Learning Thoth with Harris and DuQuette

The Happy Squirrel

First I want to say a big thank you to all here who helped me with recommendation for my starter books to understand Crowley's deck.

The books arrived and a new thoth deck came at the same time.

I trimmed it until all that is left is the painting. This prevents me from seeing and thinking anything other than the paintings. This also helps me remove myself from he RWS imageries and meanings that I have become accustomed to.

I looked into each of them and just took everything in. And then I read the DuQuette book, ignoring divinatory section for now, focusing on all background information and then each card and his descriptions and explanations of each of them.

Bliss.

I highly recommend putting aside divination at the start and just focus on the art and the intention behind each design. This may not work for everyone. But it works so far for me

I doubt I am in the only one using this as an entry point, as I have seen a few people trimming their thoth leaving only the artwork before they are familiar with the deck

But I thought I should share this

La Force

The Happy Squirrel said:
First I want to say a big thank you to all here who helped me with recommendation for my starter books to understand Crowley's deck.

The books arrived and a new thoth deck came at the same time.

I trimmed it until all that is left is the painting. This prevents me from seeing and thinking anything other than the paintings. This also helps me remove myself from he RWS imageries and meanings that I have become accustomed to.

I looked into each of them and just took everything in. And then I read the DuQuette book, ignoring divinatory section for now, focusing on all background information and then each card and his descriptions and explanations of each of them.

Bliss.

I highly recommend putting aside divination at the start and just focus on the art and the intention behind each design. This may not work for everyone. But it works so far for me I doubt I am in the only one using this as an entry point, as I have seen a few people trimming their thoth leaving only the artwork before they are familiar with the deck

But I thought I should share this

Congrats

I did the same thing to one of my Thoth decks and to my Mary - EL Tarot deck. The Mary - EL got her new look, cause no matter what, the size, and her system, I had a hard time like you putting the other reading methods aside, it then forces you to focus on the intention of the card and your intuition. I then like you found that it worked so well, my thoth deck was next in line, I didn't feel bad cause I also have the Thoth (large), I found the colors popped, more vibrant, radiated, bringing the deck to life.

I so enjoy my Thoth deck trimmed.

smw

The Happy Squirrel said:
I looked into each of them and just took everything in. And then I read the DuQuette book, ignoring divinatory section for now, focusing on all background information and then each card and his descriptions and explanations of each of them.

Bliss.

If you are really enjoying Duquette, perhaps you might also like the Book of Thoth. ( I like moaning that it is impenetrable but wouldn't be without it) I find it helpful to read them alongside each other, Duquette frequently uses extracts from this and also from the correspondences of Crowley and Harris. This gives a fascinating look at their relationship and with the design of the cards.

http://hermetic.com/crowley/crowley-harris.html

She strikes me as being quite a formidable lady and a perfectionist in her own right for her Art.

Harris said:
Dear Aleister

The 26 cards have gone to be mounted, so we are beginning to be terrifyingly finished. There are several I should like to try again, but none of them are what I have hoped to be able to do. Therefore tonight I am the victim of the most profound hump, and I think in future I had better stick to mechanical typing.

Zephyros

The Book of Thoth is far less impenetrable than it once was, in this age of instant information. The language it speaks in is decidedly Kabbalistic, but once you understand that and have a general idea of Thelema, it becomes much easier. True, every other line is some obscure reference to something or other which can be some esoteric element, a book or even some unrelated poetry, but taken slowly and in small portions it can be quite manageable. Just don't skip over anything you don't understand and look it up online. Make sure you more or less understand the reference in general terms and continue.

One of the reasons the Thoth is so complex is that it is so full of different things so studying it can be a complete education, and you can't lose anything by gaining knowledge. Hunting up Crowley's references and sources will lead you to mathematics, philosophy (and philosophers), world cultures, chemistry, politics... I can't make up an exhaustive list of all the different things in it, and that's not even counting all the magick and ritual background of many of the ideas expressed. However, it is well worth your while to take the time to go slowly and allow the study to lead you into side-avenues of information. You probably won't become an expert on any one aspect, but getting basic knowledge of any reference will add to the whole.

If Crowley references some poem, look it up and read it. If he speaks of some ritual, they can all be found quite easily and will enhance your appreciation of what he's saying and what idea is being put forth in the card. You don't have to become an expert in chemistry, but at least look up why he's talking of certain materials. Look up this or that philosopher is, what was his life like and what main worldview he espoused. If he talks of a book, read it if you want or read a summary, either one will contribute. Look up the Golden Dawn grades, since he speaks of them often.

Most importantly, if he references the Book of Law or any of his own works, never, ever skip that. Keep the Book of Law and its commentary close at hand and refer to it often. He is extremely self-referential, and will often use his whole body of work to explain something about a card. While in time it is natural to read more and more of his works because of this, don't worry about that in the beginning. All his works can be found online, and just read and understand the excerpt in general terms.

smw

I find another aspect to the 'impenetrable' thing which probably sounds silly. When I bought the book of Thoth, it was like ooh... Magical tome... (Ok I am childish

but then nothing... no sense or feeling or imaginary perceptions at all. Almost like it revealed nothing, printed words though with worlds of references and information. I bought Duquette , Ahh, friendly warm accessible feeling. However, here while reading a suggestion to do something or other (can't remember what it was) the words jumped off the page suddenly....GO AND DO IT and in the corner of my eye I saw a I flickering, unfleshed outline of the tree of life with a sea misty, Palish green background. I remembered that I was familiar with the basic tree, though had completely forgotten about it.

