Mixed feelings about the Thoth

dancing_moon

Thanks for sharing, Tanga! Wish our shops held lectures like that. :D A remarkable deck created by two remarkable people, that's a powerful mix. :joke: I hope you'll be studying it more in-depth now!

foolMoon, yes, absolutely! They have AG Mueller copyright on the cards, though.
 

smw

I've just been to a lecture about Lady Frieda Harris last night, at my favourite esoteric bookshop. Remarkable lady :) (Treadwells bookshop in Bloomsbury, London).
Five years of painting during the hardship of war - with a constant stormy relationship with Crowley - all by letter!.

That sounds interesting! I have looked at some of their correspondence on line - she did have a tongue on her :laugh:

(to Crowley)

"In reference to your books--I suppose you know that most of them would be easier for a Beginner written in Sanscrit & that anyone reading them would go off their heads. Therefore the Wise ("like myself") take them in snappy bits & only when they are feeling strong"....
 

Zephyros

That letter is one of the better ones. There are others in which she is more harsh. Although I wouldn't say he took advantage of her, the fact is that he was never very good at making money, and there are several letters in which she has to tell him to curb both his spending and his requests for money.

Now, this isn't an indictment of feminists, but the pair's dynamic is often overlooked by them, for political purposes obviously, and she is treated as a poor victim that did all the work while he got all the money and credit. Nothing could be further from the truth. The deck was a true partnership, and they were true and equal friends, with him supplying the design and intent and her providing the artistic know-how. When the paintings were displayed in a gallery it was a joint decision by the both of them that his reputation could prove detrimental, and so he distanced himself from the showing and his name does not appear on the gallery material. The deck would ultimately not be published during either of their lifetimes, so no one got money from it.

Indeed, something people tend to forget is that the enterprise was her idea, he originally wanted to create a much simpler deck, updated for Thelema. The whole "painting some cards eight times" that is used as proof that he was a slave driver was by her encouragement. It was very important for her to get it, and him, right.

And of course the false rumors that they slept together behind Percy's back need no comment. They are ridiculous.
 

Aeon418

When the paintings were displayed in a gallery it was a joint decision by the both of them that his reputation could prove detrimental, and so he distanced himself from the showing and his name does not appear on the gallery material.
But there were also some exhibitions that were organized without informing Crowley. And Harris was given sole credit, despite their mutual agreement to exhibit the work anonymously. At the opening of an exhibition at the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colour's, Crowley showed up unannounced and caught Harris by surprise.

According to Richard Kaczynski in Perdurabo (p.522):
Richard Kaczynski said:
An August 4 exhibit at the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colour's on Conduit Street followed the Berkeley Galleries exhibition. Learning of this show, Crowley remarked, "Again, she didn't tell me." He feared Frieda was stealing all the credit for their work, and his friends encouraged this perception. Thus Crowley appeared unexpectedly at the exhibits opening on August 4, confronting a stupefied Frieda Harris, who stammered something about how she had just sent him a letter about the show. Coolly, he replied, "I knew about it on Saturday morning." It was difficult to stay angry at her, however.
 

Zephyros

I hadn't heard about that anecdote. I guess they had a very complicated relationship all around. However, it does support her not being the submissive person she is often portrayed as.
 

Rose Lalonde

But there were also some exhibitions that were organized without informing Crowley. And Harris was given sole credit, despite their mutual agreement to exhibit the work anonymously. At the opening of an exhibition at the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colour's, Crowley showed up unannounced and caught Harris by surprise.

Ah! Now the letter I read at Hermetic.com - the open letter to Aleister Crowley by the Society of Hidden Masters (which the site states was actually written by Crowley) - makes more sense. It blasts Crowley for letting Harris take sole credit after she had agreed to remain anonymous. And that's followed by Crowley's 'reply' as himself:

"I do however most strenuously deny participation in the hoax. This was perpetrated by Lady Harris without my knowledge or consent; I only learnt of the exhibitions, in the first case several days after the opening, from information supplied by loyal friends."