thoth study or intuition????

yaraluna

are there any people out there that use the thoth deck as a 'normal' deck for divination? i mean, i see that a lot of people study the thoth deck, its symbology, meaning, A.crowleys stuff etc etc.
Ever since i saw it i wanted it because of the comments regarding the possibilities of this deck when reading with it, the looks of it, and how much i 'wanted' it. once i got it i read with it from intuition and just have a quick look at he LWB so i can learn crowleys approach. but...but... that's all for me. i wanted to 'study' the deck like you guys, but it just doesn't 'attract' me to do so, or better say it just doesn't feel right for me to do so at this moment.

would i be missing a lot in my readings just by doing 'intuitive/previous knowledge of tarot' readings with it instead??

thanks
yaraluna
 

Aun

Hi Yaraluna,

I believe that one should be able to perform readings out of his/her intuition only, since the cards bear the power to trigger one's unconscious mind / inner guide through their rich symbolic images. Aside of that, if one holds the basic knowledge, lets say, of the RWS or clones, that alone provides with a solid basis for a reading with the Thoth, in my opinion.

On the other hand, if one studies the several different aspects that are incorporated in the cards, like the astrological attributions, the qabalistic (numerological) aspects and the elemental correspondences (among others), one gains a wider perspective that enriches the possible spectrum of meanings of the cards.
 

Parzival

thoth study or intuition ?

The books on the symbols can be helpful, but Intuition is the key to the Thoth Tarot. Readings and meditations depend on attunement with the individual cards and the collective spreads--- but this needs close observation of colors and symbols and a Vision of the Whole of the card/ cards.Study without Intuition is not progreesive.Study itself, though, is a collaborative work involving imagination,feeling,thought and Intuition.
 

Nevada

By all means!

While it's nice to know what Crowley and Harris meant by all those symbols, especially the more obscure ones, IMO the Thoth's best use is for intuitive reading. It's a powerful deck. I've used it for years.

Nevada
 

September Pixie

You shouldn't have much problem reading this intuitively.. infact I see no reason to HAVE to study anything with this deck.. there are symbol on each card that you should be able to read easily :) If you decide to study, this is also a great deck to do that with.. basically you only have to go as deep with this deck as you choose to :)
 

Alobar

okay, i guess i'll be the lone dissenting voice here.

i believe that this deck can be read intuitively, just like any other deck. but the value of the Thoth deck is that it is SO deep! not delving further into it's depths is a disservice to the student, imo.

You shouldn't have much problem reading this intuitively.. infact I see no reason to HAVE to study anything with this deck.. there are symbol on each card that you should be able to read easily

not to pick on anyone here, but what if one isn't familiar with the symbols? study is certainly required, wouldn't you say?
the elemental symbols, planetary symbols, zodiac symbols, etc. these are fairly basic to the student of the occult, but many people still don't know them.
and these are just the elementary symbols. if you look at the 7 and 8 of Discs (for example), you'll see the geomantic glyphs
'Rubeus' and 'Populus'. but if you don't know geomancy, you'd never understand exactly why Crowley gave these cards their respective meanings.
the color correspondences are vital too, but if one isn't familiar with the original colors (which are NOT on the US Games version) then the 'intuitive' nature of the reading would be skewed.

the list goes on and on. NOTHING is arbitrary here.
in fact the fascinating thing about this deck (as opposed to any other) is the fact that it's seems absolutely bottomless! my intuition is as sharp as the next guys, and yet i've been studying the Thoth deck hard for nearly 10 years now, and i still regularly find things in it that i never dreamed of.

yep, this is a study deck if ever there was one!
 

September Pixie

There is no reason to have to 'study' any of the symbols given here that he or she does not want. You can incorporate ANY of the usual RWS meaning to ANY deck of tarot cards..

There are a lot of people who avoid this deck totally because of the man behind it.. in fact, there are a lot of people who avoid tarot all together because of the "stuffs" they have heard about it.. the person reading it is ultimately the one to interpret the card meanings so it doesn't really matter WHY someone put a sword inside a swirl coming from the fools heart nor would it matter why they made the tiger biting his leg.. What matters is what the reader sees when he or she looks at it. In fact, that's the bottom line of ANY tarot deck you pick up. Take the Vargo deck for instance, there are many deeply hidden things in these cards, but you don't HAVE to know that there is musical notes attached to them.. if you don't see it relevant then why should you need to know that? In fact, especially to someone just picking up this deck, having to learn basis of colors, planetary alignments, astrology, kabala, and all the other references in this deck could be mind numbing. He or she only needs to pick up the deck, look at it, and learn.

Most of us in this study group want to dig deeper into the cards (that's why we are here) but no where is it written that what Crowley said the meanings of these cards are meant to be is etched in stone. I disagree with a lot of things tarot markers have included in their LWB's, does that make their interpretations better than mine because they created it? Of course not... again, it falls solely on the readers hands.. You can dig very deeply with this deck.. but its not something you HAVE to do to be able to read it. I am in no way saying one SHOULDN'T study this deck, I am saying the choice is up to the reader and it doesn't HAVE to be done to read with this deck.
 

Nevada

Alobar said:
not to pick on anyone here, but what if one isn't familiar with the symbols? study is certainly required, wouldn't you say?
No. Honestly, it's not. If someone new to this deck simply goes with their feelings and intuitions about these cards, they should do fine. I find the court cards in this deck especially readable compared to many other decks.

But then I'm a Thothaholic. :D

I really haven't done that much study of the symbols, in all the years I've used them. I had only read with one other deck, the Voyager, which is a fairly nontraditional deck, before getting my first Thoth.

Nevada
 

Alobar

well then i don't know why you're bothering with such a complex deck. this approach could be applied to any RW clone.

and i guess that's the problem i have with those who see tarot as nothing more than a divination system. all these intricacies are lost if all you're interested in is what tomorrow may bring (as if that's possible to determine anyway).

but AC put a lifetime's worth of devoted study into this pack of cards. it seems that the very least the devotee can do is try to understand why. the result can only be beneficial.

but then that's just me.
i might actually go as far as to say that without the Thoth system i'd have very little use for tarot at all. and i guess that's why i consider this deck to be the most powerful magickal tool i own.
 

Nevada

To each his own. ;)