Paul Foster Case (October 3, 1884 – March 2, 1954) was an American occultist of the early 20th century and author of numerous books on

occult tarot Tarot card reading is a form of cartomancy whereby practitioners use tarot cards to purportedly gain insight into the past, present or future. They formulate a question, then draw cards to interpret them for this end. A traditional tarot deck con ...

and Qabalah. Perhaps his greatest contributions to the field of occultism were the lessons he wrote for associate members of

Builders of the Adytum The Builders of the Adytum (BOTA, also spelled B.O.T.A., BotA, or B.o.t.A.) is a school of the Western mystery tradition based in Los Angeles which is registered as a non-profit tax-exempt religious organization. It was founded by Paul Foster Ca ...

or B.O.T.A. The knowledge lectures given to initiated members of the chapters of the B.O.T.A. were equally profound, although the limited distribution has made them less well known.

Early life

A modern scholar of the occult tarot and Qabalah, Paul Foster Case was born at 5:28 p.m., October 3, 1884 in

Fairport, New York Fairport is a village located in the Town of Perinton, which is part of Monroe County, New York, United States. Fairport is a suburb east of Rochester. It is also known as the "Crown Jewel of the Erie Canal". In 2005, it was named as one of t ...

. His father was the town librarian and a deacon at the local

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

. When he was five years old, his mother began teaching him to play the piano and organ, and later in his youth, Case performed as organist in his family's church. A talented musician, he embarked on a successful career as a violinist, and orchestra conductor. He had an honorary doctorate in music awarded to him. Case was early on attracted to the occult. While still a child he reported experiences that today are called lucid dreaming. He corresponded about these experiences with

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

who encouraged him as to the validity of his paranormal pursuits. In the year 1900, Case met the occultist

Claude Bragdon Claude Fayette Bragdon (August 1, 1866 – 1946) was an American architect, writer, and stage designer based in Rochester, New York, up to World War I, then in New York City. The designer of Rochester’s New York Central Railroad terminal ...

while both were performing at a charity performance. Bragdon asked Case what he thought the origin of

playing cards A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

was. After pursuing the question in his father's library, Case discovered a link to

tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots ...

, called 'The Game of Man'. Thus began what would become Case's lifelong study of the tarot, and leading to the creation of the B.O.T.A. tarot deck, which Case called a "corrected" version of the Rider–Waite cards. Between 1905 and 1908 (aged 20–24), Case began practicing

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

, and in particular

pranayama Pranayama is the yogic practice of focusing on breath. In Sanskrit, '' prana'' means "vital life force", and ''yama'' means to gain control. In yoga, breath is associated with ''prana'', thus, pranayama is a means to elevate the '' prana'' ''s ...

, from what published sources were available. His early experiences appear to have caused him some mental and emotional difficulties and left him with a lifelong concern that so called "occult" practice be done with proper guidance and training. In the summer of 1907, Case read ''The Secret of Mental Magic'', by William W. Atkinson (aka Ramacharaka) which led him to correspond with the then popular

new thought The New Thought movement (also Higher Thought) is a spiritual movement that coalesced in the United States in the early 19th century. New Thought was seen by its adherents as succeeding "ancient thought", accumulated wisdom and philosophy from ...

author. Many people have speculated that Case and Atkinson were two of the three anonymous authors of ''The

Kybalion ''The Kybalion'' (full title: ''The Kybalion: A Study of the Hermetic Philosophy of Ancient Egypt and Greece'') is a book originally published in 1908 by "Three Initiates" (often identified as the New Thought pioneer William Walker Atkinson, 18 ...

'', an influential philosophical text, although the introduction to an edition of ''The Kybalion'' released in 2011 has presented considerable evidence for Atkinson as the book's lone author.

Dilemma: music or the mysteries

Case reported a meeting on the streets of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, in 1909 or 1910, that was to change the course of his life. A "Dr. Fludd," a prominent Chicago physician approached the young Case and greeting him by name, claimed to have a message from a "master of wisdom" who, the doctor said, "is my teacher as well as yours." The stranger said that Case was being offered a choice. He could continue with his successful musical career and live comfortably, or he could dedicate himself to "serve humanity" and thereby play a role in the coming age. From that time on, Case began to study and formulate the lessons that served as the core curricula of the "Builders of the Adytum", the school of tarot study and Qabalah that Case founded and that continues today. In 1916 Case published a groundbreaking series of articles on the Tarot Keys, titled '' The Secret Doctrine of the Tarot,'' in the popular occult magazine ''The Word''. The articles attracted wide notice in the occult community for organizing and clarifying what had previously been confusing and scattered occult doctrines about the meaning of the tarot cards.

