Editing A. E. Waite (section)

==Early life and education==
Arthur Edward Waite was born  on 2 October 1857 in Brooklyn, New York, America, to unmarried parents.{{sfnp|Gilbert|1986}} Waite's father, Capt. Charles F. Waite, died at sea when Arthur was very young, and his [[widow]]ed mother, Emma Lovell, returned to her home country of England, where he was then raised.{{sfnp|Gilbert|1986}} They were well enough off to educate Waite at a small private school in [[North London]].

When he was 13, he was educated for two terms at St. Charles' College.{{sfnp|Gilbert|1986|loc=fn. 4}} When he left school to become a clerk he wrote verse in his spare time. In 1863 Waite's mother converted to Catholicism and Arthur was raised a Catholic.{{sfnp|Caleb|2007|p=316 n. 2}} The death of his sister Frederika Waite in 1874 soon attracted him into psychical research. At 21, he began to read regularly in the Library of the [[British Museum]], studying many branches of [[Western esotericism|esotericism]]. In 1881 Waite discovered the writings of [[Eliphas Levi]].