All things Tarot....

[Handel3826]

I saw the other thread but this may be a different subject so I'll start it here.

Or here.

Anyway, I'm thinking of buying the Thoth Tarot Card Deck and wanted to know your thoughts on it.
(Yes, YOU!)
(okay, not you. unless you really want)

I like that there's a million books on it and the art seems ...well, besides disturbing (the 1st word that pops into my head) it seems to have depth.

Nothing too obvious.

I also liked a bunch of other decks but want something I can grow with and that will be with me for life.

Or at least a few months.

Any suggestions?

On books or decks or practice?
Thanks.

:)

[Odin]

I started working with the Golden Dawn Magickal Tarot by Tabatha Cicero ( hard to find and costly )

but as stated above go with what you are drawn to you might want to get more than one deck.

[mindway]

I love the Thoth deck and would highly recommend it. You should also buy Crowley's book "The Book of Thoth" for a good overview of the deck. He goes into a lot of Qabalistic stuff that I don't fully understand but it is quite interesting. To really make the most of the Thoth deck you may want to study some of the other "Holy Books of Thelema," most importantly "Book of the Law" and also pick up a copy of 777 for all the correspondences.

I've been using the deck for a few years and have still only scratched the surface. A basic background in Tarot is all you really need to use it, but if you are using this deck I would assume you have an interest in Crowley's magickal system, and the deeper into that you get the more you will get out of the cards (IMHO.)

[S33k3R]

I'm slowly getting into Tarot myself, now it would seem that there are two general sorts of way of approaching the subject.

The first is a somewhat superficial, fluffy and fairylike face value type interpretation of the cards. The other is more strictured and demands an understanding of the Qabalah and the Jewish alphabet, (I'm reading some works by Paul Foster Case).

So should I wish to take the more serious approach, can anyone recommend Paul Foster Case, (or other authors for that matter) as being worthwhile studying....his stuff is not light reading and I wouldn't want to invest the effort of getting my head around it before being told he's lost the plot.

thanks

[Odin]

At the present I am reading a book by Paul Foster Case called the Tarot.

Though I just received the works it goes into great detail of the cards ( I am using the Magickal Deck Tarot by Tabatha Cicero ) and touches upon the Tree of Life

[Odin]

I have started to do the tarot meditation starting with the Trump cards ( major arcana )

take he cards one by one and look at the card for 5 minutes no more and write what is seen in the card look at the card for three days before moving on to the next card

[SWM]

you should make the fool drunk on a park bench.

[Reinga]

Nice idea bout the urban tarot.

[SolitaryWitch]

Call me old-fashioned, but I either use a deck of playing cards or my trusty Universal Waite tarot...

There are some other decks that I think will come in handy and will have to get them when I can.

[Odin]

The deck is actually called The Gypsy Fortune Telling Deck and is based on the cards of a regular deck

one of the decks I have is based on the Lord of the Rings

[SolitaryWitch]

Yea, the Gypsy Tarot... I may add that one to my list as well... *G*

I'm looking at the Mystic Faerie Tarot, Medicine Cards, Forest Folklore Tarot, and my list grows whenever I connect with a deck.

[zoomare]

Does anyone here have any experience with or thoughts on the Tarot of Marseille?

[Saeiane]

I love the tarot. My first deck was a sort of tarot knockoff (in my opinion) called oracle cards. They were black and white scenes with words at the bottom. I experimented with those for a while but nothing came of it.
Then my first serious tarot deck I got was the Hanson-Roberts. Which has served me well over the many years since I've had it but is purely a reading deck. The next was recently bought but I love dearly Mark McElroy's "The Tarot of The Elves" and all I have to say here is, beautiful. In every sense, the storyline (yes, a storyline in the cards) the art (digital art, flawlessly executed, perfect anatomy though the characters are a bit sexually ambiguous) this is my all around deck and has been great inspiration, I can also use it in ritual work.
The third and one least used was gifted to me from my cousin, The Tarot of Atlantis. The art is fair and the scenes are well done, but for me they lack a LOT of the things I need, for example the cups cards are a lot of very sexual, lust oriented scenes. To me this shows less "water" element, more "fire". It just does not resonate with me in the least.

The final one was also a gift, from my dearest friend Mary this past Yule as a Christmas present. The Tarot Of The Dead. Think the artwork you'd expect from a Grateful Dead fan, mixed with a bit of cartoonist humor and many-layered occult symbolism. Some of the cards are kinda wacky and it's definitely not for beginners ( the Pips are only backgrounds with illustrations of the suits. ) it's a very hard deck to read with, but I've done well with it. Also it is MAGNIFICENT for ritual work, especially forays into the underworld. Which can be quite helpful when one wants to calm their mind and detach from the distractions of life. I dearly love this deck, I've also used it to contact my shadow spirit using a set spread with certain cards. I said that every time I find a new use for it I have to give Mary a hug, and she's gotten quite a lot of them :) hahaha

The way I learned to read was by instinct, I would watch my moms friend read for her and big red words would hit me from the cards, I'd usually be spot on. Sometimes scenes as well. It actually looked like they were coming out of the cards lol, strange enough. The Hanson deck was the one moms friend read with, I didn't know when I bought it. Anyhow, I started to develop my own system of reading. Didn't have any "spreads" that I used I laid them where I felt they should be and read them in the order I pulled. I didn't use a book or anything like that, the first rule of tarot I learned was to toss the book and get a feel for the deck. Then you look at the cards, take the scenes and look for the symbolic value, for example a reader (as Seeker said, a "face value" reader) might take a scene of a woman staring at a rose to mean contemplation on the physical, which might be right but it does nothing for the readers work. Whereas I would take it as (depending upon the emotional feeling of her expression) joy or sadness about her love life, or beauty. Possibly pondering about whether a certain person (the "rose of her eye") has loving feelings for her. When you read into the meanings of what is there, then you get a lot more out of it.

Again on what Seeker said: the kabbalistic approach is one with good credibility, but unless you're working a highly kabbalistic deck, you may not get the best results.

And for those of you who are choosing decks, or trying to make one (Lady D. ^^) go with a theme that resonates deeply with you, art that is pleasing to your eye and has depth, and structure (circular cards, squares, borders or no borders, color or black and white, wizards, druids, mythic, realistic, photography, etc.) The Tarot... I is a VERY personal journey, and one that no one can truly lead you on.

[Elelem]

Does anyone know where I can buy the deck
for the book of thoth?

I just started the book or should I say purchased

[Odin]

try Amazon for this

[Elelem]

Ah ok thanks for the advice.

i think I checked there but maybe I will re check eventually

[isis]

i know a good place to look: Isis Books & Gifts - Tools for Your Soul's Journey: A Spiritual, Mystical, Metaphysical, Tarot and Wicca Superstore (http://www.isisbooks.com/) they have a good verity of stuff for the occult they were my first place to go to when i got my herbs and crystels.. hope this helps..

[Harlock]

i know a good place to look: Isis Books & Gifts - Tools for Your Soul's Journey: A Spiritual, Mystical, Metaphysical, Tarot and Wicca Superstore (http://www.isisbooks.com/) they have a good verity of stuff for the occult they were my first place to go to when i got my herbs and crystels.. hope this helps..

note to self when you get a job expect first pay check to be short ^^