Ed-a Thoth Requirement?

I believe it depends on the reader. Personally, I *love* the elements, so, my attraction to the elemental dignities is strong. If a reader isn't attracted to them, there is still so much other stuff going on in the Thoth, that you could very well read without them.

I have to agree with Triquetra about the EDs - Now that I have learned a bit about what they are, I find that when I work with a Thoth style deck, they make a lot of sense and help to clarify the spread. Mostly, I am doing a small daily spread for myself, but I occasionally get the opportunity to read for another, and have found it most helpful to use the system the deck was designed for. Many times, I have found meanings from a Rider style seem most pertinent to a Thoth spread and vice versa - I too have learned to go with my instincts in this regard. As one other student in my Tarot class says, the cards don't lie - you just have to learn how to listen.

Thea Lynx

I think if used to maximum potential then the philosophy is really quite different from a "meanings plus spread" reading. Instead of adding elements later on, they are used at the start, but principally as an adjunct to counting and pairing techniques. It is these then that create the Tarot "story" - Much indeed, as suggested by Crowley. (Though we know what HE allegedly thought of "fortune telling"!) The cards then work quasi-independantly of the deck used. (Great news too - for some of us!) But a most crucial point is that card divinatory ideas are added as a THIN layer at the very end. I do recommend PHB's book (Recently got one myself!)

http://www.aeonbooks.co.uk/tarotmagusai.html

Perhaps not for the VERY beginner. But certainly quite approachable... Not e.g. to be rejected just because... it's the Thoth deck, it might be Hard etc., it's Magick etc.

Macavity

Empashioned plea over!