Alistair Crowley is the famous Kabbalist, occultist and tarologist of England. Strictly speaking, Crowley himself is not the creator of the Tarot Toth deck, he only resurrected the lost wisdom. There are many different versions of the origin of this deck. The most popular is associated with Ancient Egypt. According to her, the symbols of the sacred knowledge of the priests of the god Thoth are encrypted in the Tarot of Thoth. A supporter of this theory was Crowley. He was engaged in deciphering and restoring ancient images, which were eventually described in the book "Tarot of Thoth."
History
He had his reasons for conducting Crowley's mystical explorations. Tarot, in the understanding of the mystic, was a bearer of sacred knowledge. Therefore, when Crowley became convinced that at the beginning of the 20th century the time of the god Osiris would end and the era of the god Horus would begin, he realized that the change of cycles would affect the magical and spiritual sphere of human life. And such changes will lead to the need for corrections and changes to the system of Tarot cards, symbolically reflecting all areas of the surrounding reality.
Initially, the occultist did not want to change the entire deck. He was only going to fix the most significant values. However, Frida Harris, his assistant and artist, insisted that the deck be completely redesigned. As a result, the changes affected both the visual series and the semantic sequence.
Work on the new deck began in 1938 and lasted a long 5 years, although Crowley initially intended to make all the necessary changes in 3 months.
The Book of Tarot Thoth (Crowley)
The Book of Thoth is Crowley’s most famous work, in which the occultist provides a full description and interpretation of Thoth’s deck. This book can be considered as a textbook on Tarot cards in general, and as a guide to the worldview of its author and occult philosophy.
The Kabuli included his Kabbalistic interpretation of the Tarot deck, various divination systems, quotes from the Book of the Law, and many other occult texts. The Tarot in the Book of Thoth is a way of understanding and comprehending ancient wisdom.
The author himself called the deck he created not only an "encyclopedia of occult philosophy", but also a "reference book that covers the directions of magical and mystical thought for the next 2 millennia."
Distinctive features
Crowley was a passionate syncretist by nature. The tarot was a reflection of his quest. The occultist traveled the world in search of secret knowledge, studied the mystical, occult and magical traditions of various nations and societies, including traditional religious communities and secret brotherhoods, where only initiates were allowed. The result of this was the synthesis of all that was known into a complex teaching, which was called the "telema".
This mixture of religions and magical mysteries was reflected in his Tarot deck, which was the result of the studies of the occultist's whole life - after living on the cards he lived only 3 years. Therefore, the correct interpretation of Tarot Crowley is very difficult without studying the philosophical views of the mystic.
Among the first distinctive features of the deck of Thoth stands the design - no one has ever used this style to design the Tarot. For this, you can thank the artist-Egyptologist F. Harris.
The following difference is more significant and is related to the conceptual side. The fact is that the interpretation of the symbols of the Tarot of Thoth is very different from the interpretation of traditional decks. This is due to the fact that Crowley combined the symbols of many occult schools and cultures, and also supplemented the pictures with his own worldview.
Symbolism and Meaning of Tarot Crowley
To effectively use the Tarot Crowley deck for divination, you need to master its symbolism. If in the traditional cards free and associative interpretations are allowed, then in the case of the Tarot of Thoth, it is necessary to strictly follow the semantic definition that Crowley himself gave. Another noteworthy point is that all cards from the Thoth deck are interpreted exclusively in the upright position. The system developed by Crowley simply does not have separate meanings for interpreting inverted cards.
In addition, the mystic refused in his Tarot to use the Last Judgment Arcana, which was replaced by the Eon, invented by the author. Changed Crowley and some names. So, the Arcana "Moderation" and "Strength" turned into "Regulation" and "Lust."
Thus, Crowley created his own fortunetelling system, the key to which is in the Book of Thoth.
Major Arcana
The cards of Tarot Thot by Alistair Crowley, like the traditional ones, are divided into two lasso - senior and junior. Seniors include 22 cards, which are semantic, unlike younger ones. They were affected by the most powerful changes. Therefore, first of all, it is necessary to consider and describe them in detail.