Whitty and Alpha et Omega

In 1918, Case met Michael James Whitty (died December 27, 1920, in Los Angeles, California), who was the editor of '' Azoth magazine'' and would become a close friend. Whitty was serving as the 'cancellarius' (treasurer/office manager) for the Thoth-Hermes Lodge in Chicago, which was one of the lodges of the

Alpha et Omega The Alpha et Omega was an occult order, initially named the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, co-founded in London, England by Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers in 1888. The Alpha et Omega was one of four daughter organisations into which the ...

(A.O.). Alpha et Omega was the successor organization to the

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn ( la, Ordo Hermeticus Aurorae Aureae), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th ...

, founded in 1906 by S. L. MacGregor Mathers, after the demise of the Golden Dawn in 1903. Whitty invited Case to join Thoth-Hermes, which was the direct American lodge under the A.O. mother lodge in Paris. Case joined, and quickly moved up initiations in the Rosicrucian grades ( True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order). Case's aspiration name in A.O. was Perseverantia (which means 'perseverance'). Whitty republished Case's attribution of the Tarot keys (with corrections) in Azoth magazine. That same year, Case became the 'sub-praemonstrator' (assistant chief instructor) at the Thoth-Hermes Lodge. Also during that year he finished a set of articles on the Mystical Rosicrucian Origins of Faust and published by Whitty. The following year, he began to correspond with Dr. John William Brodie-Innes (Fr. Sub Spe). Between 1919 and 1920, Case and Michael Whitty collaborated in the development of the text which would later be published as '' The Book of Tokens''. This book was written as a received text, whether through meditation, automatic writing, or some other means. It later surfaced that Master R. was the source. On May 16, 1920, Case was initiated into Alpha et Omega's Second Order. Three weeks later, according to the

's bio-page on Case, he was named Third Adept. In December 1920, Michael Whitty died. Case believed Whitty's health problems were attributable to the dangers that arise or may arise in the practice of Enochian magic. He later corresponded with

Israel Regardie Francis Israel Regardie (; né Regudy; November 17, 1907 – March 10, 1985) was a British-American occultist, ceremonial magician, and writer who spent much of his life in the United States. He wrote fifteen books on the subject of occultism. Bo ...

about those concerns.

Controversy with Moina Mathers

Like his fellow British occultist and later correspondent,

Dion Fortune Dion Fortune (born Violet Mary Firth, 6 December 1890 – 6 January 1946) was a British occultist, ceremonial magician, novelist and author. She was a co-founder of the Fraternity of the Inner Light, an occult organisation that promoted ph ...

, Case found himself in a controversy with Moina Mathers (1865-1928) in the early 1920s. Perhaps because of his quick advancement through the grades of the order, Case sparked some jealousy among the other adepts. Moreover, others may have thought some of his teachings inappropriate. On July 18, 1921, Mathers wrote Case regarding complaints she had received regarding some of his teachings. Apparently, Case had begun discussing the topics of sexual symbolism and sex magic, which at the time had no official place in the order's curriculum. Since no knowledge lectures exist on the subject, whether sex practices were ever taught in the Golden Dawn has been a long-standing question. In her correspondence with Case, Moina wrote, "I have seen the results of this superficial sex teaching in several occult societies as well as in individual cases. I have never met with one happy result." But to Case, sexuality became an increasingly important subject. In his ''Book of Tokens'', a collection of inspired meditations on the 22 Tarot Keys of the Major Arcana, Case comments on the sex function, "You must wholly alter your conception of sex in order to comprehend the Ancient Wisdom. It is the interior nervous organism, not the external organs, that is always meant in phallic symbolism, and the force that works through these interior centers is the Great Magical Agent, the divine serpent fire." In his works, ''The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order'' and ''The Masonic Letter G'', he writes of certain practices involving the redirection of the sexual force to the higher centers of the brain where experience of supersensory states of consciousness becomes possible. Some members also complained about a personal relationship between Case and a soror, Lilli Geise. Case confessed the matter to Moina: "The Hierophantria and I were observed to exchange significant glances over the altar during the Mystic Repast... My conscience acquits me... Our relation to each other we submit to no other Judge than that Lord of Love and Justice whom we all adore." In time, Case married Geise, who died a few years later. Perhaps Moina's correspondence also touched a sensitive area for Case. In her July 18 letter, she tells Case, "You evidently have reached a point in your mystical Way where there would appear to exist certain cross-roads. The artist in you, which I recognize, and with whom I deeply sympathize, would probably choose to learn the Truth through the joy and beauty of physical life." She continued, "You who have studied the Pantheons, do you know of that enchanting God, the Celtic Angus, the Ever Young? He who is sometimes called Lord of the Land of Heart's Desire?" Angus rescued Etain, the Moon, who had been turned into a golden fly. But Etain had to choose between bodily existence in the land of mortals and everlasting life. She continued still, "The artist in us may have lingered in that land for a moment. But you and I who would be teachers and pioneers in this Purgatorial World must be prepared before all the Gods to be the servants of the greatest of them all... the Osiris, the Christ, the God of the Sacrifice of the Self." Moina then asked Case to resign from his position as Praemonstrator. Case resigned as Praemonstrator, responding to Moina, "I have no desire to be a 'teacher and pioneer in this Purgatorial World.' Guidance seems to have removed me from the high place to which I have never really aspired. The relief is great." Apparently Case had already begun work on establishing a mystery school of his own—the School of Ageless Wisdom, which later became Builders Of The Adytum.

