Thoth Tarot

Thoth Tarot is an esoteric tarot deck painted by Lady Frieda Harris for Aleister Crowley. Crowley referred to this deck as The Book of Thoth, and also wrote a 1944 book of that title intended for use with the deck.

Background Crowley originally intended the Thoth deck to be a six-month project aimed at updating the traditional pictorial symbolism of the tarot. However, due to increased scope, the project eventually spanned five years, between 1938 and 1943.

Symbolism The illustrations of the deck feature symbolism based upon Crowley's incorporation of imagery from many disparate disciplines, including science and philosophy and various occult systems (as described in detail in his The Book of Thoth).

Deck variants As reported in the table below there are seven known major versions of the Thoth Tarot, taken from six different sets of photographs, each with significant differences from each other.

Version Year Publisher Key Differences Sangreal 1968 Simpson Printing Co. First printed version, with monochrome blue ink on the front and red ink on the back. No back border. Printed in USA. White Box A 1972 Llewellyn First colored version, with printing errors on the Ace of Disks and the 8 of Cups. No back border. Printed in Hong Kong. White Box B 1973 Llewellyn Corrected printing mistakes. Printed in USA. No back border. White Box C (Greenie) 1978 U.S.Games Systems, Weiser New photography of the paintings. Introduced the Unicursal Hexagram card and the Ordo Templi Orientis reference card. No back border. Printed in Belgium. Blue Box A 1986 AGMuller New photography again. Added the two extra 'Magician' cards and a gray back border. Introduced a 'standard' size along with the 'deLuxe' large-format cards. Printed in Switzerland. Blue Box B 1996 AGMuller New photography again. Introduced the 'pocket size', making three sizes in total. Removed the two extra 'Magician' cards and replaced with an O.T.O. card and a rainbow-colored Unicursal Hexagram. Changed back border to white. Printed in Switzerland and Belgium. Gold Box 2008 AGMuller/Urania New digital photography of the restored paintings. Changed back border to gold and introduced a gold-colored Unicursal Hexagram. Printed in Belgium.

Differences from the Rider–Waite Tarot

Order and names of trumps Crowley renamed several of the trumps compared to earlier arrangements, and also re-arranged the numerical, astrological and Hebrew alphabet correspondences of 4 trumps compared to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn's inner order deck in accordance with the Tarot of Marseilles, his 1904 book The Book of the Law (Liber AL vel Legis) and its "New Commentary." In the "New Commentary" and The Book of Thoth, Crowley demonstrates that his trump arrangement forms a double loop in the zodiac-number and letter-number correspondences compared to the Golden Dawn deck, where there is no loop.

+ Crowley's double loop in the zodiac Number Sign Letter Name IV Aquarius Tzaddi The Emperor VIII Libra Lamed Adjustment XI Leo Tet Lust XVII Aries Heh The Star

Rider–Waite card Thoth equivalent I: The Magician I: The Magus II: The High Priestess II: The Priestess VIII: Strength XI: Lust X: Wheel of Fortune X: Fortune XI: Justice VIII: Adjustment XIV: Temperance XIV: Art XX: Judgement XX: The Æon XXI: The World XXI: The Universe

Names of court cards Crowley accepted the Golden Dawn's changed names of all the court cards which can cause some confusion for people used to the more common decks. Specially since he changed the structure of the court cards, while each of the places retains much of the original meanings, there are subtle differences. The typical corresponding names are as follows:

Traditional Court Card Name Thoth Deck Court Card Name King Knight Queen Queen Knight Prince Page Princess

Minor Arcana Wands Number Sign Decan Ruler of Decan Name 1 The Root of the Powers of Fire 2 Aries 1st Mars Dominion 3 Aries 2nd Sun Virtue 4 Aries 3rd Venus Completion 5 Leo 1st Saturn Strife 6 Leo 2nd Jupiter Victory 7 Leo 3rd Mars Valour 8 Sagittarius 1st Mercury Swiftness 9 Sagittarius 2nd Moon Strength 10 Sagittarius 3rd Saturn Oppression

Cups Number Sign Decan Ruler of Decan Name 1 The Root of the Powers of Water 2 Cancer 1st Venus Love 3 Cancer 2nd Mercury Abundance 4 Cancer 3rd Moon Luxury 5 Scorpio 1st Mars Disappointment 6 Scorpio 2nd Sun Pleasure 7 Scorpio 3rd Venus Debauch 8 Pisces 1st Saturn Indolence 9 Pisces 2nd Jupiter Happiness 10 Pisces 3rd Mars Satiety

Swords Number Sign Decan Ruler of Decan Name 1 The Root of the Powers of Air 2 Libra 1st Moon Peace 3 Libra 2nd Saturn Sorrow 4 Libra 3rd Jupiter Truce 5 Aquarius 1st Venus Defeat 6 Aquarius 2nd Mercury Science 7 Aquarius 3rd Moon Futility 8 Gemini 1st Jupiter Interference 9 Gemini 2nd Mars Cruelty 10 Gemini 3rd Sun Ruin

Disks Number Sign Decan Ruler of Decan Name 1 The Root of the Powers of Earth 2 Capricorn 1st Jupiter Change 3 Capricorn 2nd Mars Works 4 Capricorn 3rd Sun Power 5 Taurus 1st Mercury Worry 6 Taurus 2nd Moon Success 7 Taurus 3rd Saturn Failure 8 Virgo 1st Sun Prudence 9 Virgo 2nd Venus Gain 10 Virgo 3rd Mercury Wealth

Restoration of original artwork Harris' renditions of the tarot are on watercolor paper affixed to a thick backing; the acidity of the backing, according to a report from 2006, resulted in discoloration of borders, and to some extent, the paintings themselves. The paintings also required cleaning and the repair of small tears. A conservation plan called for cleaning the surfaces, the removal of backing (while retaining original inscriptions), reuse of the hand-painted window mats, and replacement of overlays with acid-free, museum-quality paper. The project was completed in 2011. The paintings are stored by the Warburg Institute; work was completed by the Institute's in-house specialist, Susan Campion.

Thoth Tarot

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