Arcana 0 to 5
Zero card, or "Fool" (Fool, Madman, Jester). Traditionally, the card is placed between 20 and 21 lasso, but Crowley placed it at the beginning of the row, offering to start the major lasso from scratch. "Fool" refers to the air element, Uranus acts as a patron planet. It means ideas, novelty, spirituality, the boundary between old and new.
"Mage", 1 lasso - refers to Mercury. It means strength, wisdom, skills and abilities, opportunities, spiritual potential, energy, creativity, communication skills, thought processes.
"High Priestess", 2 lasso - connected with the moon. Denotes feelings, intuition, instincts, inner concentration, introversion.
“Empress”, 3 lasso - correlates with Venus. Responsible for sex, love, beauty, pleasure and fertility.
"Emperor", 4 lasso - is associated with the zodiac sign Aries. Symbolizes dominance, leadership, devotion and idealism; struggle, authority, ambitiousness, anger, exaltation, fanaticism, obstinacy.
"Hierophant", 5 lasso - correlates with the sign of Taurus. It is the material embodiment of spiritual principles. It symbolizes perseverance, work, willpower, structuredness, organization.
Arcana 6 to 10
We continue to describe the cards of Tarot Crowley.
"Lovers", 6 lasso - associated with the sign of Gemini. This card is one of the most difficult to interpret in the Tarot of Thoth. Nevertheless, its general meanings are as follows: interaction, communication, choice, inconsistency.
"Chariot", 7 lasso - is influenced by Cancer. It symbolizes strength, inner search, victory, overcoming obstacles, introspection.
"Regulation", 8 lasso - he is patronized by the constellation Libra. Indicates justice, balance, poise and harmony.
The Hermit, 9 lasso - connected with Virgo. It symbolizes wisdom, the search for knowledge, meaningfulness, depth of knowledge, self-sufficiency, systematization.
"Wheel of Fate", 10 lasso - patronizes Jupiter. It embodies fateful turns in life and socially significant phenomena: religion, politics, ideology. Interpreted as luck and happiness.
Arcana from 11 to 15
Alistair Crowley attached great importance to the patron planet or the zodiac sign associated with the lasso. In their correlation lies the deep meaning and the key to understanding the symbolism of the card.
"Lust," 11 lasso - patronizes Leo. It symbolizes conviction, ardor, creative energy, a strong, almost fanatical enthusiasm for something.
"Hanged Man", 12 lasso - correlates with Neptune and is under the auspices of the water element. Denotes loss, sacrifice, punishment, suffering.
"Death", 13 lasso - patronizes Scorpio. It symbolizes transformation, change, significant rethinking, destruction, crisis, the collapse of ideas, get down to business. In extremely rare cases, it can indicate physical dying.
"Art", 14 lasso - is associated with the constellation Sagittarius. Another difficult to interpret map, as it is not directly related to art as an aspect of life. The map indicates, rather, a symbiosis of various forces, their interaction, sequence of actions.
"Devil", 15 lasso - patronizes Capricorn. Directly associated with the concept of subordination. In addition, it refers to obstacles, constraint, slavery, obsession, preoccupation with the material side of life.
Arcana from 16 to 21
The description of the major arcana proposed by Crowley (Tarot) is drawing to a close.
"Tower", 16 lasso - correlates with Mars. Symbolizes danger, a blow of fate, change.
"Star", 17 lasso - is under the auspices of Aquarius. It indicates an opportunity, hope, faith, unexpected help.
"Moon", 18 lasso - zodiac sign of Pisces. Denotes confusion, deceit, error, witchcraft, the beginning of change.
"The Sun", 19 lasso - patronizes the Sun. It symbolizes triumph, victory, power, glory, satisfaction, realization of the plan, truth, egoism.
"Aeon", 20 lasso - connected with Pluto and the fire element. The map was created by Crowley. Indicates the transition, the beginning, the debriefing, the threshold between the old and the new.
"Universe", 21 lasso - patronizes Saturn. It is interpreted as tog, synthesis, integrity, completeness, perfection.
Junior Arcana
The minor arcana of Tarot Crowley consists of 56 cards. They were practically unchanged. The only thing that distinguishes them from the traditional deck is the design, which, although devoid of plot, but gives the characters great imagery. Crowley’s main change is to change the suit of pentacles to the suit of disks. At the same time, the symbolic meaning of the cards has not changed.