New To Thoth Tarot

I am very new to the Thoth tarot. This will be my first experience with this deck.
I received my copy form Hooked an AT member here and I would like to know where I should start and how to study this beautiful deck. I believe the deck I have is Green if that means anything. Like I said I know absolutly nothing about this deck.
Thank you,
Silverwings94

silverwings94 said:

I am very new to the Thoth tarot. This will be my first experience with this deck.
I received my copy form Hooked an AT member here and I would like to know where I should start and how to study this beautiful deck. I believe the deck I have is Green if that means anything. Like I said I know absolutly nothing about this deck.
Thank you,
Silverwings94

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While not being too familiar with the Thoth tarot, either, (because the artwork does not appeal to me so very much and on the whole I seem to be more the RWS type , these are good books on the Thoth deck:

The Crowley Tarot: The Handbook to the Cards, Hajo Banzhaf, U.S. Games Systems (1995), Paperback, 224 pages, ISBN 0880797150

The Thoth Companion: The Key to the True Symbolic Meaning of the Thoth Tarot, Michael Snuffin, Llewellyn Publications (2007), Paperback, 240 pages, ISBN 0738711926

and more difficult ones:

Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot, Lon Milo Duquette, Weiser Books (2003), Paperback, 352 pages, ISBN 1578632765

The Book of Thoth: A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians, Being the Equinox, Volume III, No. V: Egyptian Tarot, Aleister Crowley, Red Wheel/Weiser (1986), Taschenbuch, 308 pages, ISBN 0877282684

And of course there are a lot of threads here on the tarotforum.

Kind regards

Marchal

Welcome to the Thoth forum silver wings

Marchal has given some good recommendations. I would make one small adjustment,

Marchal said:

and more difficult ones:

Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot, Lon Milo Duquette, Weiser Books (2003), Paperback, 352 pages, ISBN 1578632765

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I would recommend starting with the Duquette book. I found it actually a very easy & fun read, and will help you to make sense out of the other books. The whole book by Duquette is about explaining what the others are trying to say, and the different systems the deck uses.

I'd say start with Duquette. After that Snuffins "The Thoth Companion" or Banzhafs's "The Crowley Tarot". If you have any interest in astrology, I'd also suggest a good book on basic astrology. Crowley's own book is great too, but a more difficult read so I think better to read another one first at least.

Hi there silverwings. I'm fairly new to the Thoth deck myself having only used it for about 6 months or so. It's a real treasure! I will second similia's recommendation regarding DuQuette's book. I read this book before reading anything else and it was certainly a great place to start. The book is easy to read and doesn't assume you have a lot of prior knowledge of Qabalah, Astrology etc. I found it an easy and enjoyable read and DuQuette's enthusiasm for the deck is infectious.

Also there are some amazing threads in this forum and some fabulous Thoth experts just waiting to help out. Enjoy.

Oh, the 'Green' refers to an edition of the deck that was printed with a greenish tinge to it. If you enjoy working with the deck you may want to invest in a newer printing as the colours are much more vibrant and the details more clear. My first Thoth was a 'green' one and I left it sit on my shelf for about 8 years. I then saw the newer version a friend had and bought myself one the next day. Although, in saying all this....the 'greenie' as it's known, seems to be becoming quite a collectors item these days

Hey, silverwings I'm also quite inexperienced with the Thoth, and would like to weigh in with some words of . . . balance Not quite warning, as I don't want to sound ominous

I have read a lot of different stuff since beginning with this deck, and all of it is swimming around in my brain and further up like a school of frenzied and intensely territorial sharks meaning, I'm confusing myself. But it's okay, because somewhere in there is a thread that ties all of it together. I trust that I'll find it sooner or later . . . some days I despair of it entirely, other days I am perfectly assured of my intellectual and spiritual capacity for understanding of the deck.

It's a rougher ride than any other deck, IMO, bar none. But it's okay, because sometimes I get flashes of everything crystallising, and that makes every bit of frustration worth it, it really does. I had one today, actually, reading about Kabbalah and there was something in there about the six sephiroth surrounding the Sun of Tiphareth . . . and the 6 of Disks just exploded, unbidden, into my mind. It's powerful, let me tell ya

A greenie, too? Do you mean that it's got the green tint to the card images (and, I think, always a borderless back)? Or that it came in a green box? Crowley and Harris worked hard to incorporate the GD(ish?) system of colour magick into the deck, so while the greenie is something of a curio and I treasure mine, I prefer my (beautifully trimmed, if I do say so myself) AGM printing with the glowing colours. It's incomparable. Having said that, though, I have not even begun to try to understand the colour symbolism.

