Comparison: Thoth, TOS, Parrott, Navigators of the MysticSea

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 28 Sep 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

darwinia	28 Sep 2003
I recently got the Thoth deck and have been enjoying comparative study of its cards with the Tarot of the Spirit deck. Then the Parrott Tarot caught my eye for the same reason, and although the order isn't in yet, I expect it to be interesting to work with all 3. (The Rohrig deck is Thoth based but I found it too.....artsy or something to tie in well. Maybe it's just a matter of the other cards being a similar size, whereas the Rohrig is huge in comparison.) Now I am looking at the Navigators of the Mystic Sea deck, partly for reasons of colour, and partly for the fact that the art is whimsical like the Parrott, and partly because it might be interesting to study with the other 3, so I'd have 4 decks for comparison. Kind of like learning four different languages that are similar, but you can use them individually or for travel through Europe all at once. I am very fond of a quote from Samuel Taylor Coleridge: "From whatever place I write you will expect that part of my 'travels' will consist of excursions in my own mind." I wondered if anyone else used these 4 decks together at all, or perhaps two or more in combination? It seems unlikely, but I'd be interested in comparative comments about the decks and how they work together, their symbolism, or whatever you think is neat about them when used together in some combination. Thanks.

WolfSpirit	12 Oct 2003
I have the Thoth, tarot of the Spirit and Parrott too. I haven't used them in combination but since the meanings of the decks are so close together I compare them in my mind when I use them even when I don't want to. I would say the Thoth has the most beautiful majors but with so much symbolism in them I would need more time to understand them fully (haven't had the deck long). The TOS on the other hand has minors I really love especially the air (swords) suit, I never thought I would see so much in minors that have no scenes in them. The meanings correspond with the thoth but tend to be more positive. I haven't had the Parrott for long, the minors follow the Thoth closely but in a more playful way. Still I think it is one of those decks that look playful but can give sharp readings just the same. If you like Thoth-based decks maybe you should check out the Swedish witch ? It follows the Thoth meanings but big difference is that it has scenes on the minors and, of course, it looks much less serious. I find it a very honest deck despite its "sweet" appearance. I am at the moment waiting for the Haindl to arrive, which I believe is also Thoth based and full of symbolism, and I am very curious how that will work for me.

darwinia	13 Oct 2003
Aha!! Someone who has the combination. Well, I just got the Navigators Tarot of the Mystic SEA yesterday. WOW, what a neat deck, and I also bought the full book, so it was a bit expensive, but worth it. I've been trying and trying to get the Parrott. It doesn't seem to be available from distributors, so I wrote Thom and he hasn't answered. The tarot shop I go to wants a small wholesale order, so I wrote him to get information on that for the shop owner, but I understand from someone else that he travels a lot, so doesn't reply too quickly. I'll hang on for a month but I'm losing interest if it's not readily available. I'm not interested in the Swedish Witch, but that's neat that it is Thoth based, I never knew that. I have the Haindl (it was my second deck!), and I love the art. The only thing I don't like is the Stones suit which is very pip-like except for the Court cards, but it's still a beautiful deck. I also have the two Rachel Pollack books that go with it, and if you like the deck I would recommend those, they are excellent. I think some people don't like the minors in the TOS because they are more abstract, but I find the swirling colours and designs very appealing. The book is fabulous, one of the best books I have for a deck, but it can also apply to other decks in a general way. I have found it to be much more positive than the Thoth too. I do an occasional card study with another fellow and it's amazing to compare the two decks, I like to get a different feeling from the TOS and augment the study. Thanks for your comments, if I can ever track down the Parrott in Canada, or get my tarot store to buy it for me, I'll let you know how I like it. I don't want to mail order from the US as it gets too expensive.

