Is that really true? I was very surprised by this. Do you really believe that or did you type it without thinking? It doesn't seem to me the case at all. I don't find the Tree of Life difficult at all to internalize along with the Atús and small card connections for the Thoth but I really don't feel that this would be even remotely halfway to truly understanding the Thoth.
I think it
is true, and I can prove it! Well, based on my own experience, anyway.
I think it would help if we broke it down a bit. The Thoth is two things at once. Firstly,it is a Golden Dawn deck and it has a GD structure and symbolic language and attributions as well as "general atmosphere." Secondly, it is a visual commentary on the Book of Law. The latter leans on the former in the way that the commentary is put forth and executed. So, in order to get the Thelemic stuff you have to understand the GD stuff, but not the other way round. The GD is our langauge while Thelema is what the deck
says with that language. The RWS uses a similar "dialect" but says different things with it.
The actual structure and symbolism of the deck is itself divided into two parts, the kabbalistic and the astrological. On the kabbalistic front, what you chiefly need is to understand how the Tree of Life is built, the meanings of the Sephiroth and the four worlds. Most people dabbling in Tarot already have that assimilated, even if they don't know it, thanks to the RWS. The degradation of the element from Ace to Ten, the four suits symbolizing the four elements, etc. are common knowledge. Once you have that down in general terms, you can start understanding the Majors. Since you already have the Tree down, then you can use it to work them out, as they are the "energy" of one Sephirah on another, and share a bit of both. So, it does take a bit of work, but it's a learning curve, and one thing is built on the other. A
very general knowledge of the Hebrew letters, especially what they mean, also helps a lot.
The GD used astrology both in the traditional sense of dates and charts but also to convey ideas, and this means that while the astrology in the Thoth can't be avoided, it can be "bypassed." Each Major is attributed a planet or sign, and although that, too, follows a structure it is also very easy to memorize. Now, some understanding of the attributes of the different signs and planets is necessary, but nothing close being an astrologer. You can take meanings from their stories from Greek and Roman mythology (what I ended up doing), or just astro.com. The important thing is to have a general grasp of what they mean in order to work with them.
Once you do, then the Majors open up dramatically, when taken piecemeal. The Empress, for example, goes from Chochma to Binah, is attributed to Venus and bears the letter Daled which means door (another way of saying womb, in this case, for a vaeiety of reasons we won't get in to). So you have the force of the male being visited on the female, the goddess of Love, the fertile womb, etc. So each Major is a composite, easy to reconstruct when you know the rules.
The Minors are again built upon everything that comes before them. Each Minor is attributed to a Sephirah, which we already know the meaning of. Also, each one is attributed to a decan, consisting of a planet and sign. Structural issues aside, the way that the decans work is to show how a planet acts in a certain sign, acting as if through a lens. We already learned the meanings of these attributions when we studied the Majors, all we have to do now is combine them. The Three of Wands, for example, is at Binah, the archetypal female influence, so we aren't talking about movement here. We have the Sun shining through Aries, which we know that is attributed to the Emperor. So since the Sun generall brings out the best energies of stuff, it expands, it gives life, we can conclude that we have the best qualities of the Emperor here, and so we have Virtue, purity of purpose. We can add the influence of the astrological attribution of the Sephirah if we wish, although it is implied in the Sephirah itself anyway. Binah is attributed to Saturn, which from our study of the Majors we know is attributed to the Universe, and implies solidification, etc. Solidification of
what depends on whatever Three we are talking about.
The Courts are again built on exactly the same base. On the kabbalistic front you have the "World of World" or element of element, and their placement on the Tree (Knights at Chochma, etc.). Astrologically, each Court is made out of three Minors, in themselves made out of two Majors each. Sure, it isn't as simple as that, since each Court has a dominant and recessive sign, and a few other things, but you can get along fine by keeping it simple. The Knight of Disks is at Chochma, and his Minors are the Seven of Wands, Eight and Nine of Disks. So, you can leave it at that "mini reading" or go deeper. You have Mars in Leo (Tower in Lust), Sun in Virgo (Sun in Hermit) and Venus in Virgo (Empress in Hermit), and the Knight's "personality" combines the attributes of these three cards/decans.
So far as basic structure goes, that's basically it, and it isn't difficult, especially not when approached gradually. You very quickly pick up the method, since you're using the same tools over and over. You can, of course, add to it, and it will only enrich your experience. You could go deeper into astrology and deal with exaltations and detriments and the like, but that's not strictly necessary.
Once you have your basic toolbox outlined above you can approach the Thelemic ideas. Now, I'm not going to say that's easy, since it isn't, but coming to understand those things are part of the process. When you understand the symbolic language, it does become much clearer. That's the
actual Thoth, all of the above is just what you use to work with it, a means to an end. I mean, studying kabbalah is fascinating in its own right, don't get me wrong, but where the Thoth is concerned no more than a basic grasp of its general ideas is needed to get you started. This is also where things become important, since every card is geared toward Thelema and True Will, and you won't get any of that without understanding how it works out according to the "equations" outlined above. Lust is Lust because of Thelema, otherwise it's just a tarty looking female practicing bestiality. The key thing to remember is that the method serves just to get you started, where you go with it is up to you.
A lot of the Thelemic "angle" is expressed in the Book of Thoth, and I can also recommend reading the Book of Law and its commentaries. Both of these express themselves in much the same symbolic language outlined.
)
: I think you just gave me the key to why Crowley's version of Liber T is laid out the way it is. Every time I cracked it to look something up, I was bouncing around in it since you can't just go Ace-to-Ten to track down the Minors. The internal logic didn't jump out at me. Crystal-clear now. Thanks!