is there only one version of Thoth that have 3 magus?

I wonder
is there only one version of Thoth that have 3 magus?

I found this one http://www.bookya.de/isbn/9783905219050/

but I thought the AGMs only have one magus ? have the german version 3 ? or is it an old version, typo ? does anyone know?

There's only one version with 3 Magus. Two of the Magus cards were rejected by Crowley, and were not in the original pack. The one in the AGM is the one that Crowley chose. I read that Crowley had the Artist do some cards a number of times until he was satisfied.

I know it says on that link 80 cards, but does it specify that it is 78 cards plus two Magus cards? It may be the usual star card and the OTO card, rather than the Magus cards... (but then I don´t read German; cannot read the link...)

As far as I know, the "purple box" US Games deck is the only one which currently has the 3 Magus Cards. I love the middle one. An absolutely stunning card...

ETA;

this edition!

Osiris' Belt

magpie9 said:

Two of the Magus cards were rejected by Crowley, and were not in the original pack.

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I'm not sure if 'rejected' is the word...

Put the 3 Magi next to each other and you may notice a progression - a rising, of sorts. This could be a clue to the instructions encoded within this Tarot.

Also, by adding 2 magi to the 78 we are given 80
8 + 0 = 8 : Hod (Thoth)

There were some schemes connected to his rendition of The Book of Thoth that Crowley rejected - schemes which have attended his deck since; but I suspect he may have wanted us to see these 3 Magi. As to the others, that may be a subject for another thread....

If anyone is curious, Joan Bunning's learntarot site shows a pic of all 3 along with a chart of different deck versions.

thank you all for your input

Its interesting this.... Ive heard that crowley didnt choose any magus, that he died before he had the chance to choose

anyone know why one edition has three magus ?
and why the others didnt? (why doesnt oto want three magus to be printed?)

Storm82 said:

Ive heard that crowley didnt choose any magus, that he died before he had the chance to choose

Click to expand...

The version of the Magus chosen by Crowley was printed in the Book of Thoth several years before his death.

Storm82 said:

anyone know why one edition has three magus ? and why the others didnt?

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Tarot cards are printed in sheets. 20 cards at a time. The standard Tarot deck is 78 cards. That's almost 4 sheets. But it still leaves you with two spare cards that are going to go to waste unless the publisher thinks of something to do with them. So most Tarot decks are printed with a cover card, a card with the publishers name and address, or a catalogue listing other decks.
The publishers of the Thoth decided to do something different. Instead of the usual 2 card crapola they printed two earlier and rejected drafts of the Magus card. They are merely nice looking curios. But they aren't officially part of the deck.

Storm82 said:

(why doesnt oto want three magus to be printed?)

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Because the two extras aren't part of the deck. They are just novelties that have inspired tall tales and flights of fancy about the 3 Biblical Magi, constellations lining up with galactic centre in the year 2012, and the arrival of space aliens who will restore the reign of the Pharaohs and usher in the new golden age. And this whole machiavelian plot is being orchestrated from the offices of A.G.Mueller.

It would make a great movie though.

Something worth noting. Someone here linked, not long ago, a list of Crowley documents up for auctions; scribblings, sketches, letters, postcards to Frieda etc. One of the papers was a sketch by Crowley himself of how he wanted the Magus card and if you looked closely (not a very good drawing at all) it clearly resembled the 8-armed Magus. The middle one I linked. I just thought this was interesting as it showed (perhaps) that in compositional terms, he had - at some point - wanted the Magus look like this. I don´t know if he wanted it to look like this then changed his mind when he saw the result, but whatever, he did at some point want it to look like this and it wasn´t merely a LFH whimsy...

I love the looming ape in the background. This particular Magus, with all its arms, reminds me of Shiva, Hindu goddess of destruction, which makes me think of the Nietzchean destroy to create; something I find appropriate for the Magus in terms of transformation.

Al-Ayin Invasion?

Aeon418 said:

Because the two extras aren't part of the deck. They are just novelties that have inspired tall tales and flights of fancy about the 3 Biblical Magi, constellations lining up with galactic centre in the year 2012, and the arrival of space aliens who will restore the reign of the Pharaohs and usher in the new golden age.

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Scoff if you wish, but you've yet to explain the enigma I have presented regarding The Book of Thoth and 2012.
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=110049


And, another possibility with 3 Magi is:

I I I

as if 3 Pillars might be of some significance to One linking Tarot to the Qabala.
Or maybe Crowley thought a Mercurial 'Trinity' was useful for the practice of a philosophical alchemy.

I wonder, is there any documentation of the process by which the inclusion (or exclusion) of the 2 'extra' Magi was decided upon?

Le Fanu said:

I don´t know if he wanted it to look like this then changed his mind when he saw the result, but whatever, he did at some point want it to look like this and it wasn´t merely a LFH whimsy...

Click to expand...

Crowley also tells us that some of the cards were re-drawn up to eight times. They went through a development process, beginning with Crowley's rough scetches and descriptions, until Harris produced the final article. There's a link somewhere in the Thoth forum to a site that shows several examples of these reject cards.

But I've yet to see any mention of three Magus cards being included in the deck.