Thoth and Crowley

I was just going through a few old posts about the Thoth tarot and read somewhere that this deck has some old and threatening history to it. I would love to know about the thoth and Crowley history..


Thanks,
Shikhs...

Threatening history? How can a Tarot deck be threatening?

Some people become hysterical because they personally find Crowley threatening and then go on to project their own fears onto the Thoth deck. Speaking for myself, I have no problem with Crowley or how he lived his life. With this grown up attitude toward Crowley I find the Thoth Tarot to be one of the finest and most powerful decks ever created.

Sorry, i meant to say that Crowley had some threatening history to him. Not the deck. I would like to know about it..

I'm unsure what you mean by threatening history?

There is a mythology that surrounds Crowley. Some of it was spun by the man himself. Other parts of the myth are outright lies and falsehoods spread by his enemies. These same stories are still repeated to this day by people who can't be bothered to check their facts or view the matter without hysteria and personal bias against Crowley.

What do you already "think" you know about Crowley?

a_shikhs said:

Sorry, i meant to say that Crowley had some threatening history to him. Not the deck. I would like to know about it..

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Crowley was an intelligent man who was continually frustrated with the blinkered and fearful way people live their lives. He did not have time for certain trivialities coming between himself and his vision. His frustrations manifest themselves in many ways some being purposefully challenging and some geared towards not wasting one moment of experience. We all live our lives at a certain levels and are all met with varying degrees of love, hate, fear, anger, unity, experience, adversary etc. Crowley was no different.
In relation to the tarot, the Crowley-Harris Thoth reamains unsurpassed on many levels, including the depth of thought and level of devotion behind its creation. If every interpretation of the Tarot was as concentrated and detailed as the Thoth deck and the Book of Thoth, then people would spend less time on the 'perimeter'.

Aeon418 said:

What do you already "think" you know about Crowley?

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I dont know anything about Crowley. I was thinking of buying the thoth tarot and decided to go through the Thoth forum in order to get a better idea regarding this deck. I then stumbled over various threads stating some history about Crowley which make this deck so powerful, but nothing really was mentioned. So im just a little curious to know about him and the myths..

Hi Shikhs,

one of the best ways to approach the Crowley's Thoth deck is to read to the correspondence between him and the artist of the deck, Frieda Harris.

(two sites with the letters concerning the Thoth deck)

http://www.hermetic.com/crowley/crowley-harris.html
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/1896/crowhar.html

It is deep stuff, but it is a beginning and for Crowley studies, the only way is to jump in head first, in the deep end. I can't recommend starter books like - can't remember his name - because I haven't read them.

The Thoth deck is one of the most beautiful tarot creations ever. My advice -

1. Buy the deck (any version I guess)
2. Buy "The Book of Thoth" and study it. Follow up with the bibliography - mostly other Crowley books.
3. Study the Crowley-Harris letters.
4. Get "Magick Without Tears", which is another series of letters by Crowley, at the same time the deck was being created.
5. Learn something about the Steiner "projective" geometry Harris used to create the cards. I think some people have recommended sites in this thread before.

I hope you find the Thoth deck as deep and powerful as I have in my 27 years of study of it.

Ross

I agree with Ross on point number 1. Just buy the deck!!!
The mythos surrounding Crowley always divides people. You either like the guy or you don't. But most people who get their hands on a Thoth love it regardless of what they think of Crowley.

If you want to find out about Crowley why not start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley

Crowley's ideas on spirituality that are presented in the Thoth Tarot can be researched here:
http://www.thelemapedia.org/index.php/Main_Page

I remember posting something awhile back about Crowley being dangerous because he promoted individualism in a world of conformists.

The one thing Crowley is remembered for probably more than anything else is his Book of the Law with its dictum - "Do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law." This would certainly be threatening enough, but other things about Crowley (his self-proclaimed title, Great Beast 666, and the press's label of him as the wickedest man in the world) sealed the deal. It's interesting that a famous quote from the French humanist and satirist Francois Rabelais, "Do as you will" had been around already for several centuries before Crowley, but when Aiwass said it (through Crowley), he wasn't joking.

I've read that the Thoth tarot is supposed to be the Book of the Law in illustrated form. If this is the case, it's easy to see why some people would feel threatened.

-fof