Waking up an sleeping thread
Recently I realized that I should study Kabbalah and several other subjects, like for example ED, to reach an - at best - deeper understanding of The Thoth Tarot. I must say that this is my primary aim: To understand the Thoth by trying to study the kabbalah, not the other way around, since my point of departure is the Tarot. This is also due to the fact that both subject areas (to talk librarianese) is so deep and wide, that studying just one of them is, like you will all know, a project that takes like an aeon.
The problem only being : How should I study the Kabbalah? Where to start, which path to choose?
I lingered awhile on the Thoth forum and this forum, where I stumbled over this very interesting thread.
And I must say, that I am with Aeon on this one:
Aeon418 said:
4 worlds, 10 sephiroth, and 22 paths. Take your pick how you want to apply the Tarot, but I know what it suggests to me.
Basically I use the Golden Dawn qabalah because I have always used the Thoth deck which is encoded with the G.D. qabalistic attributions.
I've found that Tarot and Qabalah go hand in hand. What you learn about one, you can apply to the other. Studying qabalah on it's own can be very dry and arid. Using the Tarot as a pictorial symbol of the qabalistic Tree of Life is a great aid to learning. For example, contemplating the abstract qualities and meaning of a number in the four worlds is a little difficult. But by looking at the tarot you have a ready made pictorial representation. And a picture says a thousand words.
When approaching the Tarot via qabalah, the Tarot suddenly gains new levels of depth and connections that weren't apparent at first suddenly manifest between the cards. Practically anything can be applied to the qabalah, from myths and legends to symbolism and the objects of the natural world. And what you add to qabalah you also add to the tarot.
I guess that I, beeing the noviciest of novices, must start with a system, somewhat familiar to me, i.e. The Thoth Tarot, that led me on to Kabbalah, and I do think that it is okay (for me) to start within an established fundation. I guess I would get lost if I should study the Kabbalah first, then make the links, on my own, to the Tarot.
So I've ordered the Wang book from the danish public libraries (there is only one copy, so I hope that it hasn't been stolen or something like that), and the Chicken ... by DuQuette.
Thats my starting points. That and then Fortune, which I am reading at the time being.
Just my considerations on the subject: Kabbalah/Tree of Life system... and Tarot.
K. Gazel.