THE WAY OF DIVINE UNION by A.E. Waite with Introduction & notes by R.A. Gilbert

We can take up The way of Divine Union for what it is: the guide through the labyrinth of words that stand between the seeker and the goal. It is not, however, a manual of practice.  The author layers down no set of rules for any specific practical process for the seeker to follow, although he makes it clear that such processes do exist, which the diligent individual may discover or develop for himself or herself. The purpose of this book is, as Waite makes clear, an objective study of the theory of the Way. Waite’s claim to authority in the ‘mystical’ field came with the publication of alchemical texts that he edited and, and more rarely, translated. Waite’s first studies of alchemy appeared in 1888 with new editions of the Lives of Alchemistical Philosophers and of The magical writings of Thomas Vaughan. Waite also edited a series of texts by more material alchemists, culminating in The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus.

The Way of Divine Union is a systematic study of western occultism viewed as a spiritual tradition rather than as aspects of proto-science or as the pathology of religion.