Observations about the Thoth Tarot
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93
As I continue my studies of the cards, I am beginning to see things in them that are not documented such as Crowley's comments in the BOT. So, I am either batsh*t crazy, or maybe I am finding things that are commonly known to others, but not obvious. Either way, I thought I would post a few of them here. Obvious aspects, such as clear symbols, objects, etc, I will not mention unless I can tie it to another obscure aspect of the card.
Prince of Swords
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The prince is smiling.
Embedded in the top of his crown is a key.
There is the head of a ram or goat type figure on his chest.
On his right thigh are a man and woman standing facing each other, the man is holding something.
On his left thigh is a human skull with the eyes scratched out.
This technique of 'hiding' symbols in shading and highlights such as above seems common throughout the deck.
The figures below, from left to right: rightmost figure appears to be holding up the chariot with his foot in some sort of a yoga position. The middle one is holding up the chariot with his arm raised, as in an act of devotion, or maybe his foot again. The Eye of Horus is in his groin. The third figure is tumbling out of control and is skewed, although appears to be able to hold up the chariot anyway.
There are 4 reigns from the princes left hand to the spheres attached to the figures, 1-2-1 for a total of 4 reigns. There are 2 other reigns which connect to the black disk in the middle of the chariot, for a total of 6.
The jagged background has patterns of lightening bolts throughout it. I also interpret this as the chaos thunderbolt on which he rides, and commands it's manifestation with the sword, which he destroys with the scythe (that part comes from Crowley BOT).
The gold shperes behind him could indicate Geburah, Gedulah, and Tiphareth (this is an obvious one).
Within the black disk is a 3D object. This is common among many cards, and could represent the descent of energies through the worlds until they manifest in Malkuth in Assiyah, our 3D world.Prince of Wands
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There are Hebrew letters all throughout this card. The obvious ones are in the crown, again as part of the texture and highlight. It looks as though if you read right to left it could be a sentence in Hebrew.
Hebrew letters emanate from either the Ajna or Vishuddha chakra, all the way to the bottom. These same letters are repeated, unlike the ones in the crown.
Any time there is a figure with 2 open eyes, the left eye is always a little 'off', as in this case the prince and the lion.
The Eye of Horus looks like it could be in the wand, but I am not convinced and still looking for another.Prince of Disks
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The berries behind the prince show various magical symbols in them, only when viewed as reflections of morning dew or after a spring rain, where the glistening sunlight reflected from the wet berries yield the magic symbols.
The prince holds a sphere with another 3D object in it's center, again the notion of the descent of manifestation to the 3D world.
The bull at the bottom and top both have 'skewed' left eyes.
The 'ripples' behind the prince in all the fruit symbols is another common element of the cards, and could represent the 'pressure of manifestation' as it arrives in our world as a waveform.
I have not found the Eye of Horus in this card yet.Prince of Cups
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Again are many Hebrew letters in this card. They are in his cup about the snake, and also appear as the 'rain drops' in this card. Although some of the rain drops appear as they could be sentences but are way too small to read.
Behind his legs are more figures which could be writing, or they could be shooting stars, comets, or spaceships cruising through space.
The Eye of Horus is near the left arm of the prince in one of the whirling emanations. It has a wing attached to it. To the right of it appears to be a shooting star following the path of the emanation. Some of these whirling emanations seem like they contain galaxies.
In this card again appear Gevurah, Gedulah, and Tiphareth as the 3 central whirling forces.
The eyes of the bird and prince are skewed.
The very bottom of the card looks like nasty dripping goop, possibly our manifestation.Art
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There is more Hebrew writing amongst the larger (latin?) text on the gold sphere in the background. (visita interiora terrae rectificando invenies occultum lapidem. "visit the interior parts of the earth: by rectification thou shalt find the hidden stone.")
Next to where the robe and gold circle meet, on either side, are three symbols which follow a linear path of descent along the path of the robe. It starts with a star, and progressively become more complex and formed, until they arrive at the fourth, which is the blue background with the white geometric figures. The symbols in the descent on either side are slightly different. The figures in the background line up with this path and are the emanation of waves of force from a single point in 3D space (another descent to 3D). Others look to be the same except they have 2 points. These are very complex waveforms and it is impressive this was envisioned/drawn without the use of computers.
