A Short Essay on the Tarot of the Egyptians
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I've been reading the Book of Thoth, meaning the actual book that Crowley wrote to accompany the deck, more or less annually since I was sixteen and something, or rather some things, about have been bothering me for some time now.
It has to do with the introduction. Firstly, it was written, or at least signed by, Martha Kuntzel (S.H. Sor. I.W.E. 8=3 A.'.A.'.). This book was finished in 1944. Didn't Kuntzel die in 1941? Secondly, there's the paragraph she finishes the intro with: "The accompanying booklet was dashed of by Aleister Crowley without help from parents. Its perusal may be omitted with advantage" What is that a reference to? the appendices?
Dan
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@ar said
"It has to do with the introduction. Firstly, it was written, or at least signed by, Martha Kuntzel (S.H. Sor. I.W.E. 8=3 A.'.A.'.). This book was finished in 1944. Didn't Kuntzel die in 1941?"
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
(1) I have no information at all on when she died - so, I don't know. What is the source of your information on when she died?
(2) Just because the book was published in 1944 doesn't say anything about when any particular part of it was wirtten.
(3) I'm certain Crowley wrote most or all of that and just put her name on it. First, the Introduction doesn't read like the composition of someone writing in a secondary language unless they are really skilled in it. Second, the body of the Introduction is essentially crib notes taken from Equinox of the Gods (which, of course, he could have asked I.W.E. to compile for him as a draft). Third, the last paragraphs are indisputably Crowley. In particular, the style of denigrating Crowley's contribution in order to exalt the genius of Harris is something that none of Crowley's students would have done, but something he would have done in a second. Furthermore, the style is unmistakably his.
"Secondly, there's the paragraph she finishes the intro with: "The accompanying booklet was dashed of by Aleister Crowley without help from parents. Its perusal may be omitted with advantage" What is that a reference to? the appendices?"
No, that refers to the whole of The Book of Thoth itself. He (disguised as she) is saying that the deck has the genius, feel free to ignore the book altogether.
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@Jim Eshelman said
" I have no information at all on when she died - so, I don't know. What is the source of your information on when she died?"
Both the Sutin and Kaszinski biographies claim that she didn't live to see the end of World War II. I think it's Kaszinski who places the tentative date at 1941.
@Jim Eshelman said
"No, that refers to the whole of The Book of Thoth itself. He (disguised as she) is saying that the deck has the genius, feel free to ignore the book altogether."
Thank you. I've been wondering about that for years.
Dan