2dogs wrote: ↑29 Jul 2017, 01:38
DDwarks wrote: ↑28 Jul 2017, 17:17
2dogs wrote: ↑22 Jul 2017, 09:28
How can I make best use of my Thoth deck :?: .
Its Friday and as promised, here's your reading :)
Ive done 3 cards for you. I'm on my phone so it wont be an essay I'm afraid (and relieved!).
What have you done so far: 4 of Disks
A card of stability and structure!
Looks like someone got his head down and got on with analysing and getting to know the ins and out of the Thoth!
You've got the theory right if nothing else so well done. Its no easy task!
The 4 of Disks is Sun in Capricorn. I dont know much about what it means but I'll venture to say that Capricorn, being an Earth sign shows consistency and a solid professional approach to your Thoth studies.
Where you are now? 6 of Wands
Jupiter in Leo.
You've done good and you know you have!
The challenges the Thoth presented have been surmounted through hard work and self belief but as your question hints at, you're wondering about the next step. You want to get to enjoy the Thoth. You need to see the rewards to fully feel satisfied with it all.
What you need to do next. Ace of Cups
The water Signs.
Oh dear!
You've done all the ground work and have been both studious and hard working. You've truly committed yourself to unravel it but somewhere along the lines, you forgot to look at it as a voice rather than a written message.
There's another realm to the Thoth that you havent explored yet. It's an intuitive deck as well as a study deck.
All your knowledge is still only external. Its soul you haven't reached yet.
I hope this has given some interesting insight into your query 2dogs:)
Thank you very much DD. The reading matches up well with my experiences so far:
4 of Disks : I haven't analysed the whole deck or gone into Crowley's theory, but have made a serious effort to look at what the individual cards drawn have been saying by reading about the individual symbols and thinking hard about how their arrangement in the card and its overall composition relate to the question being asked, and I have put the time in to get the answers I'm satisfied with.
6 of Wands: The readings I've done so far have made sense and generally been well received but they have been a struggle and in the main been slow to figure out and write up, not really enjoyable, more a sense of relief when they're done. Which I suppose has led me to buy those DV angel and fairy decks.
Ace of Cups: This rings very true, I get no great feeling or intuition from the Thoth, it just seems to involve vast amounts of esoteric and quite possibly misleading study and I'm not keen on wasting years going down another dead end. I need to anchor myself more in reality such as with my fact cards, but perhaps have a bit of fun and stimulate my dreams with the more fantasy based decks.
So yes this has given me some good insight. I seem to be locked into using the Thoth on here anyway, so will continue with it among my other decks for the time being and see how it goes.
2dogs's query brought up an interesting topic that I would like to comment on, based on my personal experiences.
Yes, the Thoth is chock-full with esoteric symbolism that especially beginners are typically overtaxed with - and reading Crowley's accompanying book usually makes this feeling even worse!
I remember when, some thirty years ago, I first ventured to make an in-depth study of the Book of Thoth. In this endeavor, Crowley's frequent references to other books (mostly his own) were not really more helpful than his brief hints at secret adept knowledge - all of this a time long before the advent of the internet, which is often making at least the first type of information readily available.
Of course, I was intrigued by all this mysterious occult background, but hey, unlike some other Thothies, I couldn't wait to
read with the deck!
Now the only Thoth literature besides the BoT that I had access to were two books by Gerd Ziegler, so I used them in conjunction with the BoT. (Yes, I did. Now it's out. :32(34): ) And although I questioned the authenticity of Ziegler's interpretations in some instances, I must admit that I didn't (and still don't) find his books so utterly deplorable like some of the Thothies I met do. More devout Thelemites might consider me a heretic for this - even though I have little doubt that Crowley and Ziegler would have gotten on with each other in more ways than one.
Fact is, Ziegler's books went a long way in allowing me to actually start reading the cards for myself and others (and that's more than many an old Thothie can claim for themselves). I also used them in the encounter groups I was participating in as assistant leader at the time, and may I say, to good effect. Probably not least because Ziegler had been using the Thoth in therapeutic group work too, and his books reflect that.
Now meanwhile we additionally have the books by DuQuette and Smulkin, written specifically for making the BoT more accessible to newbies. Kudos to them! - We also have some more books from the other Thoth school, the one represented by Ziegler and originally founded by the Jungian, anthropologist, and shaman Angeles Arrien, author of "The Tarot Handbook.".
Arrien felt greatly attracted by the Thoth deck, but chose to mostly circumvent the study of Crowley's writings and preferred to take what she saw in the cards at face value, so to speak. However, the worst she ever did was that she downplayed the role of the Great Beast in the creation of this deck and emphasized Lady Frieda Harris's contribution instead - recklessly bringing the eternal wrath of all devout Thelemites on her! (Now Crowley was speaking condescendingly of others all the time, but that doesn't need to concern us here.) In fairness, it must be said that Arrien did mess up certain things, e.g., when she took the pelican on The Empress for a swan. But we should appreciate that she correctly identified the two dolphins on the 2 of Cups as such, even though they arguably look like koi fish.
Anyway, like it or not, here we are today with what we may call the scholastic approach (Crowley, DuQuette, Snuffin, Hughes-Barlow, with some reservations also Banzhaf) versus the intuitive approach (Arrien, Wanless, Ziegler, Tarantino, Fiebig) in regards of the Thoth. As I already confessed, I do find value in the writings of the latter authors as well - especially Tarantino's book
Tarot for the New Aeon is quite recommendable.
And personally, whenever I hear that there are two opposite approaches towards something, I figure that the most complete picture might be attained by studying and blending both. But that's just me. :32(21):
Hope some of you struggling with the Thoth find this post helpful.