Thoth Tarot Question

[Zanshikaze]

I borrowed a book from the library yesterday entitled Tarot: Mirror of the Soul. I was attempting to find a book on the connections between tarot and qabalah for use in understanding astral travel/hedge crossing better, however as it was five minutes to the closing of the library, I failed to notice the book involved a different tarot deck.

My question is whether I should purchase a thoth tarot deck, as I already have a copy of Rider-Waite tarot deck, or if it's worth exploring the former deck more. I'm not a Thelemite, and I've already advised of the reason I was delving more into the Hermetic Order tarot, and as I understand, he grew his ideas out of hermeticism, but added quite a bit in there that I may not be ready to tackle quite yet.

 

[AbammonTheGreat]

I think Crowleys greatest strength was his wide breadth of knowledge across esoteric traditions and his ability to syncretize them fluidly. I do consider his work on the Tarot to be incredibly useful for most serious esotericists and occultists because of this. The symbolism in the Thoth tarot is much more dense than the Rider-Waite which makes it incredibly practical for occultists. But at the end of the day the deviations may not matter as much to you when you are divining. You learn one then you get intuitive about it and they all kind of work similarly.

 

[Yazata]

I borrowed a book from the library yesterday entitled Tarot: Mirror of the Soul. I was attempting to find a book on the connections between tarot and qabalah for use in understanding astral travel/hedge crossing better, however as it was five minutes to the closing of the library, I failed to notice the book involved a different tarot deck.

My question is whether I should purchase a thoth tarot deck, as I already have a copy of Rider-Waite tarot deck, or if it's worth exploring the former deck more. I'm not a Thelemite, and I've already advised of the reason I was delving more into the Hermetic Order tarot, and as I understand, he grew his ideas out of hermeticism, but added quite a bit in there that I may not be ready to tackle quite yet.

I think Crowley used different astrological correspondences for the (Minor)cards than Waite. You can see this especially when you compare the Wands and Swords suits of both decks.

 

[luuda]

While much of the symbolism in Crowley’s Thoth Tarot originated from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn tradition, the deck also incorporates a significant amount of Crowley’s own philosophy and original ideas.
It is true that the colors and symbolism of the Thoth Tarot can be helpful for studying Kabbalah.
However, unless you have a strong interest in Thelema, I do not think it is necessary to specifically purchase the Thoth Tarot deck.

 

[neilwilkes]

Personally speaking, I don't trust anything by Waite - to paraphrase something said about someone else, he's both good & original - but where he is good it's not original, and where he's original it's not good - and his deck is to my eyes singularly ugly when compared to Freida Harris's gorgeous paintings for the Thoth deck.
This deck always makes my skin, hands & arms tingle every time I take it out of it's silk wrappings - it's simply an outstanding piece of work and it's easy to understand how it took 5 years to complete it. If you do go for it (and I would definitely recommend it) you should toss out the silly booklet that is packaged with the deck & instead get a copy of the Book of Thoth instead.