There appear to be eyes in cauldron.
The Eye of Horus is at the very bottom center of the card.
The 'insects' on the robe appear to be magical symbols disguised as bugs.Cards in general
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They all 'emanate' in one form or another, top down, or inside out.
The top frame of the card looks like bones. The figures in the top right an left look like a ghost manifesting from a single point, 3 steps until it reaches the operator, the 4th.
The side frames are as lightening bolts toward the bottom.
The bottom frame is flat with 4 lines, possibly indicating the 4 elements with the fifth, the spirit, being the inside of the card itself (just a wild a$$ guess).
The Lotus flower is common among many cards.
Each one is a 'singularity of symbolism' - it sort of like a row of correspondences from 777 jammed into each card. This is always done in the context of the Tree of Life, the worlds, the Sfirot, and represents the structure and force of the aspects of the universe which the card represents. Whats more, each card has a 'motion' to it, they are not static pictures. Some are like machines, others are more abstract, but they are almost 'living things'.One of the things I enjoy about the cards from a purely aesthetic perspective, is that there is NO PIXELATION. Almost all media we encounter these days, from the computer, TV, magazines, has been run through the mind of a machine, and in many cases pixelated. It is nice to look upon images that are 'natural'.
Anyway these are a few things that I have found that were not obvious to me. I am sure there is more in these cards, and I also have some similiar observations. Strictly my own interpretation, your results will vary
93 93/93
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The Thoth Companion by Michael Snuffin points out a lot of details, especially in the trump cards, that I would have otherwise missed. The definitive book on the Thoth tarot (the book that DuQuette's should have been but sadly wasn't) has yet to be written.
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I know why there are not more books. I felt silly even to post a comment about the cards I did. I recall reading even Uncle Crowley had reservations about writing a book himself, but did so out of popular demand. But there is no book that could ever be written that could explain even a single card. Until the cards began to manifest for me on the astral, from the void and through the worlds, and stands blazing and singing before me, I truly never understood the cards. Now (finally, after 25 years) the Book of Thoth lays open before me with all manner of formula, spells, and magic. Of this I shall comment no more. I will leave my first post intact as a set of observations, my second post I will delete. If the info in that post was new to you, and you understand it, please keep it to yourself. I realize I should not have disclosed that and hope it did not get too far on the internets.
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I think you're right. I just finished reading some letters that Crowley wrote to Germer at the end of his life, and it sounds like the only reason he wrote the book was out of financial necessity. No other book should be written about this particular deck
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93,
Exterior or conscious promptings like "I need cash" are one way of bringing about greater consequences than the financially needy can contemplate. I find the Book of Thoth uneven, but it has many gems in it. I agree with others that it's not yet been surpassed.
93 93/93,
EM
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I have recently noticed that the word 'ABRACADABRA' is written in the stitching atop the Chariot in Atu VII...I wonder why that specific spelling of the word was employed rather than the more fitting 'ABRAHADABRA'.
616
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@miss ruby said
"a typo?"
I shudder to think that the Atus might have careless mistakes painted into them
...I would hope that this was a conscious decision based on well-formulated concepts. 
616
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It's a typo.
Also, fwiw, I agree that there are no better books than Crowley's The Book of Thoth. That, of course, is another way of saying there are no good books at all on the Thoth tarot.
Your best bet is to spend the time to meditate on the cards, perhaps over a period of 5-10 years. A properly constructed pack of Tarot is a book written for your subconsciousness, and needs no commentary. There aren't many properly constructed Tarot decks, but the Thoth is one of them.
Since it is properly constructed, it's filled with symbols your subconsciousness already knows how to read. For the same reason, however, if your intellect insists on reading about the cards, there's no reason not to read a quality book about any other quality deck. Perhaps to the dismay of many who falsely believe that Crowley eradicated every last bit of Old Aeon signs &c, the Thoth deck is chock full of the same imagery you'll find in other decks. The Tarot is based on Qabalah, and Qabalah is Qabalah, whether you're studying Old Aeon magick, or New.
