Aleister Crowley (Thoth deck)

Looks are to be decieving

I tried to uderstand why the question was asked or say brought up. All people are made to be who they are. Stanist ae people or what every they say they are. i myself am With the dark legion I do not hear we are any different than the rest.
Poeple who hate must learn that
"Hate Crimes Kills you soul and thoghts"
Preacher

i don't know what got to me but i did it.

or well, i know exactly what happened. that's all Jeannette's fault as she posted a snippet of the Knight of Pentacles (?) in the Tarot Game section and i find it gorgeous.

i had read many reviews about the deck and stuff about Crowley, like the guy sacrified kittens and rape children in Italy, As a cat-owning mom, that guy didn't sound too cool to me (loved similia's comment about not wanting him around one's sister )

but well, i gave up, i thought: i go to the local bookstore in my tiny finnish city wher i've seen the deck before and put it back with disgust on the shelf... if it's still there, i buy it, if not, i don't order it from anywhere.

darn it was still there.

i am now the confused but rather proud owner of a medium-sized (nothing else available, remember guys: Finland, not even Helsinki here...) Crowley-Harris Thoth Tarot deck by AG Müller. grey borders.

fantastic artwork, somehow weird but i wouldn't say dark.
on Tarot Passages the reviewer (maybe Diane Wilkes herself, can't remember) says "intense" rather than dark. i agree.
my current situation now is that i won't buy any book for it NOW, i will try and cope with my poor background and fertile imagination. but i will be missing a lot so i will end up buying a book, probably Duquette's.
the keywords in finnish stink btw, Lust is translated in "Intohimo" which means "passion, fire, torridity" and you can be intohimoinen for sports, hobby etc. which is passionate really. well, this is also my first finnish deck. how much is that for just one day??????

thanks for the thread!

kissa

Kissa said:

i had read many reviews about the deck and stuff about Crowley, like the guy sacrified kittens and rape children in Italy, As a cat-owning mom, that guy didn't sound too cool to me

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You've gotta love these Crowley myths.

Yes it's true that Crowley did kill a cat once. He was also a boy at the time.
As for raping children in Italy, that one is just too silly to comment on, apart from the fact that it's totally false.

Duquette is the way to go - I just bought one from a member of another forum and it is fascinating..... go for it.

Signed: the great enabler (and you have to be nice to me today because I have shingles )

Kissa said:

i don't know what got to me but i did it.
kissa

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Hi Kissa!

I don't know what got to me, but I recently purchased this deck as well! While I sincerely doubt that this title is remotely the last word on Thoth, I have been using The Tarot Handbook by Angeles Arrien (which I picked up in a used bookshop) to help me get acquainted with the deck. Very user friendly, for now it is just the ticket to help me get comfortable with this very powerful deck.

(Just an aside...I really don't give a high ho WRT what Crowley may or may not have been. The Thoth is a great deck. Period. That said, I will decidedly NOT be purchasing any titles written by Crowley. I may admire and respect the deck he was instrumental in creating but I do not wish to be subjected to his "voice".)

weaver

weaver said:

Hi Kissa!
(Just an aside...I really don't give a high ho WRT what Crowley may or may not have been. The Thoth is a great deck. Period. That said, I will decidedly NOT be purchasing any titles written by Crowley. I may admire and respect the deck he was instrumental in creating but I do not wish to be subjected to his "voice".)

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Thanks. Me neither but I hadn't quite got around to articulating it. I love the deck, but Crowley is something else. I have read a fair bit about him, and would prefer it not to influence any experience I have with the deck ! He's interesting to study, but.....

gregory said:

Thanks. Me neither but I hadn't quite got around to articulating it. I love the deck, but Crowley is something else. I have read a fair bit about him, and would prefer it not to influence any experience I have with the deck ! He's interesting to study, but.....

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Ladies, ladies! (and gentlemen, if any need persuading).

I was ONCE where you are now. No, worse, I threw away a book written by Uncle Al (the Book of Thoth).


But our own Firemaiden persuaded me (very subtly, and by convincing me he was funny and clever - which he is) that Uncle Al deserved a second chance. Being intellectually curious and fond of Firemaiden, I did. And I am glad I did. He is funny, in parts; he is clever all round. He is human, always. The book of Thoth (the Book of the Deck) is a magistral book, and - let me reassure everyone here - not a trace of satanism there, but lots of mythology. Of course, if you don't like mythology, it's not for you. But then neither is the deck, which is Egyptian (mainly) and European mythology seen through the filter of a 20th century modernist in love with tarot.

Of course if you are hoping for racy writing, you won't find it in the book of Thoth...unless you believe discussion of the fallen angels in itself constitutes Sulfurous Writing.

No, really - read the Book of Thoth, at least. It's rather less dangerous than your average PS2 game and much more intelligent.

And if you read what he said about the deck, in his elliptical way, I promise you it won't stop you from developing your own understanding of those wondrous cards.

Aeon418 said:

You've gotta love these Crowley myths.

Yes it's true that Crowley did kill a cat once. He was also a boy at the time.

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Crowley claimed to have killed a cat when he was a child.

However...

If you actually consider what he says it don't really add up.

He says that he did 9 things to it, (all of which would have killed it), to find out if it really had 9 lives.
But, if he really did this, then after the first thing he would have found that the cat was dead. After that it would have been foolish to continue.

So, it has always sounded like one of his 'let me shock you' stories.

I dreamed about Crowley last night. (BTW)
It was a very weird dream.

He wanted to come back from the dead, and I was helping him perform rituals to that purpose.

Strange.

I agree with that. I was fairly anti-A.C. until I saw the Tower card, with the borders cut off by Astrid O I think. I didn't know it was his at first, and I remember saying "Wow, what intensity."

Then I found out it was in fact A.C., but I guess I just didn't care anymore, so I said $&#* it! LOL I ordered the deck and when i got it I promptly cut the borders off so it was the art I fell in love with.

Now being the tarot whore i am, I had to understand it all before I read with it, so I ordered the Book of Thoth (3$ on amazon!) and Duquettes book which made me interested in qabala along the way. So now (in another thread) I've dedicated Thoth and one other deck to sole use in readings for at least 6 months, maybe a year.

Yes. The deck stands alone, and that is the way I like it. He was an interesting guy, but I would prefer to look at him separately. (But Lillie - how do you KNOW the cat DIDN'T have 9 lives ???? have you tried this too ? )