Paul Foster Case
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Paul Foster Case (October 3, 1884 – March 2, 1954) was an American occultist.
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Case's early life
A modern scholar of the Tarot and Kabalah, Paul Foster Case was born at 5:28 p.m., October 3, 1884 in Fairport, New York.
His father was the town librarian and a Deacon at the local Congregational church. 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.
Case was early on attracted to the occult. While still a child he reported experiences that today are calledd Lucid Dreaming. He corresponded about these experiences with Rudyard Kipling who encouraged him as to the validity of his paranormal pursuits.
In the year 1900, Case met the occultist Claude Bragdon while both were performing at a charity performance. Bragdon asked Case what he thought the origin of playing cards was. After pursuing the question in his father's library, Case discovered a link to Tarot, called 'The Game of Man, thus began what would become Case's lifelong study of the Tarot.
Between 1905 and 1908 (aged 10-14), Case began practicing yoga, and in particular pranayama, 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 Ramacharacka) which led him to correspond with the then popular "new thought" author. These two are popularly considered to be two of the three anonymous authors of The Kybalion, an influential Theosophical text.
Case's dilemma: music or the mysteries
Case reported a meeting on the streets of Chicago, 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 comfortable, or he could dedicate himself to "serve humanity" and thereby play a role in the coming "Aquarian Age."
From that time one, Case began to study and formulate the lessons that served as the core curricula of the Builders of the Adytum, the school of Tarot and Qabalah that Case founded and that continues in operation.
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 as organizing and clarifying what had been confusing and scattered threads of occult knowledge as illustrated and illuminated by the Tarot.
In 1918, Case was approached by Michael Witty, the head of the American branch of the Golden Dawn and invited into the order. He rose quickly through the Golden Dawn's system of instruction and succeeded Witty as chief of the order upon the latter's death in 1920.
Builders of the Adytum
In 1921, Case resigned from the Golden Dawn following a dispute with the the order's headquarters in England. In the Summer of 1922, along with a few other former members of the Golden Dawn, he founded the School of Ageless Wisdom, which later became the Builders of the Adytum (B.O.T.A.).
Within a few years, he moved B.O.T.A. to Los Angeles, abandoning once and for all his career as a musician. Over the next three decades, Case organized the curriculum of correspondence lessons covering practically the whole corpus of what is called the Western Mystery Tradition; Tarot, Kabalah, Ritual Magic, and Alchemy.
In 1954 Case died while vacationing in Mexico with his wife Harriet.
Significant influences in Case's life
- Master R.
In the summer of 1921, Case received a phone call from The Master Rococzy. Case later met The Master R. in person at the Hotel Roosevelt in NYC (Madison and Lexington Avenues 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."
- Lilli Geise;
Case married a soror from Alpha et Omega named Lilli Geise. On May 9, 1924 Lilly Geise died.
- Harriet B. Case (1893-1972)
In 1943 Case married Harriet.
- Ann Davies (1912-1975)
In 1943 Case was introduced to Ann Davies. She walked into one of his classes with her sister. Later, Ann and her small daughter Bonnie moved into the Cases' house where they helped by fixing meals, mimeographing lessons, etc.
- Masonic Affiliations
According to the membership archives of the Grand Lodge, F. & A.M. of California and an unpublished biography of Case written by the archivist of the Builders of the Adytum.
Fairport Lodge No. 476, Fairport, New York.
- Initiated: March 22, 1926
- Passed: April 12, 1926
- Raised, June 28, 1926
Hollenbeck Lodge No. 319, Los Angeles
- Affiliated: September 5, 1944
- Demitted: June 2, 1953
Eagle Rock Lodge No. 422, Los Angeles
- Affiliated: June 2, 1953
Case's writings
Articles:
- Article on Tarot in "The Word" (1916)
- Article on Tarot (revised) in "Azoth Magazine" (1918)
Books:
- The Kybalion (1912) [with William A. Atkinson]
- 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)
- The Book of Tokens (1934)
- The Great Seal of the United States (1935)
- 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
His legacy
Case left behind extensive published writings on Tarot and Qabalah and even more unpublished writings that are circulated today through the Mystery School he founded.
See also
Bibliography
External History Sites
- From the Golden Dawn
- From a Tarot enthusiast
- From the Esoteric Golden Dawn
- From the Masons
- A Case Enthusiast
External links
Original texts
Writings of Case and his contemporaries
Online resources
Online information on Case and his work
- Builders of the Adytum (BOTA)
- Fraternity of the Hidden Light (F.L.O.)
Credits
A tremendous vote of thanks must be offered to Lee Moffitt for the research conducted into the life of Dr. Case. Much of the preceding was initially based upon the extraordinary work efforts of Lee Moffitt.
