Coming back around to Thoth

[Mallah]

hey i picked up a copy of the deck today....

I have lots of work to do. These are very deep waters.

I've decided to post my learning journey here; so those of you with more experience and knowledge of this deck and Mr C can give me little nudges.

I've been a tarot reader for 26 years; I've done quite a bit with Kabbalah; less with Astrology and Alchemy. But I've used "exoteric" decks, and i've Used the RWS, of course...which, I understand contains a lot of this same symbolism, but "held it back" from the public, and didn't put a lot of the imagery into the cards. So it's nice to see it all here.

At this point I've got the Book of Thoth as a PDF, and I've got DuQuette to help me with it. I used to own this deck about 16 years ago, but coming back, it's all new.

This deck looks like a better print than the one I had all those years ago. Much clearer. I got the "middle size" mama bear size: 3.5"x 5.5". I was going to trim it right away, because i already know the hebrew letters (keeping in mind the Emperor/Star switch) and the Astrology of the Majors....but I'm realizing there are a few more changes in his titles than I was aware of. I have 2 lists here, one of the GD names, and one of the Crowley names. There are a few more differences than I realized. I also not that RWS seems to have departed from BOTH lists (tho I suppose Crowley's list came after the GD list and the RWS deck). For example, the 4 of cups, being "blended pleasure" on the GD list...but Crowley has "Luxury"...and yet, the RWS has spawned all the "boredom" meanings that folks now call "traditional". I want to make sure I have all the keywords before I trim them off. I'm not much for using keywords in my reading..but since I'm trying to learn Crowley's system, I'll be looking at the "why's" of how he arrived at his interpretations.

I've been reading with Pip decks exclusively for awhile, and have enjoyed using the number/suit/element to bring the meaning in...and want to use more Kabbalah, and the decans as well... so this in particular is why I've picked up the Thoth... because the information is all there on the card image, and there's so many excellent supplimental materials.

For what it's worth, I do the LBRP and several other adapted "ceremonies" on a daily basis, so I'm not a complete stranger to stuff like ceremonial magick...but it's way WAY deeper than I've gone, and this deck seems to be a doorway to all of that as well.

Anyway, I just thought I'd be coming in and jotting down my explorations...feel free to comment, guide, coax, challenge, enlighten, whatever.