Other decks than the Thoth?

[Barleywine]

As a Thoth purist for 40 years I never turned to another deck until I joined AT last year. I have owned the Magickal tarot for a while, and now the Golden Dawn Magical tarot (whatever happened to imaginative and atmospheric deck titles?) but haven't really spent any time with them. I've been having a good time lately with the RWS and the Morgan Greer (well, as of one day ago with the MG). I decided to read the PKT again to see if I can catch a few more fish; last time I think I was using too loose a seine and a lot of the meaning escaped. But it was the third tarot book I ever read, way back in 1972, and the Book of Thoth soon left it in the dust.

[LRichard]

Originally Posted by Emily

I know they are mentioned in The Book of Thoth but there are many that use the Thoth deck that don't read The Book of Thoth and other Thoth books only touch on the Decans. The Decans on the Liber T are very visible on the Minor cards.......

They also are very visible on the Thoth Pips. For example, on the 7 of Wands, Mars in Leo refers to the last 10° (final Decan) of Leo and is taken to indicate Valour.

[LRichard]

My favorite deck, the RWS, has certain similarities with the Thoth. For example, the scenic pips in the Rider-Waite attempt to illustrate the same decanates as those indicated by the astrological glyphs on the Thoth pips. Also, both decks draw heavily on the Golden Dawn's Qabalistic correlations for the majors. However, the philosophical focus of the Thoth is Thelemic, whereas the Waite seems to lean more toward Valentinian Gnosticism.

[mahou_shoujo]

I really like the Thoth deck. It is what has drawn me to tarot (though i have hardly yet begun to scrape the surface of understanding the deck)

The RWS doesn't appeal to me as much. I will probably end up getting one eventually, but im going to try not to ! The art just doesn't speak to me, though I really haven't given it much of a chance.

Since I found out about AT forums, however, I've discovered the beauty of the Tarot de Marseille and the more traditional/historic decks. My first will be the Flornoy Noblet (its in the mail).It is radically different from the Thoth and thus provides a nice contrast.

I also have Deviant Moon which i like quite a bit.

[closrapexa]

I am very biased towards the Thoth, and although I have seen the Liber T, it just didn't have the "power" the original does. I've written at length in other posts what makes it special (some of the longest posts I've written) so I won't go into that now. Suffice it to say that calling it special is the understatement of the century.

I think it was in Lotus Padma`s thread about why would you love the Thoth that I joked that there isn't enough room in AT`s servers to hold all I have to say about it; I find myself constantly having to abbreviate myself when talking about it. If anyone has a spare year to hear my stories about it, just ask (:

As to clones, the only one I have seen that could hold a candle to it is the Amun-Ra deck, which is not to be published. That deck, for me, is the only clone I could ever want, my ultimate Tarot Holy Grail. If I were to lay my hands on it... oh what joy! But sadly it is not to be...

[frac_ture]

Originally Posted by periwinkling

Oh no, just discovered the lovely Greenwood tarot... But it's out of print and very sought after it seems :/

periwinkling, I don't know if you're aware of it, but the Wildwood Tarot is (assuming I understand this correctly, as I don't own it) essentially an updated version of the Greenwood, and one of the Greenwood's creators, Mark Ryan, was also one of the core creators of the Wildwood. If you're drawn to the Greenwood, then the Wildwood might be a more readily available and more attractively priced alternative...? I've been tempted by it myself, off and on, although I haven't bit at that particular hook just yet. Here are some relevant links:

Wildwood card images
Aeclectic reviews for Wildwood


And a quick note to add that some discussion I found on these boards recently about the Liber T got me to purchase the deck. Strange as this may sound, I wasn't yet into Tarot when the Tarot of Stars Eternal was introduced, and while I understood that it was Thoth-based, I just somehow never grasped that it was more like "Thoth, but with New, Scenic Minors!!" That appealed to me a lot (I <3 me some scenic minors...), so I snapped it up, and I'm really enjoying it! I've been finding that it's also got me pulling out my Thoth deck itself a lot more than I had been, so I can compare and contrast -- each one is shining a light on the other. I've so far wanted to be a Thoth person, but the RWS system was what I imprinted on first (not on purpose -- it just happened that way). The Liber T may turn out to be the driving force behind me finally truly getting my Thoth on...

And other decks that might also be worth considering as decks with their own vibe that borrow Thoth or Golden Dawn elements, but are not straight-up Thoth clones would be the Navigators Tarot of the Mystic SEA and the I Am One Tarot. I like both of these, although neither one is a cakewalk right out of the box...

[Eeviee]

Look up Etteilla: Book of Thoth Tarot by Lo Scarabeo. It's a reproduction of Etteilla's original deck. It was the first deck that had esoteric and divinitory meanings. I've read that it was a deck that Thoth and RWS based some of their ideas off of.