Ahem... Maybe just me, though I wonder if that sense of not being able to connect Perception/imagination whatever..might be similar for others...with the BOT, at least to begin with.

Just wondering do moderator duties include being an arm of the woo woo police

The Happy Squirrel

La Force said:
Congrats

I did the same thing to one of my Thoth decks and to my Mary - EL Tarot deck. The Mary - EL got her new look, cause no matter what, the size, and her system, I had a hard time like you putting the other reading methods aside, it then forces you to focus on the intention of the card and your intuition. I then like you found that it worked so well, my thoth deck was next in line, I didn't feel bad cause I also have the Thoth (large), I found the colors popped, more vibrant, radiated, bringing the deck to life.

I so enjoy my Thoth deck trimmed.

I do the same when I trimmed decks I make sure I have another set untrimmed so I don't feel bad

And the trimming changed the art completely doesn't it?? I don't think this will work with vintage thoth decks though because the old printing was as such (before the invention of microchip) the borders blend well with the art work in the centre so trimming vintage will make them look more blah than wow. New editions I found have brilliant coloured art and very faded borders making the mothers superfluous and distracting to the art so when trimmed the art suddenly shine like they didn't before. I saw this deck for many years and felt nothing until I say the art pieces alone online on someone's YouTube page. I stopped and thought what deck is that and realised it was the ol' thoth!

I can now see why this deck stood on its own for so long.

The Happy Squirrel

smw said:
If you are really enjoying Duquette, perhaps you might also like the Book of Thoth. ( I like moaning that it is impenetrable but wouldn't be without it) I find it helpful to read them alongside each other, Duquette frequently uses extracts from this and also from the correspondences of Crowley and Harris. This gives a fascinating look at their relationship and with the design of the cards.

http://hermetic.com/crowley/crowley-harris.html

She strikes me as being quite a formidable lady and a perfectionist in her own right for her Art.

I accidentally came across a picture of the first edition book of thoth that was sold for an insane amount of money and thought oh what is that. And so Google-ing around and seeing DuQuette's quotes from it I thought this is just going to be too much for me. It is like reading a medical journal not having gone to university (not even medical school).

But the correspondences between Crowley and Harris is something I would love to read more of. You are right, just seeing quotes from DuQuette's book of their back and forth gives me a sense of history, background, context, and dynamic around the creation of the cards in a way that - say - the Rider Waite could never have. I suddenly saw how Pamela Coleman Smith was 'just' a hired hand (this is my sense for now anyway I could be wrong I really haven't investigated this in great depth) while Harris was a partner in creation. And it shows!

The Happy Squirrel

closrapexa said:
The Book of Thoth is far less impenetrable than it once was, in this age of instant information. The language it speaks in is decidedly Kabbalistic, but once you understand that and have a general idea of Thelema, it becomes much easier. True, every other line is some obscure reference to something or other which can be some esoteric element, a book or even some unrelated poetry, but taken slowly and in small portions it can be quite manageable. Just don't skip over anything you don't understand and look it up online. Make sure you more or less understand the reference in general terms and continue.

One of the reasons the Thoth is so complex is that it is so full of different things so studying it can be a complete education, and you can't lose anything by gaining knowledge. Hunting up Crowley's references and sources will lead you to mathematics, philosophy (and philosophers), world cultures, chemistry, politics... I can't make up an exhaustive list of all the different things in it, and that's not even counting all the magick and ritual background of many of the ideas expressed. However, it is well worth your while to take the time to go slowly and allow the study to lead you into side-avenues of information. You probably won't become an expert on any one aspect, but getting basic knowledge of any reference will add to the whole.

If Crowley references some poem, look it up and read it. If he speaks of some ritual, they can all be found quite easily and will enhance your appreciation of what he's saying and what idea is being put forth in the card. You don't have to become an expert in chemistry, but at least look up why he's talking of certain materials. Look up this or that philosopher is, what was his life like and what main worldview he espoused. If he talks of a book, read it if you want or read a summary, either one will contribute. Look up the Golden Dawn grades, since he speaks of them often.

Most importantly, if he references the Book of Law or any of his own works, never, ever skip that. Keep the Book of Law and its commentary close at hand and refer to it often. He is extremely self-referential, and will often use his whole body of work to explain something about a card. While in time it is natural to read more and more of his works because of this, don't worry about that in the beginning. All his works can be found online, and just read and understand the excerpt in general terms.

Thanks so much closrapexa for the encouragement! As I mentioned in previous post, simply looking at some excerpt of the book online makes me feel like it will all be a bit much for me at this point in my learning curve. One has to be really motivated to go through it! The process you described really reminds me of a period in time when I had to go through a lot of academic journals. It is hard work! But with enough motivation driven by needing and wanting to understand and to know these processes are rewarding indeed. I must say my motivation to approach the BoT is a bit low at the moment. But I am certain that after chewing over these other materials I will soon find them lacking and will need to go further. And that is when I shall remember what you said here, and it will be a good way to keep going I am sure!

(You know weird thing happened last night I woke up with your username echoing in my head!)

The Happy Squirrel

Here are Some of the trimmed cards

I know trimming this deck isn't revolutionary but I just can't get over how the art pop so much more and how helpful this is to start learning

Learning Thoth with Harris and DuQuette

The Happy Squirrel

La Force

smw

Zephyros

smw

The Happy Squirrel

The Happy Squirrel

The Happy Squirrel

The Happy Squirrel

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