Some Advice for the Beginner

I hate to start another "help the n00b" type thread, but I have read all the others and I was just hoping for some advice. I'm new to the Thoth in some ways, and not so new in others. I've had the Thoth and the Liber T (which I adore!) for a while now, along with about 8 other tarot decks. I've always been very attracted to the symbolism in tarot, but I admit that I am not as knowledgeable as I should be or would like to be. As such I'm renewing my efforts to really understand the Thoth deck in particular. Right now I have the Liber T, the purple-box Thoth deck, and a copy of The Crowley Tarot: The Handbook to the Cards by Banzhaf (a book I've since come to realize is not so popular in some circles). I also have an e-book copy of the Book of Thoth.

All that said, I haven't read anything yet. Considering my scant background knowledge, I'm thinking that I really need to start at a lower level and get my bearings before I try to read the Book of Thoth. So, what do you recommend? My plan was perhaps to read Duquette's Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot and maybe his Chicken Qabalah too hoping that after that I would have the background knowledge to really delve in a bit deeper. I think studying the Thoth from the angle of Hermetic Qabalah may be a great first step for me. After that I would love to look at the astrology angle. Are there any great books for the astrology of the Thoth (or really of tarot in general)? Goodness I feel so green asking these questions. *blush* Hopefully I'm not over-thinking all of this. Thanks for your help.

HEy Juliana I think you're on the right track. If you're wanting some help on the underlying structure of the Thoth, then Duquette is the best bet I think. For the Astrology side of things, Frawley's "The Real Astrology" is great, though it does assume a little previous knowledge, but that is also stuff you could google as you work through his book.

Duquette will als give you the basics on Crowley's magickal ideas and the "deities" of his system. I've just recently read Orpheus's "Abrahadabra" which does a good job of that also, but with a focus more on ritual than the Tarot.

Hope that helps

Juliana...
I'm recently new to the Thoth as well. And Duquette's "Understanding the Thoth" is a great resource. I'm merging astrological elements when I do my readings.
One Astrology book that can help (though not directly related to the Thoth) is "the only astrology book you will ever need" - Johanna Martine Woolfolk. It's a good break down of astrology related to relationships, health, and setting up natal charts, etc..
There are various editions out, but take a look to see what's out there. Lots of excellent resources and Aeclectic Forum folks are very supportive.

I'm glad you posted your question! I'm another NOOB.....I've got Duquettes book on the Thoth, but thinking about adding "the Chicken Qabbalh" (spelled wrong, don't care) by the same author. I seem to be really stuck on the astrology aspects in this deck as well...gonna have the find that Frawley book.

I'm thinking (k...not really ) that this deck will engender MANY books... !!YAY!!!

Grigori said:

For the Astrology side of things, Frawley's "The Real Astrology" is great, though it does assume a little previous knowledge, but that is also stuff you could google as you work through his book.

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There's a danger of overload at the beginning. Learning astrology is all well and good, but the Thoth Tarot only uses little bits of astrology for it's own purposes. While setting up and interpreting a horoscope is a useful skill, you certainly don't need it to work with the Thoth.

All that's really needed at the start is a basic knowledge of planet and zodiac sign characteristics. That, and a little knowledge of qabalah, will take anyone a loooooong way.

Aeon418 said:

There's a danger of overload at the beginning. Learning astrology is all well and good, but the Thoth Tarot only uses little bits of astrology for it's own purposes. While setting up and interpreting a horoscope is a useful skill, you certainly don't need it to work with the Thoth.

All that's really needed at the start is a basic knowledge of planet and zodiac sign characteristics. That, and a little knowledge of qabalah, will take anyone a loooooong way.

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I second Aeon, heartily.

If you want to start to play with Thoth, you'll have to memorize only a few things (but do it so thoroughly that you can do it in your sleep).

The Hebrew Alphabet, with their Golden Dawn English names (e.g. "Tzaddi = Fish hook")
The Sephiroth and Paths of the Tree of Life, according to the Golden Dawn.
The Ptolemaic order of the planets
The Zodiac with planetary rulers
The four elements and their equivalence to the Tetragrammaton.

And as Aeon said, all of these with their basic extended "characteristics" - i.e. the elemental assignations of the Zodiac signs, their basic descriptive qualities, etc.

This should take a few hours, then you can get on to the hard stuff

Ross G Caldwell said:

I second Aeon, heartily.

If you want to start to play with Thoth, you'll have to memorize only a few things (but do it so thoroughly that you can do it in your sleep).

The Hebrew Alphabet, with their Golden Dawn English names (e.g. "Tzaddi = Fish hook")
The Sephiroth and Paths of the Tree of Life, according to the Golden Dawn.
The Ptolemaic order of the planets
The Zodiac with planetary rulers
The four elements and their equivalence to the Tetragrammaton.

And as Aeon said, all of these with their basic extended "characteristics" - i.e. the elemental assignations of the Zodiac signs, their basic descriptive qualities, etc.

This should take a few hours, then you can get on to the hard stuff

Click to expand...

