OK, I was under the impression, IR would have been using Thoth deck in his GD book, maybe not. It is strange that he didn't. Having been AC's secretary and also both GM member once in a while. Maybe they fell out in bitter terms, I guess.
I think it is a timing issue. The GD initiates used the GD deck and Regardie did too. Thoth 'came out' much later (except for some original exhibits. Some collector here can probably date the first Thoth deck appearance better than I could. In any case, I pretty sure that it was after the corpus of books I.R. put together for his GD Book.
Still I would have thought it would have been nice for IR to write about that part in that thick tome of the GD. The astral association to Tarot cards are not just Thoth deck specific either. I wasn't talking about specifically Thoth deck, but the reasons and origins behind the GD's linking each Astral Signs to TAROT cards in general.
If you mean the astrological associations and astrological signs , one has to - sort of -comprehend the whole corpus, including references to earlier ideas and people that started this - like Eliphas Levi , and the reasons some changed things.
I still doubt, AC would explain why each Thoth cards are linked to the astro signs apart from listing tables of the association. I will have a look at them.
I agree that in many cases , in The Book of Thoth he puts a chart in , probably lifted from the GD with no explanation, and in some cases , sets up seemingly contradictory info.
EG. One small chart lists 'astrological' attributions of court cards ; 20 deg of one sign to 20 of another, but also , 20 degrees of one sign, 20 degrees of another AND part of Pegasus (or part of another constellation , ie. indicating not tropic signs but sidereal constellations. Yet the rest of Thoth seems to indicate tropical sign association.
An observant reader, familiar with Thoth, will get to that bit and .... WHAAAT ! ? If they follow it up and its source in GD .... well, let's say, for here ..... hold on to your hat !
I think the idea is, the BoT CAN be used for the novice but it is also for some that Crowley assumed may be initiates (or at least have deeper knowledge of ) ... of both the GD and Thoth systems. Also AC has admitted is one of his writing faults is he assumes people have very extensive backgrounds in the subject and he is not so much educating but offering a different point of view.
Have you written a book? Is it in Amazon?. Ah.. in your opinion? Sorry English is not my first language.
Ah, I see ! Thanks for explaining that. No, not my Book I wrote .... in my book - my copy of that GD Book I meant.
I was being slack (as this book does not have consecutive number pages all the way through, they re-start at each 'sub book' ... oh well, .... <groan - gets up off fat but and drags himslef over to book shelf > ... lets see ;
Its Book 4 of IR's The GD, Book T starts at p. 137 of book 4 at the 'end' of Book T is a chapter ( p 218 of Bk 4 ) " The Tree of Life as Projetced in a Solid Sphere' . The first part of this outlines their is an imprtant difference in the system of astrology they use.
.
Here it shows associations to constellations - sub section 'Star Groups' .
Eg. The Devil - The whole of Capricorn. (Then below on the next line a new sentence )
Stars. The whole lower half of Capricornus, the he-Goat, part of Piscis Australia, Southern Fish, Microscope part of Grus, Part of Indus.
8 of pentacles o to 10 degrees of Virgo (then a Sun symbol ), Part of Argo, Part of Pisces Vulcan.
Then a recapitulation. then " The operation and rule of the ToL in the celestial heavens projected as if in a solid sphere."
- Essentially, one won't find an explanation between astrology and Tarot, as it is mostly seen working within the Thoth deck, in the GD papers, as the GD associations were not done with modern tropical astrology.
Whether the Thoth astrology is more modern tropical sign based one is still up for debate IMO. I have quiet a few posts and threads here and in DG forum relating to it.
:
I have read a couple of Cabala books and one was "Chicken Cabala"by LM Duckette, it was good. I was going to re-read it to refresh.
I see. I thought you were saying you had read the GD book and couldn't find the explanations you needed.
I suggest the best approach for you is to continue the basic Kabbalh, for now, treat Thoth astrology as most seem to - a tropical sign association.
and to comprehend more of the 'why?' behind associations, start with some history, like why Levi came up with it .... isnt there some intro to this in BoT ? ... and appendix for 777 to get a general background on hermetic kabbalistic associations via GD .
Here ....
http://www.golden-dawn-canada.com/pdf/liber 777 revised.pdf
from p.59 onwards