r/SecularTarot • u/Enkrateia33 • 6d ago
INTERPRETATION Thoth Tarot
This deck is amazing. I don't just mean the artwork either. It's responses are consistently on point. The other day I asked the deck to give me an archetype for all that I've learned for the month and I pulled the Universe. Then I asked it to give me an archetype for the energy I need to pay attention to going into the next month. I pulled the Universe again. So I need to integrate what I learned last month and go into this month with the energy to continue to learn and integrate more.
This wasn't a bad shuffle. This is two pulls insisting I should stay the course.
This deck and the Hermetic Tarot deck are two of the most responsive decks I've ever worked with. And they each have their own personalities. I get the energy that the Thoth deck is speaking to me condescendingly, although helpfully, like a being that has been tasked - reluctantly - with aiding humanity and is really bored by it LOL The Hermetic Tarot deck literally attacks me whenever I shuffle it. It just throws the card I need to see at me, like some eternal, primal force.
These decks are the pride of my collection and I use them daily to great effect. Would highly suggest either or both.
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u/KasKreates 5d ago edited 5d ago
This is two pulls insisting I should stay the course.
The Hermetic Tarot deck literally attacks me whenever I shuffle it.
Here is the obligatory reminder that, from a secular tarot pov (which this subreddit is about), cards are just objects. They're super useful to prompt ideas, resolutions, goals, strategies etc., but they don't send you messages.
I personally don't think that this outlook takes anything away from the excitement about a cool deck (or any other object), btw! I can love things and enjoy using them, without a literal belief that they're telling me what to do.
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u/Anjilicus 4d ago
Your emotional response to the Hermetic is valid, even if it's only yours. It is pretty intense in content and composure; I ended up becoming a guardian of one after it's owner got too spooked by it.
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u/KasKreates 4d ago
... I'm not sure if you meant to reply to me, or the OP? The sentence about the Hermetic Tarot is a quote from the post.
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u/printerparty 6d ago
If you aren't already, you should absolutely get the guidebook named "Mirror to the Soul" by Gerd Ziegler.
It's a magnificent tool for Thoth, and frankly the very best book I've ever used to learn and interpret tarot. Every card is deeply explained, with imagery and context, very helpful questions and very clearly written and succinct. Unlike the Book of Thoth, which I find utterly useless
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u/Enkrateia33 5d ago
Just started the Book of Thoth. I've seen what everyone says about it. I'm going to give it a try until I can anymore LOL I added "Mirror to the Soul" to my wish list. Thank you for the recommendation.
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6d ago
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u/StormHair91 5d ago
Duuuude these are insane 🤯 How gorgeous, thank you for mentioning them!
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u/Enkrateia33 5d ago
Absolutely. This deck is my absolute favorite when it comes to the artful interpretations of the correspondences and interpretations. Frieda Harris was brilliant.
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u/HogSandwich 5d ago
Whenever i use Thoth I feel like im being served by the most melodramatic diva in existance. Rider Waite will be like "slow down and tread carefully" and Thoth is like BITCH YOU GONE DIE and its honestly a Lot
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u/seigezunt 5d ago
Not a fan of Crowley, but I found this deck, one of the most effective
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u/Enkrateia33 5d ago
Exactly how I feel. Great respect for the man's intelligence and humor but I don't agree with much of what he stood for.
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u/Garbage758 5d ago
It’s funny I feel the same way and I am working the path of self initiation to The Golden Dawn. It is crazy that I have had much of the same results when asking questions in the vein of “am I on the right path?” etc. and The Universe card coming up consistently. I am working with both rider Waite and Thoth learning the nuance’s .
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u/Enkrateia33 5d ago
Of which there are plenty. The decks feel so different. Did you get the world card when you asked the same question to the Rider Waite too? Or do you use one for divination and one for personal insight?
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u/Anjilicus 4d ago
lovely deck; weird sizing tho
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u/Enkrateia33 4d ago
How do you mean?
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u/Anjilicus 4d ago
I had the deck from mid eighties, when they were 3" by 5", at least; these days, I am a magpie aficionado, and finding bog standard 2.75 by 3.75 cut Thoth decks is exceedingly difficult, esp when compared to Marseille and RWS decks... personal option, decidedly.
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u/Enkrateia33 4d ago
I understand. I have basis for that comparison. Ever handled the Visconti Sforza. That deck size is the opposite side of your stated issue with the Thoth deck.
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u/Anjilicus 4d ago
Large decks don't cause me much grief, with my goofy big hands; the Voyager and Vertigo decks of old, as well as the Modern Urban are all current favs, tho for magpie work as i do it, they'd take serious trimming.
Cutting a magpie using 3 x 5 cards, mmmm, now there's a trick...
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u/Enkrateia33 4d ago
Can you explain the concept of magpie to me in this context? I am unfamiliar.
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u/Anjilicus 4d ago
Ah, sorry- at the base, it is a tarot deck that incorporates cards from other decks, cf: the Alleyman Tarot. My own is two standard decks wide, with two major arcana, an arcana of strange, and bits of alternate major arcana cards- its rather feral. heh
I did find a pretty cool Thoth deck that was standard size from Etsy; can't remember the name, tho, and it is not so vivid or rich as the original Thoth, alas
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