Zan and BC's Excellent Thoth Adventure: In the beginning....

anubis777 said:

Hello Bat & Zan i just wanted to tell you that all the info in the books written about the thoth tarot are bogus & very misleading the true meanings of the cards & there astrology are a very guarded secret by the O.T.O.

Click to expand...

True meanings guarded by the OTO? That's a good one.

Anything in the Thoth Tarot that relates to the system of the OTO and it's "secret" is a subsidiary technical interpetation. Your trusted source has been a little "Saturn in Libra" with you. Knowing the true interpretations, you should be able to figure that one out.

anubis777 said:

So the only true way to be able to learn the tarot from a deep level is by joining various Magical Orders that currently exist today.

Click to expand...

Oh dear...

The astrology book which I think Scion recommended (or if it wasn't Scion, it was someone else who knows what they're talking about) is this one.

anubis777 said:

Hello Bat & Zan i just wanted to tell you that all the info in the books written about the thoth tarot are bogus & very misleading the true meanings of the cards & there astrology are a very guarded secret by the O.T.O.

Click to expand...

Sorry Anubis, but I still think this argument is a daft one. All of the Thoth's secrets are in the BoT or Crowley's other writings including the examples you've given. It's not always simple to find them, but that's because its a complex subject and not because anyone is trying hide things from you. The OTO is in fact often criticized for not doing much with the widely published and all over the internet "secrets" internally.

Some details are not discussed in DuQuette's book much, but that is rather the idea of a beginner's book. Though I've seen DuQuette lecture on the deck and in person he is very much "now, here is the cards about the secret of the 9th degree and this is how you'd use that" (i.e. very blabby )

Don't let this put you off Bat and Zen, there are plenty enough secrets in the published material to keep you busy for a decade or so

gregory said:

That's KONIGSFURT, grigori - Verlag just means PUBLISHER I find them a bit faded myself....

Click to expand...

I like Verlag, cause I can remember how to spell it

zan_chan said:

What's a decan and is it different from a deacon?

What's astrology and why does it matter? Followed quickly by, Since when is the sun a planet?

Click to expand...

There are a couple of spectacular threads with the digested brains of our local experts in the GD forum.
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=123884
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=96946

Duquette's book will give you enough of the basics on Qabalah to get started, and his Chicken Qabalah is a lot of fun to read also. In your magical pdf you may also have Liber 777 which lists all the attributions of the cards organised via the qabalah. Pollacks book is useful, but not specific to the GD/Thoth system. I found Case's The Tarot quite useful also, as well as any number of GD focused books.

But my overwhelming advice at this point would be to pick just one thing and start there. Cause otherwise you're gonna have a splitting migraine by tomorrow If I could quote Freida Harris for a minute

Harris said:

In reference to your books--I suppose you know that most of them would be easier for a Beginner written in Sanscrit & that anyone reading them would go off their heads. Therefore the Wise ("like myself") take them in snappy bits & only when they are feeling strong.

Click to expand...

Does anyone else think that it might be too early to trim a Thoth if you're not totally familiar with it?

I found the titles absolutely vital for getting to grips with the cards. I trimmed mine quite recently. I'm no expert but I'd been working with them for about a year before I trimmed the titles and - get this gregory - rounded the corners!

From what I've read about the O.T.O so far- the whole idea is that you find some of these things for yourself. If they are just handed to you, they won't have the same meaning. Hidden not secret. There nothing exactly new here, just a new way of looking at it. At least that's the thesis I plan to start with!

Thank you EVERYONE for your comments and resources so far- they are all greatly appreciated!

Le Fanu said:

Does anyone else think that it might be too early to trim a Thoth if you're not totally familiar with it?

I found the titles absolutely vital for getting to grips with the cards. I trimmed mine quite recently. I'm no expert but I'd been working with them for about a year before I trimmed the titles and - get this gregory - rounded the corners!

Click to expand...

I left my borders on until I could remember the Titles and the attributions. I think that's probably a good idea too. Though I had only one copy and not several backups with their intact borders to refer to

I did my corners too, I don't find it makes any difference to the images, as the amount trimmed by my trimmer is about half a grain of rice. But more aggressive corner trimmers might have a different result.

Thanks for all that, Grigori! Liber 777 is in my heaven-sent folder of goodies, and I've already read the Chicken Qabalah, so that's a good start, I suppose.

I'm really just very excited about this whole thing. I've been working with TdM exclusively for the past 4 months, which I really enjoyed/enjoy, and which gave me exactly the base I was hoping to build for my continued tarot studies, but (and despite telling myself repeatedly and often) that I simply don't believe in anything magic(k)al, something always draws me back into a desire to study the Thoth. Maybe it's just mesmerizing in its beauty, or maybe there really is something to it - we shall see...

anubis777 said:

I cannot share this info b/c i swore i would never give it out so its still possible to read with these cards & get accurate info.

Click to expand...

Well I do hope that being the guardian of the great secrets is giving you all the happiness you desire. If the goal was to discourage us away from studying the Thoth as best we can, or to cause us some kind of jealousy, I can assure you that it's doing neither. The tone of this thread is to be that of eager (if ignorant) exploration, so I would hope to discourage any further, um, discouragement.

sarahrachael said:

Cheering you guys on from the side lines here

Click to expand...

Thanks, Sarah! Good to see you

One good book about decans and dignities is Tarot Decoded: Understanding and Using Dignities and Correspondences by Elizabeth Hazel.

Le Fanu said:

Does anyone else think that it might be too early to trim a Thoth if you're not totally familiar with it?

I found the titles absolutely vital for getting to grips with the cards. I trimmed mine quite recently. I'm no expert but I'd been working with them for about a year before I trimmed the titles and - get this gregory - rounded the corners!

Click to expand...

Hmm...that's a good point. But like grigori said, I do have plenty of backups to refer to And honestly the weekend is passing and I haven't trimmed yet, so it'll be next weekend at best... hmmm....