Why should I use the thoth tarot for divination

yogiman

I started out using the Thoth deck - it was the only deck I used for at least 10 years. What was frustrating to me was that I couldn't understand why I couldn't memorize all the cards & their reversals, even after so many years. I even made a book for myself for quick reference. The images on the cards don't give a lot to pull from - it's kind of like the Ironwing (which - personally I think the Ironwing is a better deck) but it's that same thing where unless you're brilliant it's difficult to even know what card it is you're looking at half the time, and remembering the meaning of the card - well, it's just not as blunt, lets put it that way. When I finally switched to RWS I couldn't believe how much sense everything made just from looking at the image. That, to me, is what's missing with the Thoth - for me anyway it was impossible to be able to look at the graphic and just know what the card was all about. I wished I hadn't stayed with the Thoth for so long.

So my next question is:

If so, why is the -thoth tarot- better than other decks for divination?

After having saved this post, I decide that I rather start a new thread on this.
 

Richard

I don't mean so much making enthusiastic for Crowley, but removing a threshold for using the deck.
I find Richard Wagner's music dramas inspiring, but I have disgust for anti-semitic power hungry womanizers such as he.
 

ravenest

There are a lot of people who like the -thoth deck-, but can't connect to Crowley or his philosophy. (As far as me concerns, I partly connect). Some of them take an intuitive stance with regard to "thoth" tarot reading, others shun away from using the deck.
What would the Crowley fans tell the latter in order to warm them up?

I suppose they, like 'fans' of other people, would offer some 'evidence' of why they think they think it is good to be a fan and try to relate that to the other person?

Sorry, not being a 'fan' of Crowley I am just supposing here.
 

Zephyros

The irony is that, for many, the Thoth is indeed a "gateway" into the occult and Thelema. I know I appreciated the deck long before I knew anything about it. What it is interesting about the route (contrary to happening upon a community of Thelemites and learning it from them) is that it is a kind of roundabout way into the subject. I spent a few months perusing DuQuette's book, and it explains the basics, but that's about it. Next I spent a few months studying the basics of Kabbalah, and it was only after about six months of study into the Thoth that I had that epiphany of what it was about. Suddenly things began to come together, not in belief but in comprehension.

By the time I understood enough to make an informed decision about whether or not I wanted to study the Thoth, I was already elbow deep. Not much I can do about it now...

I find Richard Wagner's music dramas inspiring, but I have disgust for anti-semitic power hungry womanizers such as he.

That's a good example. I love Wagner, but cannot but find the man himself repugnant. On the other hand, his music does not display any anti-Semitism, but a man's philosophy has a great deal to do with the way he chooses to live his life, especially if he chooses to preach that philosophy from a pulpit. I can understand the moral dilemma people might face when dealing with the Thoth and Crowley.
 

skipbosco

Newbie comment.

I am about 2 months into my tarot journey...and what a crazy ride it has been. I was just a couple weeks in when I had a pretty serious epiphany about connecting to the cards, I've been reading a bunch, books/online/here, but it was on the recommendation of a friend, about a month ago, that i check out the thoth deck, along with some selected reading --the lon milo book, the book of thoth, chicken qabalah. When I first looked at the deck, before reading anything about it, i was literally stunned, the sense of connection was palpable and honestly a bit intimidating, and a bit scary; not scary in the crowley was a weird dude sense, but in the sense that i seriously had to study up on the difference between these cards and the rws deck, which had no such effect on me, in a sense it was much friendlier, but kind of shallow. So i decided to put down the deck until i read the lon milo book, which provided a much needed crowbar...and greatly reduced the intimidation factor of the cards. So I messed with the cards, on myself, and then read the lon milo book again this past week (i received a message that i really need to read it 3 times for it to penetrate)...and man, the thing is just unfolding for me like this amazingly gorgeous flower. I'm now reading the crowley thoth book, and after 2 swings at the duquette book it's not nearly as incomprehensible as it was when i cracked it the first time.

What am I saying?

This deck means business! This deck is not messing around. This deck is delightful.

Because I relate my experience as a tarot newbie with learning how to play an instrument, my analogy regarding the difference between a rws deck and the thoth is the difference between learning to play the guitar on a taylor or a froggy bottom --that's the difference between a well-made instrument and a super duper well-made instrument: you can play exactly the same music on both, but the super duper guitar is rich in resonances and overtones that simply don't exist on the "lesser" guitar (apologies to non-players here to whom that is all greek).

Look, again, I am a complete newb to tarot...but not so much a newb to other esoteric study, which i've messed with for decades, but the thoth deck is simply an amazing tool, it totally has it's hooks in me.
 

vinLove

I am a very beginner myself, and right now reading the Lon Milo book. I do not know much about the AC philosophy at this stage, and had difficulties in connecting to the Thoth deck, however, despite this obstacles I seem to like it more and more.

Unlike other decks with clear and traditional images, when I look at the images of Thoth deck, I can see now that I could use my intuition more flexibly in getting divination or predicting future due to its abstract graphics with deep and wide spectrum of rich colours in the images.
 

Barleywine

The musical analogy of overtones, resonances and harmonics is one of the more inspired ones I've seen. This is exactly what I felt about the Thoth when I first encountered it; the images are by no means "easy listening" and they lure the "mind's ear" (ouch, sorry about the forced metaphor) into the metaphysical equivalent of one of Frank Zappa's more Varesian experiments: strange time signatures, unexpected dissonances, grand, sweeping movements. It also felt like entering a boundless and very restless ocean: deep undercurrents of meaning, but also cross-currents, undertows and whirlpools; it's easy to see why one might feel at first like being caught in a "riptide."

Repeated readings of the Book of Thoth - not necessarily the more arcane Thelemic ruminations (although those will eventually reward in many ways) but the descriptions of the symbolic significance of the chosen devices and motifs for each card - really opened things up for me. As a matter of fact, I'm still periodically reading them (and chasing down his references), it's very much a lifetime study.

I also still read the Book of the Law every so often, not so much for what I've come to think of as its "exalted, faux-Egyptian window dressing," but for its core message about the nature and pursuit of the True Will. It becomes crystal-clear to the thoughtful inquirer that he isn't saying "do whatever you want and forget about the consequences;" for that matter, he's equally disinterested in and dismissive of the potential rewards. It never struck me as a manifesto for the debauched hedonist, but it's obvious that's how it has been popularly perceived.
 

jillkite

recent convert

i had always given the Thoth a wide berth, partly due to Crowley's reputation, and wanting to be careful about what energetic influences i absorbed, and partly because i didn't feel the deck appealed when looking at a few images online.

finally a new tarot friend showed me through the whole deck and i was really surprised how much i loved the artwork, especially the colours.

i'm now quite interested in owning a copy to enjoy and maybe study more deeply. can't say i'm keen on all the titles though, may need a trimmed deck to get into it.

not sure i'd ever read with it, there is already enough going on in a reading without the cards being overly complex and esoteric, that's my feeling and perspective for now.

thanks for the thread.
 

vinLove

Recently I could not find an old bag in the house I used to have 10 year ago. Even after 2 weeks of frantic search everywhere in the house, I could not find it or remember where I put or seen it a few year ago.

I had a go at getting a divination on whereabouts of the bag using Thoth tarot deck, and managed to find it.

I will do a new thread on how I come to this divination using my Thoth deck soon.