I have worked with the Thoth deck for a few years now, I wouldn’t call myself an expert on it but I am quite knowledgable – ok, I’m slightly obsessed with it. It’s amazing, so why the hell not.
Lots of people object to the deck without even seeing it on the basis of its creator. Aleister Crowley is a man that puts the fear into many people, he’s often written about as a bogie man. The worst of the worst, a child murderer, not a very nice man. Consequently, I think a lot of people feel that the Thoth deck is cursed, evil, or will cause them bad luck. Well, I’ll be honest, you are just the kind of person Mr Crowley wanted to test. He didn’t want people who would take the word of the tabloid newspaper or gossip, to be interested in his deck, he wanted free-thinking minds that could look beyond. His reputation was something that he enjoyed, if you were going to be afraid of him, he would play the part. But you should know he was a seeker of truth, his very core principle of belief was that humans should be free, free to do their own wills, while not interfering with others wills. (that means no murdering/rape/sacrificing babies, in case there’s any doubt. Crowley made a bad joke about human sacrifice, a tabloid printed it, and 70 years later they still haven’t got over it) He taught that if we all got on with the business of developing ourselves, and left others to do the same, the world would be a better, freer place. I, for one, agree with that sentiment. If you are not hurting another or violating another’s will, then what the hell is the problem with people being promiscuous, or what sexual preferences they have, or if they wish to realign their gender, or if they don’t feel like they need a ‘gender’.. I mean, really, it’s all so medieval.
Let’s keep evolving as a species and leave all this daft nonsense about how humans should behave according to what’s between their legs. Yeh, there have to be rules, but why regulate things that are none of our business. He wasn’t a perfect man, don’t get me wrong, he could be perfectly horrible to even his friends.
Anyway, I don’t expect everyone will agree with me on this subject, in fact, I reckon lots will probably disagree. But let me ask you this, have you read any Crowley? Or have you read other opinions of him, a post-Victorian tabloid press for example? A press that believed that homosexuality was the worst of sins? Cos that’s what the problem boils down to, the press at the time – pre ww2 – didn’t like homosexual activity or any sexual activity being ‘ok’d’ – so are you of the modern age or do you wish to sit in the shadow of prehistoric religious rules for the rest of your life?
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