At any rate, here's a quick summary of the Thoth Tarot for the kids at home:
"Crowley originally intended the Thoth deck to be a six-month project aimed at updating the traditional pictorial symbolism, perhaps best demonstrated by the Rider-Waite-Smith deck; however, it was to span five years, between 1938 and 1943, as the scope of the project grew ever wider. Crowley and Harris were meticulous in their work; Harris painted some cards as many as eight times. The current printing of the deck actually includes two alternate illustrations of The Magus, each making use of markedly different style and symbols. Unfortunately, neither Harris nor Crowley lived to see the deck published; a follower of Crowley undertook the work of publication in 1969. This initial printing was of markedly inferior quality, and in 1977 Harris' paintings were rephotographed for a second edition; the current edition is based on a further update that took place in 1986.
The illustrations of the Thoth deck are rich in symbolism, based upon Crowley's stated desire to incorporate symbols from many disparate disciplines, including science and philosophy, as well as to draw on his extensive knowledge of various occult system (as described in detail in his Book of Thoth). For example, The Hanged Man and The Moon draw from Egyptian mythology, and the Princess of Disks holds a disk bearing the Taijitu. The pip cards in the four suits (Wands, Cups, Swords, and Disks) depict their objects in carefully-crafted positions; for example, the Four of Swords (which Crowley named "truce") shows four swords with their points toward the center of an imaginary square, suggesting a possibly tense peace. The card illustrations are uniformly stark and vividly illustrated throughout."
The cards definitely had a very weird charge to them when I opened the box. I actually had sort of anxious moment as I was opening the box for the cards and tearing off the wrapping. So there is something here. I don't know a lot about Tarot yet, but I did shuffle the deck and pull out a card that I felt pulled to.It was this one:
Oh yeah. The art is amazing and incredible. I haven't looked at every card yet, but the ones I have seen are so trippy. You get lost in them. Incredible work.
2 comments:
I understand what you mean. My girlfriend gave me the thoth deck last christmas, and since the first time i shuffled it, it always felt like a kind of magickal clockwork, or Rocky's coach: rough, but with the answers to your questions.
Keep us posted on your works with the deck!
Yeah the deck is a trip, I could stare at any one card for forever. There's so much depth in them, the cards themselves seem to have their own lives. I know some people have done pathworking work with the cards, and that doesn't suprise me at all. The world of each card, just kind of begs to pull you in.
I did two readings yesterday for friends, they were pretty rough because I had to look everything up, but I think both of my friends were impressed with what the cards had to say. There were some things that definitely put tingles down your spine.
The more interesting thing is how just using the Thoth deck for a little bit has really illuminated the runes for me, and I think once I finish with the runes, it will be very easy to transition into them from the Thoth deck. Or find ways to combine the two.
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