Anyway, I'm really not trying to scare you away. Just wanted you to know that it's not a walk in the park, it's more like scaling a mountain in a snowstorm without a map. But the sun comes out at exactly the moment you reach each pinnacle, and it's all worth it. Best to you

\m/ Kat

Another Thoth newbie here. I've had the deck for a short while now but haven't attempted to "properly study" it so far. I did read most of the DuQuette book, though, and agree that it's a good place to start. It does get a bit complicated in places (which I suspect is mostly due to the complex matter, not to DuQuette's writing), but he does his best to make the explanations fun and easy to follow. I realized that I often wished for more depth in the topics in the general section of the book - but that might be expecting a bit much of a book that's clearly intended to be a starting place.

I've found that the Thoth also works well for "intuitive" readings where you just look for the sort of "feeling" you get from the shapes and colors (I've done some of those). I also find it quite liberating to NOT study this deck right from the start because it seems to be one of the decks with a reputation of needing A LOT of study before you can even think about reading with it. I've found Firemaiden's readings with the Thoth extremely inspiring in this regard. Her chorus lines of pepperonis, the teddy bear under leaves, and a pulled-up mandrake spring to mind (if that sounds intriguing to you, too, you'll find several of them in the reading threads she has opened). I also believe that starting with your own "intuitive" impressions will give you a good basis for later book study.

By the way, this is meant as an addition not as a contradiction to what has been said before.

Oh, and one last thing: you can find Aleister Crowley's Book of Thoth online in several places, so you don't have to spend money right away if you first want a taste of his style to see if it's your cup of tea.

Thoth deck

I think this is a very powerful deck. Initially I had the HUGE deck with the cards so large I could barely shuffle. Now I have the playing card size deck. I suppose if you really wanted to stare at the cards for a while the larger ones would strain your eyes less LOL.

I bought the Book of Thoth by Crowley when I first got the deck and it was indeed difficult. I eventually found that by not trying so hard to tie his writings in with the cards and trying to make it all "fit" I was able to just let the meanings come forth on their own. It's an awesome deck and I wish you luck with it! =)))

I have an odd relationship with this deck.

I had a binge a while ago on the Thoth; studied it, pored over it, read all that I could about it and kept kicking myself wondering why I couldnt find DuQuette´s book as useful as everyone told me I should.

I then gave up, and left it on the shelf for a while, feeling defeated and dumb.

Then by chance, in a trade, I got Hajo Banzhaf´s Keywords to the Crowley Tarot (different from the one by the same author mentioned above) and when I started flicking through, I was surprised at how much of Crowley Lore Id actually ended up picking up.

I would recommend the following;

Look at how Crowley´s Thoth is different from both Marseilles and RWS; the structure, the form, the system.

Then look closely, deeply, look some more, and really get familiar with it. On your own terms. The colours, the images, the atmospheres. What each card evokes in you.

Then look at the Hajo Banzhaf book and see how he itemises the symbolism of each card, and what the traditional symbolism is (according to him of course). How different is your response to it?

I personally would look at Duquette much further down the line.

Im finding Crowley reaps most riches if you study intensely, in bouts, then leave it to percolate and ferment into the brain, then go back to it after letting time (maybe months) lapse. I feel that each few months, I strip away another layer. I don´t think Im ever going to have it as a regular reading deck, but I find it hugely enriching as one part of my tarot studies

Hello, silverwings!

I just got my Thoth deck too. Here's an idea about books- try your local library's ILL program. I'm quick-browsing through the basic themes presented in Mary K. Greer's Tarot Constellations and then I'm going to journal through the 9 groups. After that, I plan to search through the various threads related to specific cards that I have more questions about.

A lot of good suggestions have been made for books and I can't really add much except to say unless you are an advanced student I would avoid Crowley's companion book. If you start there you are likely to put the deck away and never use it again. Here is an interesting article about Lady Frieda Harris and her art you might enjoy.