Newbie to Thoth needs advice

Michellehihi

The Thoth was the first deck Lillie ever bought. She read with it for YEARS - VERY successfully - before she discovered you were "supposed" to study it. Try just using it ? I HAVE studied it, and when I use it, I don't use any of that stuff. Partly because even after doing the 78 card study with it, I still don't fully GET it, really :D

I am trying. This is one of my characteristics, I want to know and understand deeply the things. When I studied law, in my first year of university I wanted to buy all the law books that existed ( that was before internet). But really, it speaks of my own insecurity, right?

I have a question: who is Lillie?
 

gregory

Lillie doesn't come here any more so you'd notice, but was a VERY prolific poster about this deck in her time and really knows her stuff.

Sorry - most of the Thothies will be aware of her.... If you do a search on her name and look at her delightfully irreverent and very knowledgeable posts in the Thoth areas you may learn quite a bit.

Such as this (which may help you here:

This tzaddi business......

Personally I just think 'wuh????' and ignore it.

Really, I've read the BoT.
If Crowley can't get it straight in his own head, does he really think that I'm going to bother?

SUCH a good point })
 

Michellehihi

Lillie doesn't come here any more so you'd notice, but was a VERY prolific poster about this deck in her time and really knows her stuff.

Sorry - most of the Thothies will be aware of her.... If you do a search on her name and look at her delightfully irreverent and very knowledgeable posts in the Thoth areas you may learn quite a bit.

Such as this (which may help you here:



SUCH a good point })
Oh this helps, in fact it is self-empowering. In the sense that I am able to understand it, I have all that is needed inside of me.
 

Nemia

DuQuette's explanation of this pesky tzaddi business is easy to understand and makes sense. His book and Snuffin's make the Thoth more accessible without dumbing it down.

And while I don't know the book about the decans, I think a good working knowledge of the basic astrological terminology helps, and so does an understanding of each planet's and star sign's characteristics. Once you "know" Saturn or Venus and how they influence their surroundings, you can think for yourself what happens when they're in Cancer or Taurus. Add the number (i.e., the placement on the Tree of Life), and you have a pretty good idea of what's going on in a card. Seeing it depicted in the wonderfully complex but nevertheless coherent images of Frieda Harris is even better when you know how the planets wander through the signs, and together, they land on the Tree of Life's sphirot.

I think the Thoth is a great reading AND studying deck.

One more thing: it's fun and instructive to take out all the Saturn-influenced minors, all those under Jupiter's influence etc. Decan groups. Compare, find what they have in common, what not. It's a great addition to the easily visible elemental association of the suits - everybody knows that Swords is either Gemini or Libra or Aquarius. But seeing how the planetary influences play out just by looking at the cards is great.

I also put from time to time the minors on my study Tree of Life, sorted by numbers, just to get a better feeling for the connection between sphira and number.

As I said, Thoth is a studying tool of the first order.
 

smw

Hello everyone, I have a question. I have a Thoth deck, I never read with it because I feel I need to read Duquette's book and then Crowley's book before. I understand nothing of kabbalah and astrology. BUT if I wait to have read them it will take months for me to really integrate the knowledge. Do all of you have read the book before starting to use the deck???

I guess it depends on what you want from it. I did buy the BOT and Duquette's book quite quickly as I wanted to get some understanding of the background, concepts and history of the deck I had just bought. If you want to read just by intuition and borrow the images of the Thoth to do so, then that is a personal choice too.
 

Michael Sternbach

DuQuette's explanation of this pesky tzaddi business is easy to understand and makes sense. His book and Snuffin's make the Thoth more accessible without dumbing it down.

And while I don't know the book about the decans, I think a good working knowledge of the basic astrological terminology helps, and so does an understanding of each planet's and star sign's characteristics. Once you "know" Saturn or Venus and how they influence their surroundings, you can think for yourself what happens when they're in Cancer or Taurus.

Mind you, I did recommend getting familiar with basic astrology in my previous post, in addition to studying the decans in particular. So best, really, the OP would get both the book I recommended and Astrology for Dummies. And yes, what you are saying is basically correct, but sometimes it is far from obvious how an astrological attribution fits in with the meaning of a pip card. Knowing the elaborate astral magical imagery that is traditionally connected to the decans and putting it in relation to the symbolism on the cards can be very illuminating here.

Add the number (i.e., the placement on the Tree of Life), and you have a pretty good idea of what's going on in a card. Seeing it depicted in the wonderfully complex but nevertheless coherent images of Frieda Harris is even better when you know how the planets wander through the signs, and together, they land on the Tree of Life's sphirot.

I think the Thoth is a great reading AND studying deck.

One more thing: it's fun and instructive to take out all the Saturn-influenced minors, all those under Jupiter's influence etc. Decan groups. Compare, find what they have in common, what not. It's a great addition to the easily visible elemental association of the suits - everybody knows that Swords is either Gemini or Libra or Aquarius. But seeing how the planetary influences play out just by looking at the cards is great.

That sounds like a great exercise.

I also put from time to time the minors on my study Tree of Life, sorted by numbers, just to get a better feeling for the connection between sphira and number.

As I said, Thoth is a studying tool of the first order.

It certainly is... A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, as Ravenest once called it.
 

gregory

I guess it depends on what you want from it. I did buy the BOT and Duquette's book quite quickly as I wanted to get some understanding of the background, concepts and history of the deck I had just bought. If you want to read just by intuition and borrow the images of the Thoth to do so, then that is a personal choice too.
Sure - but it's not that dreadful a starting point. Then you see something and HAVE to look it up and so it goes on.
 

Michellehihi

This is so interesting that my heart aches (I don't know how to better express it).
 

Michael Sternbach

I guess it depends on what you want from it. I did buy the BOT and Duquette's book quite quickly as I wanted to get some understanding of the background, concepts and history of the deck I had just bought. If you want to read just by intuition and borrow the images of the Thoth to do so, then that is a personal choice too.

Why does it have to be one or the other? Get your right and left cerebral hemispheres in sync, mates. Especially if you wish to be good Thoth readers. ;)
 

smw

Sure - but it's not that dreadful a starting point. Then you see something and HAVE to look it up and so it goes on.

I didn't say it was a dreadful starting point - yes, things change as you go on that makes sense.