All that being said, Case's works on Tarot probably cannot be beat, either The Tarot, or even better, the privately printed subscription courses of BOTA, particularly the first three. Basic works on Qabalah are helpful, like Regardie's The Tree of Life and The Garden of Pomegranates, and Fortune's The Mystical Qabalah. 777 is invaluable. Liber Theta: Tarot Symbolism and Divination is an excellent source for understanding the minor arcana especially, in their Qabalistic and astrological fundamentals â perhaps this will return to print at some point soon. For the Thoth specifics, you do need Crowley's commentary on the pack, at least a few dozen grains of salt, and Liber AL.
Mostly, though, you just mediate.
93 93/93
Love and L.V.X.
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IMO there are no typos in the cards. There are no mistakes or errors. None. Not so much as an errant spec of paint or skewed line. Every bit of it is rendered from a divine force of magical will. I did notice the writing in the Chariot but I have not manifested the card on the astral. I will do it next week since I am travelling this week and cannot do that detailed work on the road. However like other matters I may not be able to comment if I find something. But I am positive that is not a 'typo'.
From my experience, trying to 'read' or even comprehend the card like you would anything in normal consciousness will yield no useful results or insight. It must be manifested on the astral before the operator, in the appropriate frequency, and the cards will open. In my case a teacher has appeared to explain certain cards - not a fleshy teacher. He explains the cards in a very detailed, urgent, and hurried fashion, but again, not as you and I would have an everyday conversation. Even though the book AC wrote was called the Book of Thoth, the actual Book of Thoth is the cards themselves, not the book he wrote.
Meditating and just absorbing the card have been effective. I have caught constructs of the card being drawn into me, bypassing the psychic censor but still without conscious knowledge. If you want a mega blast of the card, gaze upon it during and just after orgasm.
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@KRVB MMShCh said
"I have recently noticed that the word 'ABRACADABRA' is written in the stitching atop the Chariot in Atu VII...I wonder why that specific spelling of the word was employed rather than the more fitting 'ABRAHADABRA'.
616"
Just giving a quick study without booting up, the 'writing' has the characteristic that it is not 'written on the card', but is manifesting from the chaos. This is a property of how sigils are manifested throughout the cards, which means that this is not writing to be 'read'. More likely is that there are multiple sigils which manifest from the 'words' which have a magical meaning related to the card.
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I'm with KRVB. Don't you think A.C. would've made sure that everything was done according to his standards? - especially a card as signifigant as The Chariot?
R.E.D.
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@Edward Mason said
"93,
Exterior or conscious promptings like "I need cash" are one way of bringing about greater consequences than the financially needy can contemplate. I find the Book of Thoth uneven, but it has many gems in it. I agree with others that it's not yet been surpassed.
93 93/93,
EM"
Hi Ed! Hope you are doing well.
IMO, these cards will never be surpassed unless there is another Beast on the way. It is impossible (and I don't use that word often
). All other decks are likely flawed and pale reflections. -
@KRVB MMShCh said
"...if it's a typo, then wouldn't that imply that the deck wasn't "properly constructed"?"
No. "Proper construction" of a Tarot deck refers to the symbols on it, not the words. Anything your conscious mind can read is pretty insignificant. (And yes, that includes the titles of the cards.)
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@Jim Eshelman said
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@KRVB MMShCh said
"...if it's a typo, then wouldn't that imply that the deck wasn't "properly constructed"?"No. "Proper construction" of a Tarot deck refers to the symbols on it, not the words. Anything your conscious mind can read is pretty insignificant. (And yes, that includes the titles of the cards.)"
...so, are you of the opinion that ABRACADABRA is a typo?
616
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@Red Eagle of Death said
"I'm with KRVB. Don't you think A.C. would've made sure that everything was done according to his standards? - especially a card as signifigant as The Chariot?"
I sure think he'd have tried. But there are many documented instances of his missing things. (As a proofreader, he was only human! <g>)
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@KRVB MMShCh said
"...so, are you of the opinion that ABRACADABRA is a typo?"
I haven't given an opinion on that here. I'm only commenting on the principles being discussed.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"I haven't given an opinion on that here."
It is evident that you haven't...are you avoiding the inquiry for a reason?
R.E.D.