Thanks for the clear list! I'll be getting a Thoth soon from ebay, so I won't have the book. I hate to sound so clueless, but where can I get some super noob source for that (preferably online as I'm a poor student)? Is Duquette the best/most comprehensive book?

kaesrel said:

Thanks for the clear list! I'll be getting a Thoth soon from ebay, so I won't have the book. I hate to sound so clueless, but where can I get some super noob source for that (preferably online as I'm a poor student)? Is Duquette the best/most comprehensive book?

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I understand "poor student", believe me! I can't recommend Duquette from personal experience, since I don't have it; I've heard good things though, so I frequently recommend it on hearsay.

The Book of Thoth is necessary, of course; but it requires a lot of background knowledge, and itself requires mastery, so go one step at a time. This is where I've heard Duquette is good, providing the necessary background.

I think it's important to learn the Hebrew letter (in Hebrew, the form of it), name of the letter, and meaning of the letter, all at the same time (three columns - with the Tarot trumps, four columns). This way the whole thing will become cemented in your mind (I don't know about you, but I'm a visual person; visualizing the page(s) and recreating it from memory is the best way to memorize, I believe). In The Book of Thoth this is page 278.

A rule of thumb for memorizing the order of the Paths (Hebrew letters) on the Tree of Life, is that they follow the order top to bottom (of the Sephiroth), right to left (like Hebrew is read). So from Kether, the first Path is Aleph, coming from the right (our right) of Kether, goes to Chokmah. The second is Beth, coming out of Kether's right (our left), to Binah. The third is Gimel, going from the middle of Kether down to Tiphareth. The Paths of Heh, Yod, and Tzaddi seem to violate this rule of thumb, but that's what it is. The best way to learn it is to memorize it and draw it out again and again, until it is second nature.

Note - for a particular reason, Crowley switched the Tarot attributions of the Paths of Tzaddi and Heh on the Tree of Life. It's important not to be confused on this point too much - learn the alphabet first, in the right way "Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Heh, Vav, Zaying, Cheth..." etc. even though lists based on the Tarot order (like Book of Thoth p. 278) will seem to change the order of the alphabet ("Aleph, Beth, Gimel, Daleth, Tzaddi, Vav..." etc.). Don't learn it that way! Crowley didn't change the order of the Hebrew Alphabet or the Paths on the Tree of Life - they are inviolable. He just switched the Tarot associations of the Letters/Paths Heh and Tzaddi (along with the astrological ones, belonging to the Tarot card (the chart on p. 278 has an error in this case)) - so Aries-Emperor now belongs to the Path of Tzaddi, and Aquarius-Star belongs to the Path of Heh.

Sorry for the confusion, but this point troubles a lot of people, and the simplest way to learn it is to learn the old attributions first, and thoroughly, then study why Crowley made the change and what it means.

The planetary rulers of the signs and the order of the planets can be learned efficiently at the same time. Once you memorize the signs of the Zodiac in order, (Aries to Pisces), and the order of the planets in ancient times, you can easily find the planetary rulers of the signs.

The order is the classical cosmos (geocentric), visualized as 10 "spheres", beginning from a "Prime Mover" at 1 and coming ever closer, through the planets, to the Earth, at 10.

1 - Prime Mover
2 - Fixed Stars
3 - Saturn
4 - Jupiter
5 - Mars
6 - Sun
7 - Venus
8 - Mercury
9 - Moon
10 - Earth

Only 3 to 9, or Saturn to the Moon, concern the Zodiac. They follow the same order from bottom to top (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars etc.), with the Sun out of order, with 5 planets ruling two signs each, with the Sun and Moon ruling one sign each (it's better to draw it, I'll try to suggest something here).

So draw this out -

Leo - Sun (6) . Cancer - Moon (9)
Virgo Gemini - Mercury (8)
Libra Taurus - Venus (7)
Scorpio Aries - Mars (5)
Sagittarius Pisces - Jupiter (4)
Capricorn Aquarius - Saturn (3)

The Zodiac here counts in a circle counterclockwise, like (count up from 1 - Aries, around the circle):

5 - 4
6 - 3
7 - 2
8 - 1
9 - 12
10 -11

(if you write it out like this, one number at a time, starting with 1, you'll understand how it's a "circle")

You can see that "winter" is at the bottom, and the height of "summer" is at the top - this is a depiction of the year. The slowest planet, Saturn, rules the two most wintry signs (this system was invented in the northern hemisphere), Capricorn and Aquarius. They count "up" from there - 3,4,5,7,8,9 - the Sun is out of order, ruling Leo.

This is the simplest way to visualize the concept of classic planetary rulerships. Crowley and other modern astologers have tried to adapt the system to the new planets discovered in the 18th and 20th centuries (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (now demoted)), but the old way should be learned before trying to change it.

Tetragrammaton (Four-lettered name of God):
Yod - Heh -Vav - Heh (final; often written "Heh final")
Fire - Water - Air - Earth
Knight - Queen - Prince - Princess
Red - Blue - Yellow - Green (Green in Thelemic system; old system had a four part "Olive, Citrine, Russet, Black")
Atziluth - Briah - Yetzirah - Assiah (four Kabbalistic worlds)
etc.

Hope this helps!

Ross

Oh wow Ross, that's amazing! Thank you so much for that information, it was all very clear.