Builders of the Adytum

After Case left Alpha et Omega, he vigorously pursued the organization of his own mystery school. In the summer of 1922, Case put his first efforts together preparing a comprehensive correspondence course. In one year it covered what the B.O.T.A. presently covers in over five years. Some of these materials have recently been published. He called the course The Ageless Wisdom. By 1923 Case formed The School of Ageless Wisdom, probably in Boston. Within a few years he moved to Los Angeles, abandoning, once and for all, his career as a musician, and established the

(B.O.T.A.). Still in existence today, B.O.T.A. claims to be an authentic mystery school. Over the next three decades, Case organized the curriculum of correspondence lessons covering what is called the

Western Mystery Tradition Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas a ...

: occult

, Qabalah, and hermetic

alchemy Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim wo ...

Opposition to Enochian magic

In the "Wheel of Life" magazine, in March 1937, Case described B.O.T.A.'s relationship to the Golden Dawn, and his beliefs about the Golden Dawn's use of Enochian material. "B.O.T.A. is a direct off-shoot of the Golden Dawn, but its work has been purged of all the dangerous and dubious magic incorporated into the Golden Dawn's curriculum by the late

S.L. MacGregor Mathers Samuel Liddell (or Liddel) MacGregor Mathers (8 or 11 January 1854 – 5 or 20 November 1918), born Samuel Liddell Mathers, was a British occultist. He is primarily known as one of the founders of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a cerem ...

, who was responsible for the inclusion of the ceremonials based on the skrying of Sir Edward Kelly. "There is much in these Golden Dawn rituals and ceremonies that is of the greatest value; but from the first grade to the last it is all vitiated by these dangerous elements taken from Dee and Kelly. Furthermore, in many places, the practical working is not provided with adequate safeguards, so that, to the present writer's personal knowledge, an operator working with the Golden Dawn nochianrituals runs very grave risks of breaking down his physical organism, or of obsession by evil entities." Dr. Paul Clark, in his book on Case, mentions his own examination of the original Cipher manuscripts on which Mathers founded the first order Golden Dawn rituals. Clark found that the "Cipher manuscripts refer to a set of tablets from the 'Old Manuscripts,' but do not specify Dee or Kelly's work by name. Mather's ic!had been doing much research in the British Museum where the Dee manuscripts were housed. It was natural for him, perhaps mistakenly, to assume these were the ones referenced in the Cipher manuscripts. Unfortunately, this was not necessarily the case."

Death

Case died while vacationing in Mexico with his wife, Harriet. His ashes lie in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...

. According to an American Foreign Service "Report Of The Death Of An American" dated March 5, 1954 Case was cremated in Mexico and his ashes given to his wife, Harriet Bullock Case. Upon returning to their home at 5336 Highland View Place in Los Angeles, California, Case's ashes were interred in the Haven of Peace Plot, Map 1, Lot 16, Space 4 in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Harriet died on March 24, 1972, in Los Angeles and was interred next to Paul Foster Case in Space 5. Ann Davies, married Jacob Fuss on December 18, 1965, and, following her death on June 9, 1975, was buried in Haven of Peace Plot, Map 1, Lot 16, Space 1.

Biography

Dr. Paul Clark, affiliated with the

Fraternity of the Hidden Light Fraternity of the Hidden Light (also known as Fraternitas L.V.X. Occulta) is a magical organization and "Aquarian Age" mystery school in the Western Mystery Tradition that teaches occult sciences. History The Fraternity of the Hidden Light tra ...

, published a biography of Case in 2013, entitled ''Paul Foster Case. His Life and Works''. Besides being an extensive biography of Case (about a hundred pages), the book also includes a number of appendices, including letters from Case to

. Appendix II purports to be communications from Master R. to Case and two of Case's associates and comprises the longest section of the book.

Alleged influence: Master R.

