Traps in the Thoth Deck?

La Force

ravenest said:
Robert Anton Wilson might have a better view on him ... but he himself is a bit of a trickster too ( he is a Discordian after all ;) - Hail Eris }) )

I like this bit from one of his books : (which might be relevant to the thread ? )

The Devil's Masquerade

When the shadows slink and slither,
And the goblins all parade;
Then reason is a broken reed
At the devil's Masquerade.

Don't believe the human eye
In sunlight or in shade.
The puppet show of sight and sense
Is the Devil's Masquerade.

Demons Drink from human skulls
And souls are up for trade.
Take wine and drugs and join us in
The Devil's Masquerade.

Only a Magus and a Knight trueborn
And a virgin unafraid,
Can walk unharmed amid the dance
Of the Devil's Masquerade.

Another way to approach the deck (and tradition) might be via ; "The pentacle of valour, the wand of intuition, the sword of reason and the cup of sympathy."
Click to expand...

I couldnt agree more, thanks for posting that poem up I havent read that in a year. :)
 

La Force

closrapexa said:
The Wilson video really is better. While Wilson speaks of Crowley with admiration, he still retains enough objectivity to call him out on bull. The other video I haven't seen in a while, but I remember it being quite sensational, and swinging between inaccuracies and outright lies. It is also surprising that they interview a priest, who's opinion almost seems to be scripted, so blatantly predictable it is. If I remember correctly, the film also refers to Ra-Hoor-Khuit as an evil spirit that possessed Crowley when he played with forces he couldn't control. In addition, it speaks of the Abramelin as a forbidden ritual hidden away by magicians for centuries. There was also something about the way the film dealt with Victor Neuburg that bothered me, although I don't remember why. Also it rehashes the same stories about Raoul Loveday which, although terrible, aren't actually terrible in the way they tell it.

Sorry I can't remember any more, I haven't seen it in a while, that's just what I can remember. I saw both the Loch Ness video and the Wickedest one about two years ago, and together, so I may be doing a little copy/paste between them. Both are pretty tabloid films, in my opinion.
Click to expand...

Aha we can agree, that when you listen carefully to the videos there is truth even though there is sugar coating going on, or scripting,
Listen between the lines. There is still good info. In those videos, to help understand AC, who, what, and why, he did what he did.

ETA: Don't be afraid, fear not of AC, read as much as you can, learn all that you can.
 

Teheuti

I have a Crowley story, told to me early in 1971 by someone I met at Atlantis Bookstore in London who had known Crowley personally and said he was quite a trickster. It seems that at some gathering there were two rather proper women who came up to Crowley wanting to know if he could really do magic. He told them he could turn wine into blood and surreptiously dropped some chemical into his white wine that turned it dark red. As they hurried away he turned to the person (who was telling me the story) and said, "You don't think they actually believed me, do you?"

Because this was one of my earliest introductions to Crowley (I was given his Book of Thoth around that same time), I think I've always seen him as a trickster figure.
 

La Force

Teheuti said:
I have a Crowley story, told to me early in 1971 by someone I met at Atlantis Bookstore in London who had known Crowley personally and said he was quite a trickster. It seems that at some gathering there were two rather proper women who came up to him wanting to know if he could really do magic. He told them he could turn wine into blood and surreptiously dropped some chemical into his white wine that turned it dark red. As they hurried away he turned to the person (who was telling me the story) and said, "You don't think they actually believed me, do you?"

Because this was one of my earliest introductions to Crowley (I was given his Book of Thoth around that same time), I think I've always seen him as a trickster figure.
Click to expand...

Hahaha lol roflmao, that's so Crowley, crack me up, I could just see their faces, I bet Crowley laught as the proper woman ran. thats so funny, Lol. You have got to have a sense of humor with Crowley.
 

ravenest

Teheuti said:
I have a Crowley story, told to me early in 1971 by someone I met at Atlantis Bookstore in London who had known Crowley personally and said he was quite a trickster. It seems that at some gathering there were two rather proper women who came up to him wanting to know if he could really do magic. He told them he could turn wine into blood and surreptiously dropped some chemical into his white wine that turned it dark red. As they hurried away he turned to the person (who was telling me the story) and said, "You don't think they actually believed me, do you?"

Because this was one of my earliest introductions to Crowley (I was given his Book of Thoth around that same time), I think I've always seen him as a trickster figure.
Click to expand...

:) I got one ... I had an old friend, now passed on, that was friend of Symmonds, he used to go with him for the occasional visit to Crowley ... he did not like him at all ... he always went on about ... 'Crowley stole my hash ! " - a very funny story IMO .

Also Symmons told Arthur to bring something so he bought a bottle of scotch ... Crowley tanked him and put it on the self ... Arthur was pissed as he expected him to open the bottle then and get a drink. Later he came by himself and Crowley opened the door, looked at him and said "What? No scotch?" and shut the door in his face. The next time he came with a bottle, crowley opened the door and took the scotch said thankyou and closed the door in his face :laugh:

Then there was the hash 'stealing' incident and he never went back .
 

ravenest

Then there is the guy that is in that old BBC radio doco about Crowley ... he went to visit with others and realised he was in immediate danger of some type of psychic homosexual advance ... he could feel himself weakening and being swayed that way (although outwardly no one was aware of the internal magical battle going on between them) ... he managed to escape with his heterosexaulity intact .... phew ! what a close call :laugh:

http://img0.etsystatic.com/019/1/8050031/il_fullxfull.495247460_4koj.jpg?ref=l2

http://www.izazael.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/the-devil-is-gay-fixler.jpg
 

Teheuti

We need more Crowley stories! These are great.
 

ravenest

The funny thing about Arthur was he would come up to my stall, admonish me for having anything to do with the deck or anything associated with Crowley "I know ... I saw it first hand ! " he would wail .... then sit down for a reading :laugh:

The hash story got put up somewhere here ages ago. Arthur and Symmonds went to 'see the Beast' and Arthur took a lump of hash. They did some business and had a smoke and then before they left Crowley insisted on showing them something in the garden and ushered them out the back door , showed them some plants and then led them from the garden to the street. Arthur was walking down the street and ... 'Hey ! My hash!'.

I think when he went back was the ' What? No Scotch ?' ... Who knows Arthur might have made it all up. :laugh:
 

Barleywine

Speaking of "traps" (although not unique to the Thoth deck), sometimes we outsmart ourselves. I've been working with horary astrology to find a lost item, with no luck so far. Tonight I thought I would do a one-card draw to see if it would give me any insights, from a different perspective, on my chances of finding the item. I chose the Morgan-Greer deck for this purpose since I had it out today for another reason. I dutifully shuffled and cut as always and pulled . . . the "Bill Greer bio card" (!) that I had forgotten to remove before shuffling. Since I really don't think Bill has the item, I figured it was telling me something and I abandoned the effort.
 
Small spread, looking for opinions When people meet and sparks fly