.......What am I missing with Thoth? It must be some sort of a connection issue? I mean - I am only a beginner regarding Thoth but trying to read up on it but it still doesn't make any sense to me. Must be something I'm doing wrong. Any tips to connect?
A.V.
Are you taking into account the esoteric symbolism of the cards? This is extremely important for the Thoth deck.
For example, consider the 5 of Cups. At the top of the image is the symbol for Mars, and at the bottom the symbol for Scorpio. This signifies the first decan of Scorpio, whose energy is that of Mars in Scorpio. The Golden Dawn title of this decan is Lord of Loss in Pleasure, which Crowley has changed to Disappointment. Actually, Mars is the planetary ruler of Scorpio, a fiery planet ruling a watery sign, from which one might expect a reactive energy.
The number of the card, five, also suggests a possible change in the status quo, particularly of your mood (the suit of Cups).
Note also the inverted pentagram formed by the pattern of cups and all that this suggests.
There is also the position of the card at Sephirah 5 (Geburah, Strength), opposite Sephirah 4 (Chesed, Mercy) on the Tree of Life, which is full of implications for anyone who is familiar with the Tree of Life, which is the fundamental structure on which the Thoth is based.
Read the section on the 5 of Cups in The Book of Thoth, and I also suggest downloading the free book,
Liber Theta, which is a Thelemic revision of the Golden Dawn's Book T. It has an excellent description of each card in the deck.
I am not trying to discourage you. I just wanted to point out a few things implied by Zephyros' post. If you wish to read the Thoth intuitively, go right ahead, but you may or may not find the deck amenable to this approach.