I'll need some time to really digest it, but thanks, it definitely gave me a more manageable starting point!

kaesrel said:

Oh wow Ross, that's amazing! Thank you so much for that information, it was all very clear.

I'll need some time to really digest it, but thanks, it definitely gave me a more manageable starting point!

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Glad to be of help! I realize it is a lot - and the vast number of sites on the internet don't help, if you don't know what is appropriate to the system and what isn't.

One thing I forgot to mention about the Sephiroth (don't be confused about the spelling, you will find "sefirot" (singular sefira) on sites dedicated to Jewish Kabbala), is how they are arranged - this is important for the GD-Crowley understanding of the pip cards of the four suits.

They saw it as a process of creation, the Tree of Life, and visualized the process as a flaming sword, like a lightning strike, coming down (reflecting the flaming sword guarding the way to the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:24). It is also the basis of Crowley's "Naples Arrangement", by which he described the process of creation in 10 events. You can also see it as a diagram of the full human being as a microcosm - the Tree is superimposed on an image of a person (hence the viewer's left is the tree's right, and vice-versa).

Draw a circle at the top center - the Crown, Kether -

................................. 1
...............................Kether

Now draw another circle down and to the right, a few inches; this is Chokmah, the first "emanation", Wisdom:

................................. 1
...............................Kether
...............................................2
...........................................Chokmah

The path that joins them is Aleph (meaning "Ox"), Tarot card The Fool (profound paradox, isn't it?).

Mirroring Chokmah exactly on the other side is the third emanation, Binah, Understanding -

................................. 1
...............................Kether
.......................3.......................2
....................Binah...............Chokmah

Daleth, the fourth letter, connects Chokmah and Binah, and Beth connects Kether and Binah. But where is Gimel, the third letter? Gimel is Kether shining directly onto Tiphareth, in the "world" below - Tiphareth hasn't yet occurred in the stages of emanation, but the light is already shining "on the face of the waters" (the Abyss) below.

These three are collectively known as the Supenals, and they represent the three cards Ace, 2 and 3 in the four worlds. Because Kether is the source, the GD called the Aces the "Root of the Powers" of the four elements.

Now you follow the zig-zag pattern in an equilibrated way down, like a lightning bolt -

................................. 1
...............................Kether
.......................3.......................2
....................Binah...............Chokmah
...................................................
................................................4
............................................Chesed

From three to four, there is no path (letter) - this distinguishes the Supernals from the world below - this space between 4 and 3 is called "The Abyss" (or "The Veil of the Abyss"), in which there is a "false sephira", Da'ath, "Knowledge".

Chesed means "mercy", and a major doctrine of the Tree of Life is that it has three "pillars" - the pillar of Mercy, the pillar of Severity, and the Middle Pillar, of equilibrium between these extremes.

The name of the right-hand pillar (our left, the Tree's right) comes from number 5, Geburah (Severity):

................................. 1
...............................Kether
.......................3.......................2
....................Binah...............Chokmah
...................................................
.......................5.......................4
..................Geburah...............Chesed

Mercy and Severity are balanced. You can see how the zig-zag of the Tree is working out now.

Next Kether is directly reflected in the 6th Sephira, Tiphareth, "Beauty".

.................................. 1
................................Kether
.......................3.......................2
....................Binah...............Chokmah
...................................................
.......................5.......................4
..................Geburah...............Chesed
....................................6..............
...............................Tiphareth

This is the first visible sephira on the Middle Pillar (Kether is understood to be invisible), and is taken to represent our central self, our heart. It is perfect balance, and is the 6 in the four suits.

From there the lightning flash, the flaming sword continues down on the Pillar model -

.................................. 1
................................Kether
.......................3.......................2
....................Binah...............Chokmah
...................................................
.......................5.......................4
..................Geburah...............Chesed
....................................6..............
...............................Tiphareth
................................................7
............................................Netzach

Netzach, "Victory", and


.................................. 1
................................Kether
.......................3.......................2
....................Binah...............Chokmah
...................................................
.......................5.......................4
..................Geburah...............Chesed
....................................6..............
...............................Tiphareth
.......................8........................7
.....................Hod..................Netzach

Hod, "Splendour" (a better translation is "awe")

Then the flash continues with another Middle Pillar sephira:

.................................. 1
................................Kether
.......................3.......................2
....................Binah...............Chokmah
...................................................
.......................5.......................4
..................Geburah...............Chesed
....................................6..............
...............................Tiphareth
.......................8........................7
.....................Hod..................Netzach
....................................9
.................................Yesod

Yesod, "Foundation". All of this is just the preparation for the grounding of the lightning flash, in Malkuth,

.................................. 1
................................Kether
.......................3.......................2
....................Binah...............Chokmah
...................................................
.......................5.......................4
..................Geburah...............Chesed
....................................6..............
...............................Tiphareth
.......................8........................7
.....................Hod..................Netzach
....................................9
.................................Yesod
....................................10
.................................Malkuth

"The Kingdom", the 10s of the pip cards.

So it is a process of creation from the top down, from a point, an idea, down to a real thing, symmetrically arranged.