Why is the Thoth deck so popular?

wolfheart

For those who own it, why do you like this deck?
 

Barleywine

The depth of symbolism in the Major Arcana and the highly evocative semi-illustrated pips that support an "energy flow" method of reading as opposed to a pictorial one. The artwork in general, though not uniformly for all cards. The Book of Thoth as a key to understanding the deck. Also, it was the first deck I bought back in 1972.
 

Unicorn Bacon

Aleister Crowley and occultism in general. For practicing occultists, Tarot is only a fraction of their studies. A deck by Crowley is just a simple way of connecting the dots among many.
 

Nemia

The art is beautiful, unique, fascinating. You can approach it from many angles, it's never pedestrian or boring. There is not one weak card in the whole deck.

The intellectual, spiritual, aesthetic, esoteric, philosophical and historical value of this deck is incredibly high. There's a whole world of meaning in every card. I had my first reading with a Thoth deck in 1984, bought my own in the early 90s, and I still discover new things every time I look at it.

And in readings - it's eloquent, honest and gives you food for thought.

For me, the Thoth is in a league of its own. I have a number of decks that I like very much and value highly, and there are others I find fascinating and may wish to own one day... but the Thoth is really special. It's so RICH - in Hebrew we say, it's full like a pomegranate - full of seeds and ideas.
 

Le Fanu

Of course in first place for me is the artwork - the swirls and angles and art deco forms - even before you get into a discussions about what projective geometry might mean in esoteric terms. It is a deck which might have looked odd in the 1950s but which, (for those of with a taste for modernism/mid-century modernism etc) now just looks better with the passing decades.

Also I think because you know it will reward, you know there are depths that will connect you to other, greater things. It is tarot that takes you beyond tarot. I have a feeling with the Thoth that its energies take you beyond the confines of the card. I like that feeling.

With other decks, I sometimes have the feeling that however deeply I go, I will only ever go deeper into this particular deck. If I decide to dedicate myself to the Cat People - for example - I will only ever really get acquainted with the universe of the Cat People as envisioned by that deck and I question why I would do that. With the Thoth, I get a feeling of going way above and beyond a tarot deck. Having said that, so much of it eludes me and yet something in it urges me to go one because the next layer (what's that T.S Eliot quote, "like the layers of an onion"? All these analogies - pomegranate, onion.) will make things clearer.

And besides all this, even if you aren't hyper-knowledgeable about decans and Hindu mysticism and astrology and Egyptology - you can still read well with it. I think one has to be careful not to be intimidated by the erudite mists which hang around the Thoth and put people off. It's one of those decks you need to barricade yourself away with (with this and the Book of Thoth) and just not listen to anyone else. I'm a great believer in this.
 

foolMoon

There is something deep and rich about the Crowley Thoth deck, and it is something indescribable in words.

It gets deeper and richer as I use and study it more.
 

Chrystella

For all the reasons already mentioned. I'll add that, for me, it deepens and widens my knowledge of tarot in ways that other decks do not. And I'll tell ya, I'm not huge on GD stuff or on Kabbalah or astrology. I'm very much just a 'read the cards' type. Still, the Thoth opens up the tarot in a different way. I don't know how to explain it really.

I also consider it an important deck in the world of tarot. If I had to pick three tarot decks for a lifetime, it would be a Marseille, the RWS, and the Thoth.
 

feynrir

Because it scares the crap out of my mom. :D

Nah, many reasons upon which already elaborated, actually--the GORGEOUS artwork, the esotericism, the surreal yet no-nonsense tone, and the historic significance.

What's more, there are so many pantheons and ideas pulled together into one deck that it feels like you really do hold a universe in your wee little fingers when you use it. Just as well, I'm an astrology enthusiast, and it's more overtly astrologically concerned than most any other deck out there.
 

Abrac

There's simply nothing else like it out there.
 

MysticMoonlight

Of course in first place for me is the artwork - the swirls and angles and art deco forms - even before you get into a discussions about what projective geometry might mean in esoteric terms. It is a deck which might have looked odd in the 1950s but which, (for those of with a taste for modernism/mid-century modernism etc) now just looks better with the passing decades.

Also I think because you know it will reward, you know there are depths that will connect you to other, greater things. It is tarot that takes you beyond tarot. I have a feeling with the Thoth that its energies take you beyond the confines of the card. I like that feeling.

With other decks, I sometimes have the feeling that however deeply I go, I will only ever go deeper into this particular deck. If I decide to dedicate myself to the Cat People - for example - I will only ever really get acquainted with the universe of the Cat People as envisioned by that deck and I question why I would do that. With the Thoth, I get a feeling of going way above and beyond a tarot deck. Having said that, so much of it eludes me and yet something in it urges me to go one because the next layer (what's that T.S Eliot quote, "like the layers of an onion"? All these analogies - pomegranate, onion.) will make things clearer.

And besides all this, even if you aren't hyper-knowledgeable about decans and Hindu mysticism and astrology and Egyptology - you can still read well with it. I think one has to be careful not to be intimidated by the erudite mists which hang around the Thoth and put people off. It's one of those decks you need to barricade yourself away with (with this and the Book of Thoth) and just not listen to anyone else. I'm a great believer in this.

The last paragraph here sums up why I haven't gotten the Thoth yet. I feel quite drawn to the Thoth, very much so, particularly the large Thoth. It really calls to me and I'm not sure why but I feel as though we'd get along very well...but I haven't purchased it yet. It sits on my wish list, per say, and I'm so tempted but I'm afraid of it. Not in a scared way but in the way that I fear not being able to grasp it and actually read with it. So, I've yet to buy it because if I can't grasp it and read well with it, I will not be doing it any justice.