Hi! Looking for a structure on which to hang information....

radix46

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tarotreader2007

I am very similar in my approach to Thoth at least where I needed to understand how the system worked, at least, a basic knowledge, before I could "allow" myself to use them. While we differ in our uses, as I only really use it as another cosmological system and for divination purposes, I found Duquette's book about the Book of Thoth, written by Crowley, absolutely awesome in it's explanation of the system. For you, you would probably be fine skipping about a third or so of the book but it really ties a lot of the deck together quite nicely IMO.

Peace and Love,

tarotreader2007
 

Grigori

Some other books that are useful for GD decks are

Cicero's Golden Dawn Ritual Tarot
Wang's Qabalistic Tarot
Case's The Tarot (for the majors at least).

Any of these I think is a good introduction to and application of the system, though I've listed them in my order of preference.

Zalewski's The Magical Tarot of the Golden Dawn is a mammoth textbook on the system. It might be a bit overwhelming to start with, but its a great resource to study from.
 

sapienza

I agree that DuQuette's book is a good place to start. I found the first part of the book (titled: Little Bits of Things You Should Know Before Beginning to Study Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot) a fantastic overview of the system and, more specifically of the Thoth deck. I'd also suggest Wang's Qabalistic Tarot which is not Thoth specific.

Another book I'd recommend if you made the choice to work with the Thoth deck is 'The Truth About Tarot' by Gerald Suster. It's a small book but packed with useful info. It's not a book that talks about specific cards but rather looks at how Qabalah, Astrology, Mythology etc can be used to work with the tarot system. The author is a big fan of Crowley and his deck, but I still think it's a good read for anyone interested in the Golden Dawn system.
 

ravenest

radix46 said:
Hi,
I have found with many other 'intuitive' things, such as riding a motorbike, skydiving or meditation, that I am simply not able to 'let go' and allow my mind to make the connections unless I have an holistic and quite detailed matrix of information on which to hang the experiences of actually engaging in doing whatever it is I am doing.

I guess, one way to start is to view the tree of Life as the frame work, a detailed matrix of information is all the things in the correspondence charts (like in Liber 777), learning astrology, simple 'hermetic' Hebrew, color theory, buddhist meditations, Greek and Egyptian Gods, number theory, etc, etc,
radix46 said:
I am interested in esoteric philosophy and symbolism etc and so am drawn to the GD system. I am total beginner and so when I see the tree of life, I can understand that a certain sephiroth links to a certain number and letter and planet etc, but..... so what? What does this mean practically? How is this information actually used in a reading?

You would need to develop a mind set, perhaps different from what you describe about your mental processes above. All the things I have mentioned above are seen as being able to be grouped together according to certain principles, ideas or catagories, this 'energy field' used t be described as a 'Damon'. So, a specific God, plant, decan, incense, number are all reflections of the same thing.

When one stars to work like this mentally it is very benificiall for tarot reading or divinination or developing 'natural' intelligence and intuition.

radix46 said:
Is there a source of information - a book or a website which succinctly brings together the esoteric structure and how this is used practically? Everything that I have read all seems to be very inpenetrable. If there isn't a single source, can anyone recommend a path of learning to go down in order to achieve a greater holistic understanding?

I am really stuck without understanding the whole, the roadmap, having the ability to see how all the bits of information fit together as a greater part.

There is sooooo much info out there, it all seems a bit overwhelming.
I am interested in Tarot primarily for self-discovery and as an aid to enlightenment, not particularly for the fortune telling side, although that also tickles me a little.

Any advice, comments or tales of experience would be much welcomed.
Peace

You have to get a handle on the basic perceptions requried first - logic and information might not be enough to understand this. I am always recommending 'The Philosophers Secret Fire - A History of the Imagination' as an excellent book to get an understanding on this way of looking at and observing things.