Can someone help me identify this box set?

[Rotad]

I found it at a Goodwill store. I’ve only used the Rider-Waite Smith and Tarot de Marseilles decks and have no experience with these cards.

I learned that this is a Crowley deck by searching the Internet. The deck has three versions of the Magus card. I never had any interest in this deck in the past – now I can’t stop looking at the cards. I’m amazed at the subtle geometric patterns that weave throughout the set. I discovered a hand-written note pasted to the underside of a piece of decorative cardboard inside the box. The note is as mysterious as it is inspiring.

Here is what I am able to transcribe:

"If you understand this book, you are truly infinitely wise and bound to the (wheel?) of white light.

You are the transformational power of creation uniting with the vital force. To really understand this book you need to (engender?) psychic upheaval and with calm; trust in your inner voice. Only though self-awareness can you declare with a sigh of relief that you have escaped a familiar prison. You will be able to see the ambiguity concealed in every card.

-- A. Reader

This box designed as a one of a kind item by XXXXX."

I uploaded photos of the set here:

http://www.anony.ws/WsC
http://www.anony.ws/WsD
http://www.anony.ws/Wsf
http://www.anony.ws/Wsp

 

[Maskelyne]

That looks like the standard U.S. Games edition of the Thoth, in a nice custom box. Much of the geometric patterning in the deck is the result of Frieda Harris's study of synthetic projective geometry. Some of us have trimmed a copy of this deck to better see how the patterns interact between cards.

 

[Debra]

Ok. Someone designed a unique box for the deck. So I think it's not a set, it's a unique box. I wonder if someone was selling them this way.

The blue star on the cover is similar to (not the same as) the star on the box of the old Knapp tarot deck. It has the same feel, I mean.

What a lovely treat

 

[Winterchild]

How Lucky!

I used to think I wouldn't want a Thoth deck secondhand in case it had been misused... but I guess that's because of the Crowley connotations of evil that were rumoured widely. Even though I think he was probably just another nutter/genius... the followers those types can gather are can be very odd.

Anyway..had I seen this I would have bought it... it is gorgeous...I love that box so much... are the words from the maker of the box or from the book that came with the deck?

A treasure indeed!!!

 

[Rotad]

On a quest to learn more

Some of us have trimmed a copy of this deck to better see how the patterns interact between cards.

It's funny you mention that. I couldn't help thinking to myself that it appears as if the scenes in some cards could "line-up" with others like in a jigsaw puzzle - if only the white borders weren't there.

Ok. Someone designed a unique box for the deck. So I think it's not a set, it's a unique box. I wonder if someone was selling them this way.

Thanks for the insight Debra - you're spot on. This box had to have been specially made for this deck. I've uploaded a couple more pics so you can see how perfectly the cards fit inside. Check the bottom of this post for the links.

... are the words from the maker of the box or from the book that came with the deck?

A book didn't come with this deck. I'm not sure who the author of the note is. I tried Googling some of the sentences and wasn't able to find any clues. At first I thought "A. Reader" was an anonymous attribution. Now i'm thinking that it might be an actual person, as in Alice Reader, Anne Reader, ect. . . . Does anyone know of any Tarot / occult authors that would fit the bill?

Anyways, I'm going to the bookstore today to find books on Crowley and or the Thoth tarot. The images in the cards are beautiful, but a complete mystery to me.


http://www.anony.ws/Wzn
http://www.anony.ws/Wzx

 

[Debra]

The new links aren't opening for me.
I'll bet "A. Reader" is as you say, anonymous. It just seems too unlikely that some Annie or Arnie Reader is the box maker.

 

[Rotad]

The new links aren't opening for me.
I'll bet "A. Reader" is as you say, anonymous. It just seems too unlikely that some Annie or Arnie Reader is the box maker.

Try these:

http://www.anony.ws/i/2012/10/14/ZvoOz.jpg
http://www.anony.ws/i/2012/10/14/evAxq.jpg

 

[Bhavana]

How nice to find something so cool. The only decks I ever find at goodwill are sticky beat up copies of "Old Maid".

 

[Debra]

LOL "old maid"!

I think the initials are R L Z.

 

[Saker]

That's an amazing find. Hard to say about the box, it looks custom made. Beautiful! Don't you love it when you run across fabulous treasures like this? I had a friend who was desperate to find the Celtic Tree Oracle, had been looking for it for a long time. I spent $1.00 for a like-new boxed set at a yard sale, of all places. She was so thrilled.