Tarot Cards
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Not sure if I am posting in the right location. I am interested in purchasing my first tarot deck. My understanding is that the Thoth deck and the Waite-Coleman decks are good. Is the Waite-Coleman deck the same as the Rider-Waite deck? Also, should I purchase a new deck or does it matter? Once purchased how do I make them "mine"? Sorry for all the questions - just trying to get a handle on tarot cards. My interest is primarily in using these cards to better understand or appreciate the Kabbalah - not too interested in devination at this point. Thanks for input to this topic.
Bob
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@rwidner said
"Not sure if I am posting in the right location. I am interested in purchasing my first tarot deck. My understanding is that the Thoth deck and the Waite-Coleman decks are good. Is the Waite-Coleman deck the same as the Rider-Waite deck? Also, should I purchase a new deck or does it matter? Once purchased how do I make them "mine"? Sorry for all the questions - just trying to get a handle on tarot cards. My interest is primarily in using these cards to better understand or appreciate the Kabbalah - not too interested in devination at this point. Thanks for input to this topic.
Bob"
I would get Rider-Waite to understand the traditional images as well as Crowley's Thoth tarot to understand the changes he made in image and name, etc. Get Crowley's "Book of Thoth" for endless amounts of information and symbolism about these cards.
Purchase a new deck - it doesn't matter.
You make them "yours" by studying them, touching them, and such - like you would make a baseball mit "yours".
IAO131
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@rwidner said
"Not sure if I am posting in the right location. I am interested in purchasing my first tarot deck. My understanding is that the Thoth deck and the Waite-Coleman decks are good. Is the Waite-Coleman deck the same as the Rider-Waite deck? Also, should I purchase a new deck or does it matter? Once purchased how do I make them "mine"? Sorry for all the questions - just trying to get a handle on tarot cards. My interest is primarily in using these cards to better understand or appreciate the Kabbalah - not too interested in devination at this point. Thanks for input to this topic.
Bob"
I would add that there are numerous "clones" of both decks, particularly the Rider-Waite (Rider was the publisher, Waite the creator, Coleman the artist). Some people seem to like "Universal Tarot" which is a more modern version in watercolor. I personally like "Universal Waite" which keeps the original drawings but fills them in with stronger colors.
The Thoth deck is probably the greatest of tarot decks imho and I think it has yet to be surpassed... I think many here would share that opinion. But it's complicated and the Book of Thoth is very learned, and hard to understand if you're just getting into this.
One thing I've heard is good is to wrap the cards (in cotton, silk) and keep them in a special place. Meaning: keep them separate from watching TV and eating cheetos on the couch
You want to make sure your work with them is "holy" and separated from the daily grind.(From my limited knowledge of these forums, usually Tarot questions go under the "qabalah" section.)
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Just thought I'd toss my two cents out here. The Thoth deck was the first I ever purchased, and while I found it complex, I am in debt to it for giving me the push I needed to delve deeper into the mysteries. Each card offers you so much, and I felt compelled to learn more and more about each little element.
As for getting started, Lon Milo Duquette has a good book to begin with. I recommend picking that up as well as Crowley's. If you are like me, you'll find that the book seems to be revealing something completely new every time you read it.
Hope that helps.
Frater LVF
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Everyone has mentioned the Rider-Waite deck but I am much more fond of B.O.T.A.'s. The symbols are more completely represented in the B.O.T.A. deck...take for example the Temperance card:
Rather than pouring water between two cups, the angel in the card is pouring a pitcher of water from his right hand & lowering a torch with his left. The water from the pitcher is falling onto the head of a tamed lion & the fire from the torch is falling as five Yods upon the head of an eagle whose wings are spread. This imagery is much more compatible with the true nature of the card. Upon the breast of the angel the upward-pointing triangle has changed to a seven-pointed star, & above that the letters 'Yod-Heh-Vau-Heh' have been made more easily discernable(YHVH being the god-name of Tiphareth - also indicated by the solar disc upon the brow of the angel). Finally, in the B.O.T.A. deck the Veil of Paroketh that seperates the lower four Sephiroth from Tiphareth is represented as a rainbow over the head of the angel, while in the Rider-Waite deck the Veil is represented by the irises growing next to the pond(Iris being the Greek goddess of rainbows).
616
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I agree. BOTA, and the coloring and the studying of the cards imprints on your mind a lot of information, subtly and with great ingenuity. No one can refute the importance of both the Waite deck (with one glance you can see a vignette that clues you in on the meaning) and the Thoth deck (a work of genius of both art and intensity and information).
But for a groundwork knowledge of the cards, the correlations between sound, color and symbolism, it is invaluable, I think.
I would think that, of course, as my symbol on this board is BOTA's logo.
In L.V.X.,
chrys333 -
93,
BOTA cards are good but often you have to get white ones that you color in. If you can get a colored set or are willing to color in things according to tradition, BOTA is good. Either way its also good to understand the difference between BOTA & Rider-Waite and how BOTA 'reveals' certain things more obviously like the rainbow in Temperance etc
IAO131