In the summer of 1921, Case claimed to have received a phone call from "The Master Rococzy" (or Rakoczy, Rákóczy or Rákóczi; also known as the "Count of St. Germain" or "Master R"). Case later allegedly met Master R. in person at the old

Waldorf-Astoria The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schult ...

in NYC (Madison and

Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side of the borough of Manhattan in New York City that carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street to Gramercy Park at East 21st Street. Along i ...

s at 43rd Street). The ''Adytum News'' described it this way: "One day the phone rang, and much to his surprise the same voice which had been inwardly instructing him in his researches for many years spoke to him on the phone. It was the Master R. who had come personally to New York for the purpose of preparing Paul Case to begin the next incarnation of the Qabalistic Way of Return. ... After three weeks of personal instruction with the Master R., Builders of the Adytum was formed." The story is told in more detail in Paul Clark's biography of Case. Case also purportedly received communications from Master R. The first set of communications resulted in ''The Book of Tokens'', a set of meditations on the Tarot. Further and far more extensive communications were purportedly received some twenty-five years later by Case, along with Ann Davies and Case's wife Harriet, and were published in 2013.

Legacy

Case left behind extensive published writings on the Western Mystery Tradition, Tarot, Qabalah, Freemasonry, and even more unpublished writings that are circulated today through the

as well as through other mystery schools influenced by him, such as the

. He was also the original founder of advanced thought publishing. Some of the wording from ''The Book of Tokens'' was used in the tarot-inspired musical episode of '' Xena: Warrior Princess'' entitled

The Bitter Suite "The Bitter Suite" is the twelfth episode of the third season of the American-New Zealand fantasy adventure series '' Xena: Warrior Princess,'' which premiered on February 2, 1998. The episode, a musical, was written by Chris Manheim and Steven ...

. In the show, a character representing The Fool speaks the quote, "ALEPH am I. From mine unfathomable will, the universe hath its beginning. In my boundless wisdom are the types and patterns of all things.". That same episode also makes numerous visual references to the B.O.T.A. tarot cards.

Bibliography

''Articles:'' # Article on tarot in ''The Word'' (1916) # Article on tarot (revised) in ''Azoth Magazine'' (1918) ''Books:'' # ''An Introduction to the Study of the Tarot'' (1920) # ''A Brief Analysis of the Tarot'' (1927) # ''The True and Invisible Rosicrucian Order'' (1927) # ''Correlations of Sound & Color'' (1931) # ''The Highlights of Tarot'' (1931) # ''Oracle of the Tarot - A Course on Tarot Divination'' (1933) # ''The Book of Tokens'' (1934) # ''The Great Seal of the United States'' (1935) # ''Progressive Rotascope'' (1936) # ''Tarot Fundamentals'' 4 volumes (1936) # ''Tarot Interpretations'' 4 volumes (1936) # ''The Open Door'' (1938) # ''The Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages'' (1947) # ''Daniel, Master of Magicians'' # ''The Masonic Letter G'' # ''The Name of Names'' ''Courses published in book form'' # ''Occult Fundamentals and Spiritual Unfoldment. Vol. 1: The Early Writings''. o location given Fraternity of the Hidden Light (2008) # ''Esoteric Secrets of Meditation and Magic. Vol. 2: The Early Writings''. o location given Fraternity of the Hidden Light. (2008)

Book on Paul Foster Case

Clark, P. (2013) ''Paul Foster Case. His Life and Works.'' Covina CA: Fraternity of the Hidden LightReview White. J (2014), http://www.jwmt.org/v3n26/clark_review.html

Notes

References

From the Golden Dawn

A Case Enthusiast

External links

Original texts

;Writings of Case and his contemporaries
Wisdom of Tarot

Tarot Revelations

Hermetic Science and Practice

The Oracle of the Tarot - A Course on Tarot Divination

Occult Fundamentals & Spiritual Unfoldment - 1924 Sections (Courses) A & B of the first BOTA

Esoteric Keys of Alchemy

Tarot Fundamentals Volume One

''The Golden Dawn American Source Book'' (Golden Dawn Study Series 15) edited by Darcy Kuntz. Introductory Note by Anthony Fleming. This work contains the most significant letters and documents pertaining to the Order's history in America. The Paul Foster Case correspondence is most interesting. Holmes Publishing Group, 2001.

''The Secret Knowledge of the Neophyte'' (Golden Dawn Study Series 18) edited with an Introductory Note by Darcy Kuntz. This work contains the addresses given to members of the Neophyte grade by such luminaries as R.W. Felkin, Paul Foster Case, Lilli Geise, S.L. Mathers, and Harriet Felkin. Holmes Publishing Group, 2001.

Online resources

;Online information on Case and his work
Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.)

Fraternity of the Hidden Light (F.L.O.)

Joseph Nolen Lectures and InnerJourney Newsletters

Occult of Personality podcast episode 42 - The Life and Work of Paul Foster Case
;Online resources reflecting the work of Case or his students
The Paul Foster Case Resource Page
PFC Resources and materials
Joseph Nolen Lectures and InnerJourney Newsletters
;Other resources
The Kybalion Resource Page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Case, Paul Foster 1954 deaths 1884 births American occultists American occult writers American Freemasons Hermetic Qabalists Rosicrucians Tarot readers