A Thoth semi-clone

Nice deck!

Hi Egypt and thanks for posting your deck on the net for us to take a look.

First up, it's very well drawn - well above the average for a new modern deck. I think I would be inclined to buy it but I really don't see how you could possibly call it a Thoth clone. For my 2 cents, I think "a nod in the direction" might be more fitting. But hey, it's pretty good and I wish you every success with it.

Thanks, everyone.

I keep thinking of it as something of a Thoth 'clone' because a lot of my choices for minor and court meanings were Crowley's alterations, but the meaning of 'clone' in the Tarot scene seems to be much more of an exact duplicate, with all the art mirroring the parent precisely. Which I'm clearly not doing, since one of the hallmarks of the Thoth is its non-scenic minors!

As to influence from Smith or the Sola Busca - nah. I tried to only work from text, without looking at any other artist's versions. Some slipped in here and there during my research (and the drunken night where I unleashed my built-up snarkiness about this project in scribbling out a bit more than a full suit of an obscene RWS clone), and Tim Powers' vivid descriptions of a couple of the Sola Busca cards in his book Last Call lurked in the back of my mind, but the majority of the art comes from my own head. I think the QoP looking at her reflection does come from the SB via Smith.

Oh, and my only mystic initiations were into the secrets of grumpy cartoonists. *grin*

Macavity said:

Blimey Mate, you're a "cheerful sort", aintcha. [teasing]

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Just answering the question honestly. I dont think this deck IS a Thoth clone, however, that is what the questioner asked, so I responded with what I would feel about a clone of Thoth. If the question was; how do you feel about my deck, then the reply would have been VERY different (I like it a lot!)Why would any one want to make a clone of another deck anyway? But like many others point out above - this deck is not a THoth 'clone'.

Macavity said:

As I breeze through my various Tarot forums, I once frequented, I sense we are (collectively) a vanishing species. I have studied "Thelema" ... more than some Thelemites? Idem Taroists... Are we ALL miserable such f*rts? LOL.

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From experience, I realise that Thelemic initiation often teaches a specific Gnosis that is also revealed in the Thoth symbolism. Without one, you dont get the other. I also have no doubt that this initiatory level of Gnosis and understanding of the Thoth symbolism can also be won individually, without the outward form of the initiation. If this was the case, then I would like to know about that expereince as well.

One can spend a long time STUDYING something ... but that does not ensure UNDERSTANDING of the subject nor WISDOM in it's application. Knowledge lies in the abyss while understanding and wisdom, above it.

Macavity said:

Hey, it's NOT personal - Just an OBSERVATION... Dunno why I still "dally" with the Tarot.

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That's for you to sort out I suppose?

Macavity said:

P.S. "Hi" to Diana (sadly what was) ... JMD... Firemaiden(!), even perhaps (anti-TABI-ists) Major Tom... and the inimitable... Umbrae. LOL. As i pass by... Daring these people to reply! That's still just ME... (fairly) affectionally etc.

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Daring?