new "Classic Golden Dawn Tarot" deck

The images in the WR are near enough to the GD descriptions that one need not fear the wrath of HRU for using it. The Dowson has the correct themes, but with embellishments, as closrapexa mentioned. Also its being uncolored disqualifies it from being considered authentic.

The BOTA does not purport to be a GD deck. The trumps mostly are a "corrected" version of the Waite trumps. The BOTA Trump 6 is Adam and Eve rather than the GD's Perseus and Andromeda. The minors are non scenic. IMHO the Knights and Pages are sublime. I much prefer the BOTA minors to those of the Waite.

Perhaps I was actually a bit unfair in my quick judgement. The thread's title deck and the Whare-Ra illustrate most clearly the difference between a purely esoteric deck and one meant to be read with, hence their stark natures. Except in very basic terms, they certainly don't promote "intuitive" reading, but then again, they aren't meant to. They are what they are, representations of a student's hand-drawn deck. Practically all other decks made according to their blueprints are hybrid decks; able to function both in readings and in esoteric study.

In addition, other decks try to throw the whole GD at you, while these decks actually look like they were part of a bigger scheme. There would be no need for a wealth of attributions firstly because were someone to reach the relevant grades, everyone would know what they were and secondly because the student would have attended lessons in the morning, rituals at lunch and wild, untamed magickal orgies at night, so in a sense they really lived the material.

So, that said, they really are quite good for what they are. I do prefer the Whare-Ra's robustness over the CGDT's more refined drawings, though.

I am surprised that USG has not released a coloured version but maybe Dowson wouldn't have wanted it and it could be that it doesn't have enough mass appeal to warrant it.

Yeah, what you say is true LRichard. I only mentioned the BOTA as an example of a b/w occult deck that was intended to be coloured in, one which was drawn and executed very well IMO. It seems to be a corrected version of the RWS with substitutions from the TdM and Egyptian Tarots over some of the RWS cards, which I personally prefer. I agree, the courts in the RWS are rather uninspiring compared with the majors.

Closrapexa, is what you say about WR really correct? I would have thought this type of lifestyle, specifically 'orgies' as being more the remit of Thelemites. Also, I'm assuming that the members of WR had day jobs or other vocations and weren't simply immersed in this 24/7 unless they were of course very rich! ;-D I personally prefer the CGDT to the WR deck but that's just me.

Looks like a great deck. I am one of the small few that love the Wang deck, so I don't think I would get any use out of this one.



freddie