi-stage spiritual and material operation aimed at producing the Philosopher’s Stone, achieving inner […]