ZenMusic said:
can you give some idea of what's in the BOL and Vision books that apply to reading the Thoth deck?
The Book of the Law and
Liber 418: The Vision and the Voice are the key works of the Thelemic canon and the basis for the spiritual philosophy that influenced the creation of the Thoth Tarot. A Basic understanding of these texts helps you to understand the main differences between the Thoth deck and other decks that are based on Judeo-Christian ideas, such as Rider-Waite.
Some of these differences are reflected in the cards themselves. The most notable examples being XI Lust (old Strength) and XX The Aeon (old Judgement). These two cards represent radical departures from the traditional designs and reflect the Thelemic philosophy.
The old image of Strength had a woman either opening or closing a lion's mouth. The main theme behind this image is the control of those forces represented by the Lion. It's almost saying that the passion and energy of the Lion has to be controlled and maybe even surpressed. According to the Judeo-Christian thelogy, passion is bad and linked to the negative concepts of sin, guilt, and temptation. (This card is attributed to the letter Teth ~ Serpent
)
Not so in the new Lust card where we have the Whore of Babylon riding upon the Beast. (The bad guys of the Bible are the Holy Mysteries of Thelema.)
Crowley's own words on this card:
Lust implies not only strength, but the joy of strength exercised. It is vigour, and the rapture of vigour.
Christianity (and many other religions) tells us that passion is sinful and wicked. Thelema says passion is both natural and healthy. In fact it is the joyous force of life itself. Enjoy the ride, but keep one hand on the reins.
Love is the law, love under will
The old card of Judgement represents the resurrection and judgement of the dead depicted in the Book of Revelations.The emphasis in this card is very much on the past and judgement of what has gone before.
The Aeon is the next step after the Judgement card. The focus in this card is the "next step". The past is done and dusted, so forget it. The next step is all that is important. This change in emphasis is very important and alters the meaning of the card. This concept is easier to understand when viewed in the context of Crowley's thoughts on the New Aeon and the consequent end of religions and philosphies that rely on Judgement and punshiment for "sins".
The Devil is another card that reflects this transition from Judeo-Christian repression, to a more healthy and enlightened view. In many decks the Devil is a pretty negative card. It carries all the Judeo-Christian baggage of sin and guilt with it. These old religions taught that the body and the pleasures of the flesh were evil and had to be shunned. They were temptations of the Devil sent to lead you away from God. This negative and repressive out look on natural drives is now known to lead to violence, self destructive behaviour patterns, and feelings of guilt and shame.
Surely a more healthy view is to see natural drives as just that, natural. Repression leads to neurosis and the guilt complex. This is not just a freedom of the body, but a freedom of the mind. Note the third eye on the Devil.
In many respects, no doubt, the Law of Thelema is revolutionary. It insists on the absolute sovereignty of the individual within the limits of his proper function. And this principle will be resented by all those who like to interfere with other people's business. The battle will rage most fiercely around the question of sex. Hardly any one is willing to allow others their freedom on this point. Sometimes it is a personal matter; false vanity makes men try to enslave those whom they desire. They cannot understand "There is no bond that can unite the divided but love: ... ", and they outrage others in every way in order to obtain the outward show of affection. It is the most hideous error conceivable, yet nearly all men make it, and nine tenths of the misery caused by wrong sexual relations is due to this determination to enslave the soul of another. It seems impossible to make men see what to me is obvious; that the only love worth having or indeed worthy of the name is the spontaneous sympathy of a free soul. Social conventions which trammel love are either extensions of this stupid selfishness, or expressions of the almost universal shame which results from false ideas on the subject. Mankind must learn that the sexual instinct is in its true nature ennobling. The shocking evils which we all deplore are principally due to the perversion produced by suppressions. The feeling that it is shameful and the sense of sin cause concealment, which is ignoble, and internal conflict which creates distortion, neurosis, and ends in explosion. We deliberately produce an abscess, and wonder why it is full of pus, why it hurts, why it bursts in stench and corruption. When other physical appetites are treated in this way, we find the same phenomenon. Persuade a man that hunger is wicked, prevent him satisfying it by eating whatever food suits him best, and he soon becomes a crazy and dangerous brute. Murder, robbery, sedition and many meaner crimes come of the suppression of the bodily need for nourishment.
The Book of the Law solves the sexual problem completely. Each individual has an absolute right to satisfy his sexual instinct as is physiologically proper for him. The one injunction is to treat all such acts as sacraments. One should not eat as the brutes, but in order to enable one to do one's will. The same applies to sex. We must use every faculty to further the one object of our existence.
The sexual instinct thus freed from its bonds will no more be liable to assume monstrous shapes. Perversion will become as rare as the freaks in a dime museum.
The Confessions of Aleister Crowley
I hope that helps you to understand why knowledge of Thelema is important when interpreting the Thoth Tarot.
