Keywords for the Crowley Tarot vs The Crowley Tarot (both by Banzhaf)

What are the differences between "Keywords for the Crowley Tarot" and "The Crowley Tarot: The Handbook to the Cards"? Both books are co-authored by Hajo Banzhaf.

I'm looking to purchase a book for studying the Thoth deck. Hopefully, someone can help throw some light on which is the better book to buy between the two.

Amazon has some insightful reviews of these books.
If I was going to dive deeply into Thoth,. I'd go with the Duquette book

http://www.amazon.com/Understanding..._bbs_sr_3/103-7599561-8883856?ie=UTF8&s=books

david boise ID

Defenitly go with Duquette book, its very insightfull and pritty much explain the cards and the meanings. Its good if you are looking for some deeper meanings or generally interested in them

I agree with the previous replies. If you want to actually "study" the Thoth Tarot, go with DuQuette's book. And then sink your teeth into Crowley's own Book of Thoth. But that's not an answer to your initial question. It's merely a suggestion.

Joy said:

What are the differences between "Keywords for the Crowley Tarot" and "The Crowley Tarot: The Handbook to the Cards"? Both books are co-authored by Hajo Banzhaf.

I'm looking to purchase a book for studying the Thoth deck. Hopefully, someone can help throw some light on which is the better book to buy between the two.

Click to expand...

First of all I have to admit that I don't like either of these two books because they try to interpret the cards for you, rather than leaving it up to you to do that for yourself. That said, I Personally think that The Crowley Tarot is the better of the two. (The lesser of two evils ) It's treatment of the cards is much fuller and more indepth.
I see Keywords for the Crowley Tarot as little more than a stripped down, simplified, bare bones version of The Crowley Tarot, that provides little more than "sound bite" style interpretations and cliched meanings of the symbolism.

Not to hi-jack your thread Joy but:

What if you just want something that goes into the basic symbology of the deck itself? I have absolutely NO understanding and/or knowledge of symbols to begin with. I just take what I think and feel, running with that. While it works, I would love to have a deeper knowledge. Or is there another book out there (BOOK: I like hard copy references) that will offer the same symbolism and more without feeling lectured or wishy-washy on meanings?

I have DuQuette's book and will tell just about everyone who will stand still long enough about it, but the deeper symbology of the cards are not in this with every single card. He skims over the larger more important ones, which given all that is contained in the book it is for the best otherwise the thing would look like a double sized phone book!...or the entire collection of encylopedia(s)

There really doesn't seem to be any definitive book on Crowley's deck other than his own The Book of Thoth (Egyptian Tarot), U.S. Games Systems Inc. ISBN 0-913866-12-1. But Crowley writes a rather difficult read and can tend to digress and then smoothly move back into his subject while appearing to flatly deny ever having digressed in the first place.

That said, a real understanding of the cards requires a knowledge of Astrology and Western Qabalah to such a degree that the inherent wisdom of those systems alone will change your life.

My way of having learned the cards and my method is probably pretty stupid. I've learned over the years through the use of many many many different decks (Thoth being my favorite) and not only am I familiar with the systems I mention, but I remember every card with near picture perfect clarity (and since every LWB I've read has shown only minor variations in "keyword" meanings, I have them down pretty nicely too). So, when I draw a card, say the 6 of Disks for example, not only am I aware of what it means to place Tiphareth in Assiah and the Moon in Taurus (altogether a wonderful sense of togetherness), and not only do I see the harmony in this picture that Harris painted, but I remember the image of the RWS deck of the little boy giving a flower to the little girl, and the image on the New Vision deck where the proud parents are involved behind the card, and the Mythic Tarot's image of a man seeking payment or a loan from his King (and so on for other decks), and I also know through my learning that his card denotes success in material matters - not the grandest of riches but just enough to let you know that you can drop quarters in that charity box at Burger King, just enough to let you know that you can offer that loan to your brother he's been wanting. Or given the reverse of this card for some reason (I don't usually use reversals, but prefer pairings and dignities), the need for such a thing.

It doesn't matter what deck is used. No one has ever proven to me that for divination purposes Crowley invented a new deck with new meanings. What he did do was send us new energy and a new paradigm within which to examine these meanings.

It's a great deck.