As Eliot noted, "Waste Land" as two capitalized words comes from Weston's From Ritual to Romance where it is used a number of times. Here is an example from Chapter 11, "The Secret of the Grail:"
Can the importance of a cult capable of such far-reaching developments be easily exaggerated? Secondly, and of more immediate importance for our investigation, is it not evident that we have here all the elements necessary for a mystical development of the Grail tradition? The Exoteric side of the cult gives us the Human, the Folk-lore, elements -- the Suffering King; the Waste Land; the effect upon the Folk; the task that lies before the hero; the group of Grail symbols. The Esoteric side provides us with the Mystic Meal, the Food of Life connected in some mysterious way with a Vessel which is the centre of the cult; the combination of that vessel with a Weapon, a combination bearing a well-known 'generative' significance; a double initiation into the source of the lower and higher spheres of Life; the ultimate proof of the successful issue of the final test in the restoration of the King.
Source: From Ritual to Romance p. 149-150
Exploring The Waste Land
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File date: Sunday, September 29, 2002