Book of Thoth
An interpretation of the symbolism of the tarot cards written
by Aleister Crowley toward the end of his life (18751974). In
1912 Crowley published A Description of the Cards of the
Book of the Dead Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology 5th Ed.
204
Tarot in his biannual journal, Equinox (vol. 1, nos. 78), about
the tarot cards of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Each member had to make a copy from the original deck, but
it was not until Israel Regardie published a set of the Golden
Dawn tarot cards in the 1980s that the pictures that Crowley
was describing became available to the public.
In the 1940s Crowley wrote a commentary on the tarot,
which carried the Egyptian symbolism that had come to dominate
the thelemic magic system he had developed. He teamed
with artist Frieda Harris to create a new deck of tarot cards. The
commentary, The Book of Thoth, was published in 1944. The Book
of Thoth was released as Vol. 3, no. 5, of the Equinox. It is part
of the standard curriculum for members of the OTO.
Sources
Crowley, Aleister. The Book of Thoth. New York Samuel
Weiser, 1974.
