OccultForum.org

An excerpt from Crowley's Book of Thoth...

"Count the cards from him, in the direction in which he faces. The counting should include the card from which you count. For Knights, Queens and Princes count 4. For Princesses count 7. For aces count 11. For small cards count according to the number. For trumps, count 3 for the elemental trumps; 9 for the planetary trumps; 12 for the Zodiacal trumps.
Make a story of these cards. This story is that of the beginning of the affair."


I have read and been told that the Thoth Tarot is no good for beginners, which I am. But I personally don't like how the Rider-Waite decks look. And I already have the Thoth Tarot after a friend recommended it to me, which he shouldn't have done, since I am a beginner.
But, I would like to persevere with the Tarot Tarot, but first, someone needs to tell me what that excerpt means!? I mean, it's not very clear is it.... "counts the cards from him, in the direction in which he faces?" What is that supposed to mean? Does it mean just count them, or take them for use or what? It's doing my head in! I can't make any sense of this whatsoever.
I have also been told that this is the long & difficult method to read Tarot, and it's no wonder that I can't make any sense of it, being a beginner.
I have been recommended the Universal Rider-Waite Tarot and have bought The Complete Guide to The Tarot by Eden Gray in paperback. Like I said, I don't like the Rider-Waite decks, but I shall read the book. I really would like to use my Thoth deck. Can anyone help? Thanks.

Ignore the "official" explanations of the cards, first of all. At least for now. Look at the pictures, read the numbers, when you do readings, base them upon your own feelings and impressions.

Once you can do good readings through that method, then take a look at the "official" explanations. They'll give you some interesting insight on what the cards might mean in certain situations.

how do you know that you dont like the rider waite deck if you dont know what it looks like? The toth deck is difficult unless youve studied crowley and all of his nuances in the many books that hes written.

VenusSatanas wrote:how do you know that you dont like the rider waite deck if you dont know what it looks like? The toth deck is difficult unless youve studied crowley and all of his nuances in the many books that hes written.

I can understand his sentiments, honestly.

The Rider-Waite can seem a little dry a lot of times, whereas the Thoth Deck has almost a sentient quality to it.

But yeah. Study Crowley. Definitely couldn't hurt in the least bit.

VenusSatanas is right, a thorough study of Crowley and Qabalah is needed to interpret the Thoth deck and his spread.

If you don't like the way the RW deck looks find another deck that 'speaks' to you. There are many out there.
Then try simple readings of 3 card spreads.

On a side note, I will say that I don't advocate Tarot for 'readings' really, but rather to be used for introspection and for skrying.