Differences between Thoth and RWS decks?

I think I'll give it a try to Thoth since art is deep and I find it somehow easy for intuition. Right now I have turn on turn off relationship with it. I look at the cards online and I like them and then I find them too light and bright and those borders look very big in my opinion. And yes I forgot to say that Thoth seems to me easier to read then RWS because as I saw on art Thoth looks more like 3D and you can imagine yourself easier being in the middle of a story for example Hermit card.

Aina, to me what really makes the Thoth "special" is its artwork. The same could be said about the RWS but it's special in a different way. I personally find the RWS a lot easier to read intuitively. I don't believe the Thoth is necessarily a better reading deck, you might just have to try it. The instructions for doing a reading in Crolwey's companion book The Book of Thoth are a lot more complex than Waite's Celtic Cross method. There might be other methods for beginners that would simplify the learning process, I don't know.

The reason some of the names were changed was so they'd more accurately match Crowley's interpretation of them, which was based on the teachings of the religion he started. The whole deck's infused with his religious ideology.

Thoth is my main and probably favorite deck. It's brutally honest. Brutally honest people are not always the easiest to get along with but sometimes you need them. And they are irreplaceable when you need to know the truth.

Like every other serious deck, Thoth can be used in a never-ending waltz of "intuition only" - "background learning" - "integration of both" - and on we go with intuition-learning-integration... It never ends.

There are no easy or difficult decks (just as IMO there are no "good" or "bad" cards). If you want to have hones answers to tough questions, even a deck that looks shallow or decorative may become a tool for serious insight. And if you treat a "difficult" deck as messenger of good news only (like a friend of mine who insists on opening again and again over the same question, until she "gets an answer" she likes...), all you get is muddled messages mixed with wishful thinking.

I'm not a fan of the deck's creator but feel it is also infused with the artist's energy which is much lighter and warmer. Besides, the energies around a deck are influenced also by those who wrote the books or websites you use for getting to know it better, and most important: by your own story with a deck.

IMO, Gestalt principles are true again. The relationship between yourself and a specific deck is always more than 1+1, just like the relationship of two people is more than each partner was before.

So it really depends on you, too, how the deck will work.

nisaba said:

I must have been treating mine all wrong. Mine is far creepier than that - it lies in its box until I pull it out, shuffle it, and lay out some cards. Then it makes sense. What is it trying to do to me? Argh! <pulls out hair>

Click to expand...

LOL, Nisaba!

Mine waits patiently for me because it will show me what I need to see and understand. Out of all the decks I have, the Thoth is the only one that has grown with me over the years. Or rather, I continuously grow into it? Maybe a bit of both?

I find that sometimes the meanings slip through my fingers while it manages to flip a light switch on in my head at the same time. No matter how long I read on the Thoth, I always feel like I'm learning because it's a wonderful enigma.

I love my RW clones and I turn to them frequently. But my Thoth has a different hue and it's own mystery, and that's why I love it so

I just dont get what the big hype is with the Thoth deck, but then again i was never a fan of Crowley myself. the only awareness i have of him is the Ozzy song... lol

if the opportunity presents itself i may get a deck but i dont think i will ever use it.

The art is brilliant. Every bit as great as Pamela Coleman Smith's work. Also, the astrological attributions are conveniently written on every card so you don't have to memorize them.

I used to think it was really patriarchal and "old age". i was into feminist decks at the time (and still love them). But I've realized what a genius Crowley is. The deck is like a magical encyclopedia.