The Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot: Decoding the Imagery
By Emilia Wellesley · Published May 5, 2026 · Updated May 13, 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 to give every Minor Arcana […]
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 May 13, 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 it has marked Sumerian pots, […]
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 […]