The thoth tarot is considered one of the classic decks but it requires a lot of knowledge to be able to be contemplated. In this post, i show you the different ways to read the court cards and share some tips on how to know which method to use when. The princess of disks, the last of the court cards, represents the earthy part of earth. Tarot cards all have upright and reversed meanings. Duquette makes the thoth tarot more accessible to those new to the deck.
A treatise about court cards in tarot, here the thoth tarot, why they are personal cards but no persons the courts cards are a very special part of the minor arcana, and ever since tarot readers went and interpreted persons into them such as a dark stranger will come into your life etc especially on flea markets. In fact, all of the content of this post will be mindnumbingly familiar to thoth readers. Traditional tarot symbols were modified according to advanced mystical lines, based on. Jul 19, 2016 a little rant about the tarot court cards and how i correspond the golden dawn and thoth courts to the rws and marseille courts. The tarot court cards are often considered some of the most difficult cards in the tarot deck to interpret, though this is usually because it can be tricky to discern whether the card represents a person, energy or situation.
Each suit consists of 10 cards numbered from ace to ten and 4 court cards, in which ace cards are replaced for card number 1 and 4 court cards are respectively king, queen, knight, and page. In a europe where tarot was as common as a pack of playing cards, and where the study of qabalah. Jul 01, 2010 both crowley and waite used the golden dawn document book t as their basis, but a. This book describes the philosophy and the use of aleister crowleys thoth tarot, a deck of tarot cards designed by crowley and codesigned and painted by lady frieda harris. The cards depicted in this book are only one set of the many that have appeared during the long history of the tarot. Some cards in minor arcana can be associated or directly linked to cards in major arcana.
Here the triple currents of mysticism, magick and the tarot combine as one force. The book of thoth the complete guide to the tarot, magick. Thoth court cards by the book parsifals wheel tarot. From this first edition, only a handful of cards have survived, however, a student of etteilla, had a complete version printed in 1804. Aleister crowley and the metaphysical thoth tarot gaia.
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. The court cards the book of thoth the libri of aleister. That said, a look at the fool card, the alpha and omega of any version of the major arcana, is an example of the contrast of traditional interpretation to crowleys vision. Greer, via pdf reversals, and what to do if all of the cards are reversed, by christiana gaudet youtube learning tarot court cards. However, this is a controversial tarot deck, due largely to crowley himself. Theory of the tarot the book of thoth the libri of. Id been immolating my brain upon aleister crowleys original accompanying text the book of thoth, dion fortunes mystical qabala, and robert wangs qabalistic tarot all of which contain immensely valuable information and will require much rereading to absorb yet this process could have been 10x easier had i just started off with. Thoth court cards by the book july 31, 2017 july 20, 2018 parsifalswheeldivination a while back, as a service to the online thoth community, i went through every paragraph of the court card section of the book of thoth, trawling crowleys moral characteristics for words and phrases that could be compiled into a robust keyword.
How to read the tarot court cards like an expert biddy tarot. Oct 12, 2017 nothing is more confusing for tarotists who have learned on the rws and want to transit to thoth than the court cards. Waite in his book the pictorial key to the tarot 1910, and they have become standard for most of the englishspeaking world. Her crest is the head of the ram, and her sceptre descends into the earth. Court cards in tarot the personal cards ravens tarot site. The book of thoth egyptian tarot download ebook pdf, epub.
His original idea had been to execute a pack after the tradition of the mediaeval editors, corrected in the light of the descriptions given in the equinox i, vii and viii. She is strong and beautiful, with an expression of intense brooding, as if about to become aware of secret wonder. Pages by brigit march 12, 2012 april 6th, 2019 one of the most common challenges for those learning tarot is understanding the court cards. The book of thoth is a site that is dedicated to uniting the principles of knowledge, method and wisdom with the purpose of finding the true path to enlightenment. Because there are so many different ways to interpret them as people, as personalities, as situations, and more.
Waite deliberately confused tarot students with the names and descriptions of the court cards, while crowleys. The book of thoth egyptian tarot aleister crowley eustox. The traditional italian tarot suits are swords, batons, coins and cups. Jean francois alliette, better known to us by his pseudonym etteilla, was an important figure in the development of modern tarot. Egypt is the spiritual home of crowleys liber al, and the book of thoth his legacy. Each suit of 14 minor or small cards has number cards from one to ten, and four court cards instead of the three found in playing card decks. In the charioteers hand is the phoenix wand of the adeptus minor ritual. A little rant about the tarot court cards and how i correspond the golden dawn and thoth courts to the rws and marseille courts. She is consequently on the brink of transfiguration. Its generally recommended by pretty much every intrototarot book on the market. The cards major arcana, minor arcana, court cards tarot. The queen of swords is a sorrowful woman who has lost in love, or is widowed.
The court cards are the king, queen, knight and pagejack, in each of the four tarot suits. Husons book in particular is a necessary read for those who want a historical context and a broader picture of the development of using tarot for divination prior to the golden dawn. Archetypal patterns of relationship in the minor arcana one of the most difficult areas of tarot has to do with the sixteen court cards the king, queen, knight and page of each respective suit. How to finally conquer the tarot court cards tarot elements.
The age ranges can include very young children to adolescents. The oldest group of surviving tarot cards, called tarocchi in italian, appears to date from 1420 to 1450 tarocchi italian, plural form of tarocco also known as tarock germanaustrian name and tarot french name, is a specific form of playing card deck, which in its history was used for different tricktaking games and also for cartomantic interests and divination concrete. Tarot, possessed in her own right the essential spirit of the book. Together they bent their energies to the formidable task of preparing the 78 cards of the book of thoth. In addition, there are twentytwo cards called trumps, each of which is a symbolic picture with a title itself. Aug 20, 2009 its very close to the thoth in that it has a different court structure to the rider waitesmith. Truly a necessary beginners primer on the thoth tarot.
Now group them according to their suit families, so all the wands courts would be together, all the cups together, etc each grouping represents a dysfunctional family the king and queen being the parents and the page and knight the. Tarot to engage life, not escape it by marcus katz. We also look at the description of the courts in book t to the rws. There are four suits, as in modern playing cards, which are derived from it. The thoth tarot has become one of the bestselling and most popular tarot decks in the world. The deck of cards was started in 1938 and completed in 1943. This section explores in detail the court cards of the thoth tarot deck. There is an introductory video at the beginning as the court cards have many astrological and elemental correspondences along with a close relationship to the thoth minor arcana cards.
Nov, 2019 the court cards are people cards and therefore represent actual people involved in the seekers life, the seeker themselves or aspects of a persons behaviour or personality. Apr 28, 2017 the basic idea of associating the court cards with signs of the zodiac is not a new one. Go through your tarot deck and take out all the court cards. Both crowley and waite used the golden dawn document book t as their basis, but a. The rich symbolism in the thoth deck, and comparisons of crowleys archetypes to their corresponding major arcana cards, has been accomplished in duquettes book.