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.

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.

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!

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 :)

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

Extremely well laid out book. Very informative.

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