The Crowley Tarot: The Handbook to the Cards

This is a great book that explains the symbols on each card. I remember looking at the Thoth tarot for the first time and wanting to understand each card in detail and struggling to find material. Well this does the trick. It concentrates mainly on the cards - especially the Major Arcana in some detail - it does not look at Crowley's "Book of Thoth" in detail. It does mention the Qabalah and Tree of Life but you will need other books for that. There are some discrepancies in meaning of the symbols that I have found between this book and others, for example, regarding "The Star" this book says that the Globe in the background is a symbol of the Earth, whereas Duquette (in the Thoth Tarot) states that the Globe is often confused for the Earth but is really a representation of the entire heavens! However, I do find this book better regarding the symbols and depth of meaning for each card (Major and Minor) than I do Duquette's and therefore it may be useful for any Thoth tarot reader to have on his/her shelf. For anyone new to the Thoth Tarot I would recommend this as the first book to read, then Duquette's book (Understanding the Thoth Tarot), then Crowley's book "The Book of Thoth" and then the "Thoth Companion" by Michael Snuffin. These four books re-read will give you a great starting place. The strength of this book rests in its explanation of the symbols on the Major and Minor Arcana and is a great starting point for the beginner and allowing further individual research with the material provided. Be warned, there are some typos and the binding of the book is not the greatest but it is still a worthwhile purchase.

A complete compendium where a novice can find the meanings of all 78 cards. A lot more emphasis is on the major arcana as they are like the... cardinal points. Also on the minor arcana more emphasis is placed on knight, prince. King and Queen..... As it would be expected. The description is in my view comprehensive. If I was to find a not so good thing:, the whole book is black and white. The depictions of the card should have been bigger and in colour. Other than that.... Excellent. Buy it safely together with a Thoth deck.

Very pleased with this book, as a beginner this has been very useful :) There is so much information about each card. Well worth the price :)

I learned to read tarot using the RWS system but have always loved the Thoth Tarot, at first glance (actually multiple glances) the richness of symbolism can be pretty overwhelming though, which is why I always ended up returning to the more manageable Waite-Smith and putting Thoth back in the cupboard, defeated once again. Well, not anymore. I have a few Thoth guidebooks and this is by far the easiest to comprehend, whilst remaining true to Crowley & Harris' intentions. The meanings for each card are divided into various subsections that explore the card's symbolism, Crowley's writing, mythology, astrology, western esoteric Kabbalah, psycho-analytical interpretations....if you can think of an approach you'd like to take in reading the cards, it is probably contained in this book. You are also free take or leave whichever approaches you want without losing the overall card meaning. A concise yet deep and very user friendly accompaniment to the deck- in one word: perfect!

Extremely well laid out book. Very informative.

Good book tells you all about the toth tarot but would still recommend for a beginner to start with the rider waite cards.

I have just started a Advanced Tarot course which studies in depth both the Crowley and Rider Waite decks. Last time I looked at the Book of Thoth I found that I wasn't ready for it, but have now grown into it and wanted to find a really good guidebook which covers every aspect. This is that guidebook and the lack of 1- and 2-star reviews suggests that other serious tarot students have found this to be the case also.

Outstanding book full of great information really lovely would recommend it to others

One of the most thorough and useful commentaries every written on the Thoth deck. Highly recommended. I used my earlier copy until it disintegrated, then I bought a second.

