Mirror of the Soul

euripides

Interesting. A bit of a diatribe on the New Age (mostly fair enough, though I'm not so sure about his accusations of the middle class, but I don't want to get into that issue) . What IS interesting is his discussion of Vir. As you might gather from my username, I've got a bit of a background in the classics, more latin than Greek and not as much as I'd like, but enough to be useful.

He's quite right about Virtus: it was a pivotal concept in Roman culture, and some might argue the subject of the Aeneid: What it is to be a man.
 

euripides

very good. was that in the same thread? Not sure how to switch up to the whole thread from a single post link....

I found an excerpt online from the Thoth book - I can see I'm going to have to read the whole thing from the start. A bit concerned that the mythology is pretty alien to me.
 

Scion

Hey 'rip

The full thread is here. :)

Scion
 

Aeon418

euripides said:
A bit concerned that the mythology is pretty alien to me.
That's where DuQuette's book comes in handy. Many people accuse him dumbing down Crowley, but he does serve a useful function. Quite often Crowley expects his readers to be familiar with his ideas right from the start. This is what usually frustrates the hell out of (lazy) people. :laugh:

DuQuette opens his own Thoth book with a section called "Little Bits of Things You Should Know Before Beginning to Study Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot". He doesn't explain everything in detail, but he does provide enough information about Crowley's ideas and experiences to bring the new student up to speed.
 

ravenest

Scion said:
There's one more, but almost not worth mentioning: Gerald Suster's

I'm buying this book - sounds great, thanks guys!
 

Aeon418

ravenest said:
I'm buying this book - sounds great, thanks guys!
That's assuming that you can find a copy. Good hunting! ;)
 

euripides

Great ... now I'm getting a book wishlist to match my deck wishlist.

I picked up the Book of Thoth from the library, (amazingly), and I must admit there's a few things I've read so far that I'm struggling with - I'm SO not into numerology - I'd prefer not to elaborate as I know many of us ARE into it and I don't want to sound like I'm dissing them. But he kind of mentions this bit of what looks like a quadratic equation but not quite ... I'm going to have to put my critical self in a box for a bit and try hard to stay open minded, I think. I feel that sometimes numerology (er, sorry but going to have to say this) does recognise the mathematical beauty and connectedness in the universe but sort of dumbs it down for us non-mathematicians.

Anyway, I fear I'm going too offtopic as well, and I'd better give Crowley some time before I pass judgement over a small fragment of the work. That introductory book sounds like a brilliant idea - I think especially with these 'older' writers - and lets face it, Crowley is from another age, culturally - some sort of introduction can be useful.
 

Aeon418

euripides said:
I must admit there's a few things I've read so far that I'm struggling with - I'm SO not into numerology
It's a good job that there isn't any numerology in the Book of Thoth then. :laugh: There's a little bit of Gematria though. ;)
euripides said:
I think especially with these 'older' writers - and lets face it, Crowley is from another age, culturally - some sort of introduction can be useful.
Very true. In many respects Crowley is a typical product of his time and place. That's one reason why you see so many knee jerk reactions to him by people who can't view him objectively. Instead they judge him from a modern perspective and then get swept away by a sudden uncontrolable urge to trumpet their righteous indignation to the four corners of the world. :laugh:

(I'm often amazed that Tarot readers, people who regularly interpret symbols, can read The Book of the Law on which the Thoth Tarot is based and take it literally.)

Despite that there is tons and tons of stuff in Crowley's works that is visionary, revolutionary, and way ahead of our current (un)enlightened times.