Hello everyone

Reading all these thrreads has been just fascinating to me. Ive only recently been drawn to the Thoth Deck. I have always read the Mythic Tarot. I was wondering though if we sometimes make the learning of the cards too difficult. Having all this background esoteric knowledge is very very interesting but im not sure all of it helps to give a good reading. I think someone mentioned some people are coming from a more psychological point of view, looking within at how they would likek to change and what they want to change about themselves, and others are operating on a more mundane level and need a more grounded reading. Does anyone have any ideas on how to use these cards for a more practical mundane reading? I look forward to your replies. Pauline

pauline said:

I was wondering though if we sometimes make the learning of the cards too difficult. Having all this background esoteric knowledge is very very interesting but im not sure all of it helps to give a good reading.

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But this "background esoteric knowledge" is what the Thoth Tarot is all about. It was designed to be a pictorial representation of Aleister Crowley's magickal and mystical philosophy as well as The Book of the Law.

His original idea had been to execute a pack after the tradition of the Mediaeval Editors, corrected in the light of the descriptions given in The Equinox I, vii and viii. But she found technical difficulties, such as introducing "10 rayed Angelic hands" all over the place, producing a grotesque effect; and she also observed that his teaching, in the course of his explanations, went far higher and deeper than anything in any accessible models. She accordingly forced him - the laziest man in three continents! - to undertake what is to all intent an original work, including the latest discoveries in modern science, mathematics, philosophy, and anthropology; in a word, to reproduce the whole of his Magical Mind pictorially on the skeleton of the ancient Qabalistic tradition.

The Book of Thoth

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Of course you don't need to immerse yourself in esotericism in order to use the Thoth deck. But having a little "background knowledge" is very helpful when it comes to understanding some (if not all) of the cards in the deck.

For example, the meaning of the Devil card in the Thoth deck is very different from that in most other decks. (See noby's excellent post on this subject: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=25596&page=2)

Other cards, such as XI Lust and XX The Aeon, might not make much sense without some background knowledge to help you understand why Crowley thought the traditional cards, Strength and Judgement, needed changing.