Impressed with the Liber T

I bought it yesterday and began studying the cards.

This deck has its own special way the artwork works to tell the story of each card. I see I have to interpret this deck differenly from the usual tarot deck.
At first I thought that the artwork was a little strange but a beautiful thing
happenned. I started to see how it all links together.

I have examined the Major Arcana and I am feeling this deck. I suppossed that I if I like this deck I would like the Thoth deck as well. I remember at first I posted that I thought the Thoth deck wasnt a deck I could use.

This deck just has to be approached a little differently than your general deck because Crowley came at things from his own mind frame. Even though this deck isnt the Thoth it was inspired by it and looks similar.

I noticed the book that came with it didnt really provide much in way of explaining what the cards mean. You must go within and really work on getting the meaning of each for YOURSELF which only adds to the benefit you can get from the cards.

Professor X said:

I noticed the book that came with it didnt really provide much in way of explaining what the cards mean. You must go within and really work on getting the meaning of each for YOURSELF which only adds to the benefit you can get from the cards.

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You certainly can work with the Liber T in that way, and also with the Thoth, but it's very inaccurate to say that is what is intended. The images are highly specific, and though there is (as yet) no companion book, there entire libraries full of books that would help you to understand this deck.

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=129599
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=85073

I think you'll find these very useful There are also some great study groups
threads on the deck, and it's probably worth reading anything that Scion ever posted too

similia said:

You certainly can work with the Liber T in that way, and also with the Thoth, but it's very inaccurate to say that is what is intended. The images are highly specific, and though there is (as yet) no companion book, there entire libraries full of books that would help you to understand this deck.

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=129599
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=85073

I think you'll find these very useful There are also some great study groups
threads on the deck, and it's probably worth reading anything that Scion ever posted too

Click to expand...

Thanks for the information and the heads up.
I examined even more of it and you are correct their is definite and implied meanings to all of it. Crowley was a master at symbolism and using it to make a point.

I can see myself really falling in love with this deck.

I am liking this deck more and more.

I am getting ready to begin a in depth study of all the symbols on the deck.
I see that is the key to understanding the deck. This isnt like the RWS deck
where all you have to is understand the artwork and the colors. No this is different and deeper than that. The deck and the pictures have a lot of profound meaning.

I have read what Scion has written on the current Liber T thread in the deck forum. That has enlightened my thinking a lot on the Liber T. It seems as if the Thoth is a closer representation to what the GD was trying to imply than the RWS. That piece of info is a revealation unto itself. From what Scion was explaining all the clones of the RWS are just poor copies of that deck which has the true meanings get more and more lost as time goes on. He even explained how many of these new decks creators even get the meaning and symbolisms wrong.

I have done a few readings with the deck and I am picking it up fast.

The main thing I am getting thus far with the deck is that the astrological meanings have more influence on the decan cards than people will realize.
They are in fact the foundation of the whole meaning of the 36 decans.
The pictures on the RWS and its clones are cool but without the astrological/occult meanings of the decans the true meaning cannot be understood. The fact that most new age people despise the GD only serves to keep them in the dark as to the true purpose of the system.

If I ever can get my hands on a Thoth deck I will certainly do so.
To a certain extent I still find the artwork a little strange but that just takes little getting used to by working with the cards.

similia said:

The images are highly specific, and though there is (as yet) no companion book, there entire libraries full of books that would help you to understand this deck.

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I agree. Plus once you've got a basic grasp of the underlying structure of a Golden Dawn style deck it is relatively easy to move from one deck to another. The apparent differences between the Liber T, the Thoth, or even Lon DuQuette's Ceremonial deck, are little more than fancy window dressing. Once you understand that each of these seemingly diverse decks is an artistic interpretation of the same theme, it becomes easier to work with any and/or all of them.

I've used the Liber T for just over 2 years now but I was lucky, I made a bond with the deck right from the start. My favourite cards are the Minors - I like the smaller images and how you don't need the whole card for a reading, sometimes little things in the artwork seem to stand out.

But I really think I should be learning about the Decans and the astrological symbolism in the deck now - so the last couple of days have been spent reading Scion's PDF, my Thoth books and various online resources - its fascinating.

I'm pleased you like your Liber T, its an unusual deck.

Emily said:

I've used the Liber T for just over 2 years now but I was lucky, I made a bond with the deck right from the start.

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Same with me. As I said before, I wasn't sure about the deck because of the scans, and the bashing of the deck then didn't help as well, so when I got the deck and hold it in my hands, I fell in love with it. That was around 2 years ago too. I've been using it since as my main. In my case I feel it's because the deck and I share the same astrological sign: aquarius. Yes, something tells me the Liber T is an aquarius indeed. My love for the Liber T hasn't made me grab my Thoth more, in my case my Thoth is still buried somewhere in my pile of decks. IMHO the Liber T is just superior to the Thoth. I'm grateful the deck isn't going OOP anymore and more can still grab the deck and enjoy it.

I have spent the past couple of days doing a study on all the symbology
present on the Major Arcana cards and I must admit I am totally blown away.
This deck is indeed amazing. Crowley was a master at conveying things through symbols. There is so much meaning in these cards that they are worth much intensive study.

I can also see that the RWS deck while being well done DOES NOT even begin to give the real meaning of what GD was trying to convey when they set up the Tarot. I can assume that this was done on purpose.

For instance the Devil card in the RWS and the Thoth/Liber T mean 2 entirely different things.

In the RWS The Devil card literally means physical/mental/spiritual blockage.
It is something that is in the way and that needs to be worked around or overcome. It symbolizes something negative in the environment that must be taken in account and eliminated or avoided. Im sure there are other meanings as well that people get out of it.

In the Liber T the Devil doesnt mean the same. It is the card of Mirth and stability through problems and trials. The symbology deals with the cult of Pan and how in the middle ages the symbolic goat was labeled as a symbol of evil by the enemies of the cult. The Goat originally was the symbol of pleasure and merriment. It is that merriment that one needs to use to get through problems. The goat is what provides stability to help us survive and make it through life.

That one card alone shows that there is more to the Tarot than what the average person that uses a RWS clone knows about. Plus because they reject the GD they dont want to know anything else about it. The Devil card really blew me away. In fact all of the Major Arcana cards really taught me a good occult lesson.

Crowley may have his detractors but he was a absolute Occult genius. Studying the Major Arcana is a occult education all by itself. I will now start working on the court cards and the Decan cards.

Professor X said:

That one card alone shows that there is more to the Tarot than what the average person that uses a RWS clone knows about.

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That's because the Thoth is a more pagan influenced deck, whereas the RWS is more Xtian. I really like the looks of the Liber T. I may well get a copy, but I know I will have to cut those damn obnoxious borders off, to get rid of the distracting LS multi-language word salad.

Professor X said:

That one card alone shows that there is more to the Tarot than what the average person that uses a RWS clone knows about.

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How do you know that the average person who uses the RWS or a clone doesn't also know about Thoth style decks? That's making a bit of a massive generalisation about people who use decks that aren't Thoth.

Different people use tarot for different things and in different ways; not everyone wants a deck packed full of astrology or Golden Dawn symbolism and maybe some just prefer the Rider-Waite-Smith because it works for them. I know that I've used Thoth before but I much prefer the completely non-esoteric Tarot de Marseilles but my favourite decks of all are based on the Rider-Waite-Smith. That doesn't mean that I don't realise that there is 'so much more' esoteric symbolism in Thoth style decks. I just don't use all that stuff in my readings yet my readings are good (or so the people I read for say).

The Liber T wasn't designed by Crowley either, it's just based on the Crowley Thoth deck.