難解とよく言われているトートタロットは、さすがに各カードにオカルト的な要素がいくつか描かれており、解説書１冊だけではなかなか全てを理解することが出来ません。また、その中に『トートの書』という解説書がありますけれども、どちらかというと中級者〜上級者向けです。そういった意味で本書はカードの背景や象徴の意味、スプレッド方法など簡潔に説明してあるため、総合的な内容を考えれば良いテキストだと言えます。ただ、メジャーカードの中に「Magus」（魔術師）のカードは特別に３枚入っているデッキもあり、トートタロット研究者なら、知っているはずです。これらの「Magus」カードは共通の意味があるでしょうけれども、やはりそれぞれのカードは絵柄が違うため、背景や象徴の意味も多かれ少なかれ相違しているでしょう。もし「Magus」カードを解説してもらえるなら、やはり３枚のカードの中で一般的によく使用される魔術師のカードを解説してもらいたかったです。それにも関わらず、なぜ本書はわざわざ一般に使用されていない魔術師のカードを取り扱うんでしょう？それが不思議なんです。欲を言えば、3種類の「Magus」カードを全部解説してもらえれば有り難いです。せっかく良いテキストが手に入ったと思ったのに、そういう点では少し残念な気がします。 今後トートタロットと関連している要素（占星術、神話、数秘術、カバラ、ゴールドデンドンの教義、魔術、錬金術、占星学）を詳細に説明してくれるテキストを発行してくれることを期待しています。

This book is a list have if you’re wanting to start reading with Thoth Tarot. It’s very well-structured & explains each card’s symbolism. It first talks about the history of tarot, what sets this deck apart from others, the work, time & energy that went into these cards. It talks about how you should handle & shuffle your deck, which is intuitively. You form a very personal connection with your deck so you don’t even have to repeatedly think or ask your question while shuffling. It also goes into how you should structure your questions for the most clear results, especially in the way Aleister Crowley, together with Lady Frieda Harris painting them, meant them to be interpreted. Regardless of your feelings on the man himself, this deck is so brilliant & beautiful but most importantly, glaringly accurate so it’s important you learn AC’s system & this book will help you with that & provides amazing detail about each hard. This book is not lacking in information! There’s a section about Cabala & the Tree of Life. It has a section of several common questions folks have when starting out with Thoth. The interpretative section is so in-depth; it has to be by nature of the Thoth deck. But it gives so much information in a very structured way, not in an overwhelming way. The Major Arcana are explained each card’s symbolism, over the course of a few pages per card. It gives information on the art of the card, the symbolism that connects the art to the card’s meanings. It gives details to pay attention to in Lady Frieda Harris’ astoundingly beautiful art, why each item is important & how it relates to the card’s message. It goes into detail of the astrology of each card, especially in the Major Arcana descriptions , although it’s also talked about in the Minor Arcana descriptions as well. Then it goes it to interpretations: background, general, consciousness, profession & relationships. It also provides the analogous correlations of archetypes & symbols such as number, Tree of Life, Zodiac, deities, mythology, rituals, music, writings, runes, fragrances, crystals & quotes. It’s full of important information we need to fully interpret the Thoth Tarot in the way AC intended. At the end, they detail Aleister Crowley’s method for finding your personal card, a great way for you to choose a significator card. It also has the Hebrew alphabet, a lot of different spreads you can do. Then it talks about Aleister Crowley & Lady Frieda Harris. It also has a glossary/explanation of terms at the end. I’m so happy I have this book. I’ve learned so much about Thoth but this book is so helpful to have wherever you have your Thoth deck (which I included in one of my pictures but is not included in this listing; I only put them there to show a size comparison). It’s full of useful info that we absolutely need to delve into Thoth. If you bought a Thoth deck without knowing what you were getting yourself into, or are a little scared of your Thoth deck, this book will absolutely help you in every way.!

I was a bit disappointed by the packaging of the deck, it's box seemed to have gone through its own set of challenges it seems .. it gave me a feel of refurbished deck but since it came on the baithki day of Navratri, i welcomed it in my life n gave my love to it..lol .. the cardstock is fine.. easy to shuffle n lay .. the imageries are beautiful but i guess without the book of thoth (the big book), it will be difficult to understand these cards in depth. The mini book that accompanies it, gives u just the keyword which are mostly similar to the rider Waite theme. I'm still to try readings yet so can't say about my connect n accuracy now .. also in the era of fashionable boxing, it box really came out to be a disappointment unless US games is unaware of its Chinese brother who creates fake copies ..lol..

I am a tarot beginner and this book gives a fantastic context to the cards and various methods of using them. The intro is also very well written