Customer Reviews

Crowley Deck

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This Tarot deck earns it's 10 and more. It is beautifully illustrated and easy to comprehend. It is best for those more knowing of esoteric arts but it can also be easily used by the beginner. All of the Minor Arcana have a word at the bottom of the card, making it easy to remember the meaning. Even if you are not a fan of Aleister Crowley, this deck is still a great divination tool and has served me well many times.

This edition of the Crowley deck is truly a handful and I found shuffling a tad awkward. However, what a truly amazing sight they are to behold when they are spread out before you in their giant splendor. The colors are similar to the watercolors that you see in impressionist paintings and mostly greens and blues are used to create a dreamy effect. I think Lady Harris, the artist, succeeds with her color schema. Her colors produces a watery and ethereal feeling, which is laced with a strong tenor of surrealism. The overall effect is a nebulous and fantastical feel. Lady Harris is particualrly gifted in capturing dichotomous human instincts beautifully. This deck is a favorite of mine and I highly recommend it. Lady Harris conveys the fantasy, ecstasy, pain and brilliance of the human experience with true empathy.

I like the Thoth deck a lot, but this edition has two major problems.

First, the cards are rather large which make the deck hard to shuffle.

Second, the cards have a greenish hue and the colours are somewhat dead, especially compared to the other edition.

Personally, I recommnd people to buy the smaller livlier coloured edition.

I bought a good edition from Red Wheel/Samuel Weiser editions. It is neither greenish nor faded.

This is a deck about which I deliberated years before acquiring. I was greatly attracted to the artwork, but the stigma surrounding it held me back. I had heard that they were accurate to a fault, and then in other reviews they were touted as being unreadable. I finally purchased the deck to see for myself, and I am very happy that I did. Created by Aleister Crowley and illustrated by Lady Frieda Harris, this work of art took five years to complete, and remains one of the most enigmatic decks ever created. There is none of the RWS symbolism, and as such, I would hesitate to recommend it to a beginner unless they were completely drawn to it. This is a very black/white deck; quite simply put, it either speaks to you or it does not. I am fascinated by the visualizations, and each time I see them, I see something different, another facet to be read and interpreted.

Some of the card names have been changed: Justice appears here as Adjustment VIII, and Strength renamed Lust XI. Art XIV is the renamed Temperance card.

The Pip (or Minor Arcana) Suits are named Wands, Cups, Discs and Swords. The Court cards are a little different: they are named as The Knight, The Queen, The Prince and The Princess of their respective suits. The majority of the Pip cards have a keyword listed on them. I use this deck regularly in my readings, and look forward to many years of discovering the nuances of each card.

The biggest problem I have with my Thoth deck is the size of the cards. They are larger than average (the better to admire the artwork, my dears), and difficult for me to shuffle comfortably. However, there is another version with smaller, more manageable cards, and I find myself using this one more than the other. My recommendation is this: don't listen to the hype. Listen to your little voice, and it will tell you if this is a deck that you will be able to personally connect with.

I was first drawn to this deck for the artwork alone and then only later to messing around with readings. Some people complain that this belgium print (US Games) is green and murkey compared to the brighter Switzerland print by AGM which is out of print. I think they are awesome the way they are but have to admit i've never seen the latter. But seeing as how they are out of print and cost around $200 for a used set on amazon, i won't be seeing the difference any time soon.

no, the colours don't "jump off the cards" at you, but this is more a tool for occult study and practice than a work of art to be framed and put over the fireplace. that said, they look great to me and i'm very, very glad i found them. the included booklet has eye-bleedingly small print, but if you care that much you'll buy the companion book anyway.

another companion i'd suggest would be alan moore's interpretation of the tarot in "promethea". even if you're not into the series in general, that issue is a brilliant accessory to this deck.

in any case, you'll be glad you bought them.

Gorgeous pictures on every single jumbo sized cards.
I can't score about practicality for fortunetellers since I don't have much knowledge about Tarots, but it's worth enough to possess as its artistic quality.
Tremendously compared with another deck I've bought on a local on-line shop last month.

I was looking for this deck, but the cards are so large that they are impossible to use and the colors are faded and washed out...the original deck that I had was smaller in size and the colors were vibrant...I'd send these back but re-shipping is not worth the time and effort.

After reading the book The Tarot Handbook by Angeles Arrien, in which she gives detailed descriptions of the very beautiful artwork on the Thoth deck designed by Aleister Crowley and painted by Lady Francis Harris, I purchased this deck expecting the cards to be as described in the book. Unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed upon receiving this deck. Most cards were only one color, looking bland. Artwork details were unrecognizable due to the lack of color variation. I returned the deck but am still interested in purchashing the colorful cards described in the book if found.