Difference between Crowley's renamed cards and their Rider-Waite counterparts.

ThusSpokeZarathustra

I apologize if this has been asked before (I can assume it probably has), but could someone outline the differences in the cards that Crowley renamed from the Rider-Waite deck for the Thoth deck?

Specifically:

The Magus vs. The Magician
The Priestess vs. The High Priestess
Adjustment vs. Justice
Fortune vs. The Wheel of Fortune
Lust vs. Strength
Art vs. Temperance
The Aeon vs. Judgment
The Universe vs. The World

I don't like to think of those cards as nothing more than alternative names for the same Arcana. Rather, I'd like to investigate the subtle differences (or perhaps not-so-subtle differences) between the above cards.

For starters, I know Lust is differentiated from Strength as the vigor one feels when expressing strength, as opposed to the act of being compassionate and having fortitude. I also can detect that Adjustment is likely more about rolling with the punches and being flexible, while Justice communicates a little less flexibility. I'm lost beyond that.

Thanks!
 

Barleywine

There's another piece of the puzzle you should have if you're going to investigate this. A number of Crowley's titles evolved from his Golden Dawn involvement. You could get your hands on Liber Theta, Tarot Symbolism and Divination (free download from Jim Eshelman's organization, I believe) which I think is based on the GD "knowledge lectures" on Tarot. He may have tinkered with the contents a bit (it's described as "revised and expanded") but I think that document has the GD titles that Crowley would have been working from when he devised his own system. Of course, the Book of Thoth is the paramount source for Crowley's logic on this; I'm reading Waite's Pictorial Key to the Tarot right now, and you won't find any such elaboration there.
 

Zephyros

As Barelywine mentioned, some of the names relate back to the original GD names. Fortune, for example. It is important to keep in mind that the RWS is not the "original" with the Thoth changing things around; the RWS is itself a GD deck, once removed. In all matters pertaining to GD doctrine, the Thoth is actually much closer to the source. When the "wheel" was removed from Fortune is probably a matter for historical debate.

As for the other cards, the answer isn't quite so simple. Crowley brought into the world his philosophy/religion of Thelema. Thelema revolves around the object of finding your life's path, called True Will, and carrying it out. Lon Milo DuQuette once summed it up thus, that there is something that you can do better than anyone else in the world and it is your duty to yourself and the rest of humanity to find out what it is and to do it. The Law of Thelema is explained in Liber Al vel Legis, the Book of the Law. The Book of Law was channeled to Crowley in 1904, beginning what he called the Aeon of Horus, a new age of human consciousness.

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2013/283/3/a/true_will___just_do_it__by_doyour93-d6px5by.png

Now, after that background information, the Thoth Tarot is a visual representation of the Law of Thelema, and many cards have been amended to reflect the New Aeon. For example, Crowley concluded that Justice was purely a human invention, and did not accurately define the universal law of equilibrium. Too often "justice" is used as a big stick, warning people that if they are not virtuous, they will be visited by Justice (or god, or karma, it can have many names). Adjustment better reflected the idea that every force has its appropriate counterforce, and the universe is constantly adjusting itself. Diffusion, for example, can be a good example. Put a tea bag into hot water, and there is imbalance that is righted only when the concentration of tea inside the back and in the water is equal. So, Adjustment reflects recent scientific discoveries (in the Book of Thoth, Crowley mentions Einstein, and he knew of his theory of General relativity).

The Aeon was changed to better fit the New Aeon in a different way. The old card showed a scened from Revelations, and also Ezekiel. Now, as far as Crowley was concerned, the "apocalypse" foretold in those books had already happened, in 1904 with the reception of the Book of Law. The old world was swept away and a new one was in its place. So, considering that, it seemed no longer fitting to have the old Judgement card, and so the Aeon shows a stylized version of the Stele of Revealing.

Temperance is among the most alchemical cards in any deck, relating to the merging of different materials to make new ones (in a spiritual way). With Art Crowley emphasized that aspect of it, and greatly enlarged upon it.

Lust vs. Strength is rather more difficult, as it applies to specific Thelemic ideas. I'll try to expand on it later.
 

Richard

.....You could get your hands on Liber Theta, Tarot Symbolism and Divination (free download from Jim Eshelman's organization, I believe) which I think is based on the GD "knowledge lectures" on Tarot. He may have tinkered with the contents a bit (it's described as "revised and expanded") but I think that document has the GD titles that Crowley would have been working from when he devised his own system......

As far as I can tell, the only things overtly GD-ish in PKT are the number switch of trumps 8 and 11 and the ranking of the courts (in the paragraph on the choice of significator for the CC spread). (He does provide enough clues for one to deduce logically that he regards The Fool as Aleph. However, that's anything but overt.)
 

Barleywine

As far as I can tell, the only things overtly GD-ish in PKT are the number switch of trumps 8 and 11 and the ranking of the courts (in the paragraph on the choice of significator for the CC spread). (He does provide enough clues for one to deduce logically that he regards The Fool as Aleph. However, that's anything but overt.)

Yes, on re-reading the PKT I also noted that Waite seems to agree that the Fool belongs at the beginning of the series but places it where he does out of regard for an established convention (Levi? Papus?) that I couldn't quite figure out from his guarded explanation. Also, aren't the "hands coming out of the clouds" on the Aces a GD device? Crowley describes them in his early explication (public revelation?) of Liber T.
 

kwaw

'Art' is based on description of the card in GD ritual.
 

Richard

Yes, on re-reading the PKT I also noted that Waite seems to agree that the Fool belongs at the beginning of the series but places it where he does out of regard for an established convention (Levi? Papus?) that I couldn't quite figure out from his guarded explanation. Also, aren't the "hands coming out of the clouds" on the Aces a GD device? Crowley describes them in his early explication (public revelation?) of Liber T.
I think Levi was regarded generally as an established authority on esoteric Tarot. Waite presents the Trumps in the Levi order and then remarks elsewhere that it makes no sense to put the Fool between Judgement and World. The GD specifies in Book T that the Aces have hands coming out of clouds. This imagery may have been incipient in some of the historical decks, such as the Conver TdM.
 

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