studying Thoth without the cards

As stupid as this post may come across, this is a very serious question.

My best friend does some of the most amazing readings of anyone i know. she uses the RWS but has studied the Thoth and suggested to me that I also study the Thoth to help expand my understanding of the RWS.


I'm not a fan of the artwork of the Thoth. I'm sure its all sorts of wonderful and that its deep (and all that good stuff) but I just dont like the scans of the images I've seen. Besides, I am very fond of the artwork on the RWS.

I was wondering, would it be enough to just read The Book of Thoth: A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians, Being the Equinox Volume III No. V or would the deck also be necessary?


i read from a review on Amazon that the Thoth is pretty similar to RWS since both follow the Golden Dawn tradition (not sure how true this is)? with obvious differences of course. also is it true (and this is a *direct* quote from an Amazon review!), " Tarot Divnitors are not advised for this book because Crowley does not use the cards to fortell anothers future, but rather as meditative devices to alter ones consciousness and peer into the unknown world, seeing the other universe - that is prophecy. "

The RWS and the Thoth are both derived from the Golden Dawn deck. If you don't like the Thoth, then you may get more value from studying the GD deck. The Book of Thoth wouldn't be my recommendation.

There is a nice book Golden Dawn Magical Tatot" by the Ciceros that I'd suggest. Or the more pricey Wang's "Qabalistic Tarot" compares the RWS, Thoth and GD.

Grigori said:

The RWS and the Thoth are both derived from the Golden Dawn deck. If you don't like the Thoth, then you may get more value from studying the GD deck. The Book of Thoth wouldn't be my recommendation.

There is a nice book Golden Dawn Magical Tatot" by the Ciceros that I'd suggest. Or the more pricey Wang's "Qabalistic Tarot" compares the RWS, Thoth and GD.

Click to expand...

thank you. i will look those books up. and thanks for telling me about the GD deck..i have to admit that I didnt even know about it until now

I don't think this is a stupid post. I used a RWS book to help me understand the Qabalah of the Thoth, without using the RWS.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...ooks&hvadid=9631518481&ref=pd_sl_72xvqe5dbi_e

Tarot: A Key to The Wisdom of the Ages by Paul Foster Case. It might be extra helpful for you since that's your deck. I mainly deals with the majors though.

AW

Always Wondering said:

I don't think this is a stupid post. I used a RWS book to help me understand the Qabalah of the Thoth, without using the RWS.

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...ooks&hvadid=9631518481&ref=pd_sl_72xvqe5dbi_e

Tarot: A Key to The Wisdom of the Ages by Paul Foster Case. It might be extra helpful for you since that's your deck. I mainly deals with the majors though.

AW

Click to expand...

thank you x a million!

i will look into that book! the amazon reviews sounds amazing

olivia1 said:

Tarot Divnitors are not advised for this book because Crowley does not use the cards to fortell anothers future, but rather as meditative devices to alter ones consciousness and peer into the unknown world, seeing the other universe - that is prophecy. "

Click to expand...

I've been wondering about this...the Thoth tarot is not supposed to be about fortune-telling, but what is the real difference between fortune-telling and divination? In the Opening of The Key Spread that is described in the Book of Thoth, there is clearly the instruction to "make a story" for the querent from the cards. Is it to do with what "type" of questions are to be asked and what "type" of stories are to be told..?

The Book of Thoth has images of all the cards so I think if you didn't actually want to buy the deck, you'd find everything you needed within the Book of Thoth. Not the best quality reproductions but it would suffice I think.

I would recommend getting the Book of Thoth even without the deck. I bought the book even though I was exclusively using the RWD at the time. Studying RW and the Thoth together eally expanded my knowledge of Tarot in general.

I bought the deck in the end though. The artwork is beautiful! Though I'm still more comfortable with the RW.

As long as we r discussing good books for learning more about Thoth, has anyone read Tarot: Mirror of the Soul: Handbook for the Aleister Crowley Tarot by Gerd Ziegler?

-never mind, just did found this
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=91481&highlight=gerd+ziegler

Craxiette said:

I've been wondering about this...the Thoth tarot is not supposed to be about fortune-telling, but what is the real difference between fortune-telling and divination? In the Opening of The Key Spread that is described in the Book of Thoth, there is clearly the instruction to "make a story" for the querent from the cards. Is it to do with what "type" of questions are to be asked and what "type" of stories are to be told..?

Click to expand...

I don't have my Book of Thoth with me right now. But I do recall Crowley calling the Opening of the Key Spread the most mundane use of the cards. I do believe he is refering to this spread in particular, not just any spread. In this spread I remember at least in two different places instructions to abandon the spread if you are off. This, I think, is so we do not fool ourselves, or others, into faulty or wishful thinking.

I don't know many readers that use this spread at all. Not to mention the ones that do, willing to stop once they started, especially if they are getting paid.

I see it as more of an issue of a third person getting between the subject and the cards. For instance one person telling another person what this card means about thier life or will. This is a sensitive issue within Thelema. After all it is hard enough to deal with ones own false perceptions, yet alone add another person/ego to the mix.

AW