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87 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another winner from Lon Milo Duquette!, January 18, 2004
This review is from: Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot (Paperback)
Truly an excellent book. And I must disagree with the earlier reviewer who felt that Crowley had somehow been "dumbed down" or sanitized. Nothing could be further from the truth. Duquette spends a significant amount of space and time (nearly 100 pages) on explaining such things as the Holy Guardian Angel, the new Aeon of Horus, the Tree of Life, the significance of the Book of the Law as it relates to Crowley's tarot, etc. The bulk of the book is filled with detailed descriptions of each card, and their significance in the Tarot as a spiritual journey...rather than dwelling on divinatory meanings. There is a section at the back that gives brief divination meanings for readings, but clearly he (and Crowley too), thought that divination was a side effect produced by the Tarot...useful certainly, but not the main significance. My only complaint really, and it is a very minor complaint, is that Duquette keeps apologizing for having to spend so much time on the background stuff. One apology would have been enough...anyone completely unfamilar with Qabala et al should know what they are getting into, and EXPECT some time spent explaining it. Continually apologizing for it was not necessary. I particulary liked the inclusion of bits of correspondence between Harris and Crowley, while the paintings were still being done. Duquette suggests that Crowley's original Book of Thoth (book) would be required reading alongside this book, and I must agree. It doesn't replace the original, it just makes jumping into it a lot less painful. I wish this book had been available years ago when I first read the Crowley book!
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43 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Knowledge of the Best Kind, November 15, 2003
This review is from: Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot (Paperback)
When it comes to the subject of Tarot cards, many people have become jaded, due to the proliferation of decks like the "Tarot of the Cat People" or the "Baseball Tarot". It is nearly impossible to find any depth to the divinatory meanings of such decks. Best, by far, to look for the richness of tradition, which is where Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot
can be found. Unfortunately, the book Crowley wrote to elucidate the meaning of the cards so brilliantly
painted by Lady Freida Harris - The Book of Thoth - requires a patience and supplemental knowledge
quite a few readers do not possess. That is where Lon Milo DuQuette's latest comes in. He looks at the history of not only Crowley,
but of Harris, the historical situation surrounding the Thoth deck's creation, and the myriad magickal
components inherent to the deck. And he does it in plain English, with touches of his delightful humor,
so the door can be thrown wide open for more Tarot enthusiasts to come to an understanding of what
Tarot is really about, especially the Thoth deck. The extensive research which went into this volume, as well as DuQuette's own considerable
experience on the subject, make this a text to be valued and read time and again - just as DuQuette
himself recommends reading The Book of Thoth on a regular basis. But now, because of DuQuette's
incredible efforts, the latter will be better understood by a broader audience, and the Thoth Tarot more
comprehensively used for spiritually enlightening purposes, as it was meant to be.
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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE ROSETTA STONE OF TAROT, November 3, 2003
This review is from: Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot (Paperback)
Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot is one of the most popular and best selling Tarot deck in the world. It is, however, more than deck of fortune-telling cards. For those with an advanced understanding of esoteric matters, it is one of western civilization's most important spiritual object d'art. Designed by Crowley and painted by the surrealist genius Lady Frieda Harris, it distills in breathtaking and terrifying beauty the essence of the Hermetic mysteries; the quest for the Holy Grail; kabbalah; astrology; alchemy, and magick (even sex magick!). To accompany the cards and explain their symbolic imagery Crowley wrote his magnificent magnum opus, The Book of Thoth. Penned in his last years, he literally raced death to desperately pour the totality of his vast knowledge and wisdom into a few hundred pages of complex concentrated esotericism. For the most part he succeeded, but unless the reader is already an advanced student of the mysteries the text is all but incomprehensible. This irony has for nearly 40 years frustrated the tens of thousands of owners and users of the Thoth Tarot (myself being the most notable) who sincerely would like to know more about the cards but find we simply cannot wade through Crowley's highly stylized and post-graduate text. It took a genius to create the Thoth Tarot and the write The Book of Thoth, and fifty-five years after Crowley's death it took another genius to create the Rosetta Stone that unlocks the mysteries of these magical masterpieces. In his 1993 Magick of Thelema (now renamed Magick of Aleister Crowley) Lon Milo DuQuette did what many very knowledgeable people thought was impossible. With casual ease and a large dash of humor he made Crowley's classic text book, Magick in Theory and Practice, actually understandable to readers even as dense as I. With Dr. Christopher Hyatt he did the same with Crowley's Enochian and Goetic magick works. Later he actually made the Hebrew Kabbalah hilariously understandable with a book with the self-effacing title "The Chicken Qabalah". I could only pray that someday he would turn his zapper on the Thoth Tarot and The Book of Thoth. That day has come - and it has been worth the wait. Even if you have only the most causal interest in the Thoth Tarot, I urge you to read UNDERSTANDING ALEISTER CROWLEY'S THOTH TAROT. Like the Thoth Tarot it is a masterpiece. It is nothing less than the Rosetta Stone to one of the most important spiritual documents of all time.
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