Starting with the Thoth Tarot

Quickening666

Hi everyone

I registered on this forum a few days ago and have been reading it for about a month. Finally decided to post.

I bought my first tarot deck when I was sixteen but at that time I knew nothing about it. It just so happened that the first deck I picked up was Aleister Crowley's Thoth Deck (a small version published by AGMuller which I still own).

Over the years I have used a couple of other decks namely the Waite and Mythic Tarot but I am always drawn back to the Thoth. It just feels like the right deck for me.

However I find its nature quite complicated. I have Aleister Crowley's Book of Thoth and have read it countless times although I am still far away from an understanding of it and it doesn't seem too helpful in terms of divination with the Thoth deck.
I have numerous books on the tarot, the most helpful of which I have found to be Keywords for the Crowley Tarot by Hajo Banzhaf and Brigitte Theler. And so while I have no trouble actually using the cards as such, I do feel like I am missing out by not understanding the cards in the way that Crowley intended them to be understood.

I am very interested in the Kabbalah, numerology and astrology but I find the Book of Thoth to be too overwhelming. I guess what I am asking is if anyone could recommend any works that are easier to begin understanding the Kabbalah.

Ultimately I would like a complete understanding of the Thoth Deck and not just the ability to use it in divination. In hindsight, the Thoth deck would probably be the last tarot deck I would choose to begin with because of its complexities but that is what happened and now it is "my" deck.
Nowadays I use the large Thoth deck published by US Games (the green box).

I hope the above was somewhat coherent :) Really, I am just asking if anyone has any advice as all for using and understanding the Thoth deck as intended.

Thanks


David
 

Grigori

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=87268

Have a look in this thread Q666. I'd recommend getting Duquette's book, and maybe this new Snuffin one.

Wang's Qabalistic Tarot is good too, and compares the Thoth, with the Riderwaite, and Golden Dawn decks (Also Marseille, but as a foot note more than anything)
 

caridwen

Quickening666 said:
Really, I am just asking if anyone has any advice as all for using and understanding the Thoth deck as intended.

Hi David, welcome to AT:)

I'd be interested to know what it is Crowley devised the deck for?:)
 

Shaymus

Hi David,

Welcome to AT. I would also recommend Duquette's book. It's an interesting read.

Shaymus
 

Quickening666

similia said:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=87268

Have a look in this thread Q666. I'd recommend getting Duquette's book, and maybe this new Snuffin one.

Wang's Qabalistic Tarot is good too, and compares the Thoth, with the Riderwaite, and Golden Dawn decks (Also Marseille, but as a foot note more than anything)

Thanks for pointing out that thread.

caridwen said:
Hi David, welcome to AT:)

I'd be interested to know what it is Crowley devised the deck for?:)

Hi. Thanks.

Wrong wording perhaps. What I mean is that he put a lot of symbolism into the cards and I would ultimately like to understand them all and their backround.
 

Abrac

Hi Q666 and welcome. :)

My suggestions would be to read as much reliable information as you can get your hands on about Crowley the man. As you are starting to realize, much of what Crowley himself writes is deliberately misleading and confusing. I think it would be very difficult to make heads or tails of the Crowley Tarot without first knowing where he is coming from, how he got there, and why. There are a few decent biographies out there. The one by Francis X. King, while not being very long, is reliable. There is another one called Perdurabo that is supposed to be one of the best, but it's out of print and costs a fortune if you can find it. I just started one called Do What Thou Wilt by Lawrence Sutin which, so far, is excellent.

I commend you on your quest to understand the Crowley Tarot. Like him or not, Crowley is a figure that anyone interested in the subject of magick or the occult must come to terms with at one point or another.
 

Quickening666

Abrac said:
Hi Q666 and welcome. :)

My suggestions would be to read as much reliable information as you can get your hands on about Crowley the man. As you are starting to realize, much of what Crowley himself writes is deliberately misleading and confusing. I think it would be very difficult to make heads or tails of the Crowley Tarot without first knowing where he is coming from, how he got there, and why. There are a few decent biographies out there. The one by Francis X. King, while not being very long, is reliable. There is another one called Perdurabo that is supposed to be one of the best, but it's out of print and costs a fortune if you can find it. I just started one called Do What Thou Wilt by Lawrence Suttin which, so far, is excellent.

I commend you on your quest to understand the Crowley Tarot. Like him or not, Crowley is a figure that anyone interested in the subject of magick or the occult must come to terms with at one point or another.

Thanks for your suggestions Abrac!

Yeah the character of Crowley has always fascinated me. Im certainly not put off by him. My understanding of him at the moment is that he was a bit of an eccentric (to put it mildly). And sure he was no Saint, but who is?
 

Aeon418

similia said:
I'd recommend getting Duquette's book, and maybe this new Snuffin one.
I've just finished Snuffin's, The Thoth Companion. It complements DuQuette's Thoth book quite nicely. DuQuette is good at providing a general overview and background information, but doesn't cover everything indepth. Snuffin, particularly with the majors, focuses on individual details. But he assumes the reader is already up to speed with the basics of qabalah and Thelema. That's where Lon's book comes in handy for the beginner.
 

ravenest

Originally Posted by caridwen

I'd be interested to know what it is Crowley devised the deck for?

A.C. explained that in BoT
 

caridwen

ravenest said:
Originally Posted by caridwen

I'd be interested to know what it is Crowley devised the deck for?

A.C. explained that in BoT

My apologies I can't seem to find where he explains - would you be so kind as to direct me to the passage where he outlines what he specifically devised the Thoth for?