Thoth study group

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 08 Feb 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Lilliana	08 Feb 2002
I'm not sure how to start a study group here, but I was thinking that a thoth group would be great. Especially since this particular deck is so rich with deeper meanings and perspectives......I would love to hear if any of you guys are interested. Lilli

Jewel	08 Feb 2002
I think a Thoth Study group would be great! I have been wanting to tackle this deck for a long time, but with the other study groups that I am participating in at the moment (78 Degrees of Wisdom, Tarot for Yourself, and the Cosmic Tribe groups) I would not have the time to participate and study as I would like to. If you do get the group started don't be surprised if the posts start resurfacing much later when I can finally dedicate my time to this wonderful deck. Love & Light,

Kiama	08 Feb 2002
I'd love to be in the study group, but I probably wouldn't have anything to post. I'm one of those people who usually just read what other people say in study groups, unless I have something very important to say. I also think Qabalah shold be stuied in depth with this group, cuz each Major in the Thoth corresponds to a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and I'd love to see what others think about the correspondances! Kiama

Strange2	08 Feb 2002
I would definitely be interested in a Thoth study group. The Thoth deck is my favorite deck, and though I've had it for over 20 years, it is always revealing new aspects and leading me to new discoveries. Count me in.

Liliana	08 Feb 2002
I know absolutely nothing about Thoth, own no books on it, but I do have a Thoth deckaround that belongs to my husband. I never really liked it much, but maybe taking part in a study group on it will help me like it a bit more. So, sure, I'll join.

Greenman	08 Feb 2002
"I am Liliana, not Lilliana" thanks for putting that in, cause i was confused as hell for a minute (easy to do, lol). and yeah, i might be interested in a Thoth study group myself. keep us posted Lill..., uh, Lili..., eh, Lilll..., oh hell, keep us posted!

kayne	08 Feb 2002
Count me in! I am very new to this deck and have really only studied the Majors so far... it is such an intreguing deck! I would love to hear the ideas and thoughts from the Aeclectic Community about Thoth (and maybe even contribute some of my own...) Great idea Lilliana :)

silvereye	09 Feb 2002
I'd love to participate in the group. are we going card by card or working on spreads?

Lilliana	11 Feb 2002
I'm glad that you guys are interested :) Since there are a few study groups already, it might be easier to wait awhile before starting another one. I'd like to keep my eye on the current study groups to learn how to run one properly first. I'll let you guys know when I'm ready to start one. Lilli

Jewel	11 Feb 2002
Thanks for your initiative Lilliana. You may want to look at different study group FAQs which kind explain how a particular study group is designed to run. I do not believe there is a right or wrong way, just depends on what you want to get out of the group. Kiama, I would not recommend getting the Qabalah involved just yet. This deck is great for studying the Qabalah but the two together at the same time would be overwhelming for someone starting out both with the deck and with the Qabalah itself. Thirteen has mentioned that after his "sabatical" ~giggles~ he would probably like to guide us through a course on the Tarot and the Qabalah. Love & Light,

Talisman	11 Feb 2002
'Lo all, Just trying to be an instigator here, start an argument. (Greenman, LOL at your Liliana, Lilliana . . . What the L, I say, they are both Aeclectic treasures.) Aleister Crowley (and Paul Foster Case and others) considered the tarot a system of objective knowledge. (Who was it who said that if a man were locked away in a prison and had no other source of information but a tarot deck, he could access all the world's knowledge?) I come from the other school, which sees the cards as, in Rachael Pollock's phrase, an "archetype of experience." Thus, to continue quoting, "The tarot is both the total of all the different versions over the years, and an entity apart from any of them." I prefer illustrated Minor Arcana cards, and think the Smith-Rider revolution is hugely important to tarot. I'm not comfortable with forumlas and memorized meanings. Moderator jmd has brilliantly expressed his arguments in favor of the objective path. Sorry I can't match his obvious scholarship. Strange, huh? I'm as intuitive as a pet rock, and I'll strongly argue in favor of the intuitive approach. Illustrated minors and all that. Tapping into your subconscious. Applying your own experience to what you see in the cards. Talisman

Strange2	11 Feb 2002
Quote: (Who was it who said that if a man were locked away in a prison and had no other source of information but a tarot deck, he could access all the world's knowledge?) I'm fairly certain this was said by Eliphas Levi (pseudonym for Alphonse-Louis Constant). However, I'll need to do some spelunking through my stacks to verify this quote.

Liliana	18 Feb 2002
um, arewe going to start this? :)

starangel	19 Feb 2002
Hey, may I still participate in this study group? I might not be able to really give any expert sights on this, but a study group is about learning, right?!

