Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot
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Contents |
[edit] Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot
[edit] Author(s)
[edit] Publication details
[edit] date of publication
November 1, 2003
[edit] publisher
Weiser Books
[edit] Description
An instant classic, DuQuette's hilarious, inspired Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot is the perfect starting place for someone approaching the Thoth Tarot for the first time. Each chapter begins with an illuminating snippet of correspondence between Harris and Crowley. He kicks off with a section entitled "Little Bits of Things You Should Know" and a solid overview of Crowley and Thelema, giving the reader a peek into the complicated system underlying the deck and its creation. He takes an entire chapter to examine and dissect the Hermetic Rosy Cross that adorns the backs of the deck. And another to go through the Qabalah necessary to approach the deck intelligently, though not in as much detail obviously as his Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford. Then card-by-card he takes the reader's hand and walks them through the entire deck: symbolism, attributions, titles, allusions, magical import, etc.
Most importantly, he "lets Crowley speak for Crowley." DuQuette is adamant that Crowley's Book of Thoth is the definitive companion for the Thoth; this book is merely a window into the ideological tempest of the Great Beast. With humor, insight, and oceanic patience, DuQuette walks us to the door and pushes us through.
[edit] Author's comments
DuQuette on the book's inception: "The idea was first suggested by Miss Judith Hawkins-Tillirson, the occult buyer at New Leaf Distributing and a dear friend, at an informal meeting with me, Donald Weiser and Betty Lundsted of Weiser Books at Book Expo America in Chicago. I had no idea Judith was going to pitch the concept. She pointed out the fact that, other than Crowley’s The Book of Thoth itself, there is no book that adequately examines the Thoth Tarot from the point of view of a Crowley “expert.”
My first book with Weiser, The Magick of Thelema (now reissued as The Magick of Aleister Crowley) was my attempt to ‘translate’ Crowley’s Magick in Theory and Practice into language understandable to more people. I guess I did a pretty good job of it, because the title has sold very well in the last ten years. Don and Betty agreed with Judith that the world in general and the tarot and magical worlds in particular needed a similar book to explain the Thoth Tarot and The Book of Thoth, and that I should write it.
That was that. I had hardly spoken a word. I went back to my hotel and stared out the window at a glorious Chicago thunderstorm and asked myself, ‘What the hell have I gotten myself into? For the next three years I would find out."