Rusty Neon	13 Oct 2003
My three mental decks are all Golden Dawn based: the Rider-Waite and the Thoth and the virtual deck: OGD's Book T. The RWS and Thoth are two constrasting approaches to depict what are, in general, OGD divinatory meanings. Those two decks that are the GD comparative decks for me. However, I find the Napo deck and Gill deck kewl as well. The Napo's pip cards are RWS-based illustrations with OGD keywords added, sort of combining RWS and Thoth. To round things out, I find the Gill tarot deck interesting as its pip cards focus on numbers, have OGD-based keywords, and have colour schemes reflecting Golden Dawn colour scales. (Although the magic aspects don't interest me, Lon Duquette's deck is also kewl for its OGD/Thoth keywords, non-pictorial pips, and Golden Dawn colour scales.) And now if I could only get the Hermetic deck to round out these "if you combine them they'd make an ideal OGD deck" decks. I got the Tarot of the Spirit deck, and look through it once in a while for comparing, but it doesn't click for me because of its art. I'm not keen about the Parrot deck's art (too amateurish), but I'd buy the deck on the spot anyway, if I ever saw it live in a store; maybe I should try the pet stores :).

darwinia	13 Oct 2003
I love the Gill deck, it's the one I use for readings. I think the minors in the Gill are great and I always seem to see symbolism in them considering they are so simple. I just got the Gill book in the mail last week after ordering it from Chapters, and I like her take on things in that, human nature, life etc. I'd like the Hermetic deck too, a friend of mine bought it on eBay and posts scans occasionally, it's a very fine deck and challenging, which is something I look for in decks, plus it's black and white which is different. The Parrott tarot has very amateurish looking faces on people, but that's part of its charm. Too bad their marketing setup isn't great. Of course, nobody cares about marketing to Canadians, there are so few of us.

WolfSpirit	13 Oct 2003
If you want humans in the right proportions then the Parrott is not your deck - I thought the animals were drawn better than the people :laugh: I did not like it at first but it grew on me. I don't think it is marketed in Europe either but there is a seller on ebay from the UK so that was a cheap way for me to get the deck. I started with rws and rws based decks, but at the moment I seem to be drawn more to Thoth based decks. I don't like the way some of the minors are drawn in the rws, they set my mind in a certain direction so I now get a preference for decks with no scenes on the minors - although I also love the merryday and the ancestral path, which take a lot after the rws but with some original takes. I am looking forward to the Haindl deck and the accompanying books by Pollack, I think that will be very interesting.

Sulis	14 Oct 2003
Quote: Originally posted by WolfSpirit If you like Thoth-based decks maybe you should check out the Swedish witch ? It follows the Thoth meanings but big difference is that it has scenes on the minors and, of course, it looks much less serious. I find it a very honest deck despite its "sweet" appearance. A couple more decks which follow the Thoth meanings but with illustrated minors are The Light and Shadow by Michael Goepferd and Brian Williams and The Cosmic Tarot by Norbert Losche. I love both of these decks, especially the Cosmic. One of the things which really annoys me about most Thoth based decks is the use of keywords, I really don't like keywords, I find them hard to get past and they limit the meanings for me. Love and light Sulis

darwinia	14 Oct 2003
Isn't that strange, I like keywords for some reason. I know some people even cut the borders with keywords off decks, but that seems a bit extreme to me. It is possible to train the mind to ignore anything, from ignorant people, to printed words on cards. I have found that certain people very easily wink out of the universe, they simply don't exist any more, same with keywords if you choose, and there's no effort or deliberation to doing it. I might skim the title keyword and then focus on the art picking the details and colour up and ignoring the word, and the word disappears and doesn't seem to matter. It's a focus thing, like squinting to determine colour value in a picture, or making your sight fuzzy to see those 3D pictures and posters. The little switch clicks in the brain and you see something different. Like breathing fresh air, it happens. And WolfSpirit, I agree with you about the Parrott people, I prefer the animals and in particular the Centaurs on the Mentor cards, I thought they were pretty neat. In fact, I thought the whole idea of the Mentor cards interesting. I balked for months about getting the Thoth, but it's interesting, and I didn't deliberately decide I wanted every single Thoth-based deck, I just happened upon a few that seemed different than the norm, and I like that. I see none of you have the Navigators deck. I'm really pleased with it, the art and symbolism is very detailed and rich, as are the colours. It's quite an original, nothing really compares to it.

The Comparison: Thoth, TOS, Parrott, Navigators of the MysticSea thread was originally posted on 28 Sep 2003 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.