Merlinda	19 Feb 2002
Hey, some of you guys are pretty funny.... I may have somethings to contrib ute...I believe there is a spirit of the tarot and also a spirit that governs each card.....it is a great way to access information! someone tell me if this interests you.......

Jewel	20 Feb 2002
Quote: starangel (19 Feb, 2002 23:12): Hey, may I still participate in this study group? I might not be able to really give any expert sights on this, but a study group is about learning, right?! Yep study groups are for learning so you need not be an expert ... all you need to be is interested and willing to participate. I think Lilliana is observing and participating in some of the other study groups and will let us all know when she is ready to get it off the ground. With 20 years of experience with the Thoth deck! WOW Strange2, in my book that qualifies you as an expert to help guide the group, help us gain new depths of knowledge. Talisman, maybe you can draw pictures on the minors of your Thoth deck and share them with us ~giggles~. No, honestly this is fabulous idea Lilliana. I really look forward to it. This is a deck I have always wanted to really "sink my teeth into" so to speak. Thanks for your leadership. Love & Light,

Strange2	20 Feb 2002
Quote: With 20 years of experience with the Thoth deck! WOW Strange2, in my book that qualifies you as an expert to help guide the group, help us gain new depths of knowledge. While I've had the Thoth deck for 20 years, sad to say it sat in a drawer for about 17 of those years! So maybe my socks are really in tune with Thoth ;D . Nonetheless, I'd be glad to actively participate in the Thoth study group, even if I don't consider myself an expert. Perhaps AmounrA (he of the fabulous 418 Tarot) can join in, as I think he's also experienced with the Thoth deck.

Greenman	20 Feb 2002
so invite your socks! Strange2 i'm curious as to what this old Thoth deck looks like. i have a friend with an early version of this deck from the early-middle 70's, and it's weird. the colors are barely that, with everything really brown looking. and the color separations are absolutely terrible, all blurring into each other. it reminds me of those spaghetti-westerns where some of the lips are out of sync and others aren't. anyway, it is very ugly, and i'd love to find one like it for myself. i know that there are also some black & white printings from the sixties, although i've never seen these (1st editions?), i've heard that they were printed on very thin stock. so i was wondering what yours was like.

Strange2	21 Feb 2002
Quote: Greenman (21 Feb, 2002 13:50): Strange2 i'm curious as to what this old Thoth deck looks like. I have an older US Games deck (white box) which I purchased around 1978, and when compared to the US Games deck which I purchased in 2001 you can definitely notice a greenish tinge and somewhat subdued colors as compared to the brighter colors of the new US Games or Swiss decks. The registration of the 1978 deck is fine. Check this page for samples from 4 different Thoth decks: http://artoftarot.com/tcolor.jpg Top left: Llewellyn version, 1970, printed in Hong Kong Top right: Samuel Weiser version, printed in US Bottom left: US Games version, large white box, "Green" Thoth (* this is the deck I have *) Bottom right: Swiss AGMuller version, blue box, brighter colors The back of the 1978 cards do not have any borders; the pattern goes all the way to the edge (full bleed). The 2001 deck backs have a white border, at least on the medium and mini decks. I prefer the full bleed back design. Does anyone have the Swiss Thoth large deck, and if so are the back of the cards full bleed or bordered?

Greenman	21 Feb 2002
i have the large Swiss (A.G Muller, about 7-8 years old), and it has the border (you're talking about the reverse, right?). i also have a newer 'small' deck by A.G Muller (Belgian printing), and it's the same. those older versions look alot like my friends, all brown and mushy. and while i haven't seen his for awhile, i recall them being even worse. however, at my age the memory starts to... uh, starts to... hummm, now what was that that my memory is starting to do? oh well, here's my favorite Thoth link... http://hungry.piranho.de/claas/olive_e.html

Lilliana	23 Feb 2002
Hi guys, I see you're still interested in a thoth group. The reason why I haven't started yet is because I've moved out of home and currently don't have internet access (that's also the reason why I haven't been posting much lately). At the moment, I've been logging on whenever I can at the library or net cafe (and let me tell you, it is one big hassle). So, it will be pretty hard for me to run a group at the moment. I don't know how long it will take until I'm connected again- it might be a few weeks or a few months. So you guys might wanna start a thoth group before then. Anyway, hopefully I will be connected again soon (not having the internet is really hard for me---I'm a net addict!), in the meantime, I'll try to log onto aeclectic to say hello every now and again. Lilli

The Thoth study group thread was originally posted on 08 Feb 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.