Book Review(s)
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I used to own a lot of books, but years of travel, and the fact that my mothers storage shed was not weather proof solved that problem.
I'm in the process of rebuilding the library, and I'm choosing to look at this effort as an opportunity to build intelligently. I was something of a book magnate when I was younger and ended up with a lot of useless crap in addition to the books I did find useful and important.
So here is my question: I was reading through an old thread on this forum called Tzaddai is not the Star, and someone made reference to Duquette's Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot.
I just finished reading his Enochian Vision Magick. I'm not sure how I feel about his attitude to magickal work in generel, so I wasn't going to purchase anymore books by him, at least for awhile. But the comment from the thread made it sound like his book on the tarot would really be a useful companion to Crowley's Book of Thoth.
Does anyone have any insight into the value of this book they want to share, maybe help push me over the edge on whether to buy it or not?
Also, I understand he has issued his own tarot. Again, I would tend not to pay much attention this this because of the millions of custom tarots out there. I have found these things, while potentially useful, can still be a distraction in the mid-term. Still, since I am considering his book I would appreciate any thoughts on the value, or lack thereof of his deck.
love and will
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In my opinion, Duquette's best books are his Enochian Vision Magick and Understanding the Thoth Tarot.
First, let me say that I agree with you about his magical attitude, it just rubs me like sandpaper on an open wound. It took a long time to get past that and read his books for the actual content, and I have to say when you get past all the rhetoric and pointless stories there is some really good material in his work, especially Enochian Vision Magick.
His book on the Thoth deck is the best out there, almost better than Crowley's! The reason I say that is because it is so incredibly accessible, you don't need to immerse your self in Crowley to gain a basic understanding of the cards. It's worth the rhetoric, money, and the time to read it. Also, you should get your hands on Paul Foster Case's book on the Tarot as well.
You won't get me to compliment the other works of Lon as easily, but those two books are a must have IMHO.
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@TheSilent1 said
"In my opinion, Duquette's best books are his Enochian Vision Magick and Understanding the Thoth Tarot.
First, let me say that I agree with you about his magical attitude, it just rubs me like sandpaper on an open wound. It took a long time to get past that and read his books for the actual content, and I have to say when you get past all the rhetoric and pointless stories there is some really good material in his work, especially Enochian Vision Magick.
His book on the Thoth deck is the best out there, almost better than Crowley's! The reason I say that is because it is so incredibly accessible, you don't need to immerse your self in Crowley to gain a basic understanding of the cards. It's worth the rhetoric, money, and the time to read it. Also, you should get your hands on Paul Foster Case's book on the Tarot as well.
You won't get me to compliment the other works of Lon as easily, but those two books are a must have IMHO."
Wow, that was really useful. Thanks! I do have a kindle version of Case's book, btw. Worth rereading it again.
love and will
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I also own both Enochian Vision Magick and his book on the Thoth tarot. I think both are fantastic, but the Thoth book is especially good. Like TheSilent1 said above, in many ways its better than Crowley's own book simply because of the ease of use. He goes into a lot of detail on each of the cards' symbols, Qabalistic attributes, and so on. You could say its "Crowley's The Book of Thoth: For The Rest Of Us"
. Its highly recommended.He has his own Tarot called the "Tarot of Ceremonial Magick" which has just been reprinted. I don't have it yet, but I'm buying it soon. Nothing (in my humble opinion
) can trump the Thoth Tarot, but LMD's deck looks like a beefy contender in terms of the sheer magickal usefulness of the deck (he incorporates Thelema, Astrology, Qabalah, Enochian, Goetia, and more) The artwork is a little simplistic but what's inside more than makes up for it. I'm really excited to get one. -
I didn't care for DuQuette's book on the tarot. I did enjoy the first third or so, which discusses the system. But the section on the tarot (and especially the court cards) I found to be thin in content and thick on filler. Due to the format, many pages are mostly blank. The book is most interesting when he quotes from Crowley, which is alot. But I already own the Book of Thoth.
In practical terms, I rarely reach for this book when I want to look up a card. If someone could use a gentle introduction to Crowley and the Thoth deck, then perhaps this would be a good choice.
My favourites:
Qabalistic Tarot, Robert Wang
The Tarot, Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, PF Case
Book of Thoth, ACAn old correspondence course by PFC has been published recently and it has some excellent content on the tarot.
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I was disappointed with DuQuette's tarot book, too, especially since DuQuette is something of an expert on both the tarot and Thelema. As JNV33 said, the best parts were just the quotes from Crowley's Book of Thoth. The section on the court cards, which he tries to turn into a kind of pop astrology, was particularly lame.
Nobody but me seems to care for Michael Snuffin's book, The Thoth Companion, but for what it's worth, I think it's a very good companion to Crowley's book.
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Just when I thought this was gong to be an easy decision...
What I'm looking for is this: I like to read, more or less the same thing from different authors because it means I get to review important material without feeling as though I am rereading the same, exact words.
If anyone wants to address these books already mentioned or others from this perspective, I'd appreciate it.
...thanks so far for the thoughts.
love and will
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You can review part of DuQuette's book here:
**(http://books.google.ca/books?id=4pO_3ZrXsmkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=thoth+tarot+duquette&hl=en&ei=I-oPTbLtM5G4sAPTobSnDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false)Unfortunately the review doesn't include the (rather poor) section on the individual cards.
In terms of companion books, an excellent companion book to PFC's Tarot-Key to the Wisdom of the Ages is 'The Spoken Cabala: Tarot Explorations of the One Self', formerly published as 'Thursday Night Tarot' by Jason C Lotterhand.
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I've found Lon's Thoth Tarot companion to be extremely valuable in conjunction with Book of Thoth. I think perhaps being a woman and relating to the fairytale element heightened my own magical revelations. For that I give kudos. It takes the edge off of Crowleys more masculine aspects for me personally and puts some things in plainer terms. I also like that he includes the Waite cards for even more clarity/contrast.
I found a signed copy of Angels, Demons and other gods of the New Millennium at a cheesy thrift store for $2 and read it in a day or two. I don't remember much about it which was only a few months ago. I look forward to checking out others. I have Chicken Qabala and a few others actually but haven't been drawn to them for long.