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Written by: Autritus
The British Occultist Edward Alexander Crowley, also known as "Aleister Crowley" was a left-hand path Occultist from Britain, known for his crazy and bizarre Pagan ideologies, one of the greatest contributions he ever made in Occultism history was the creation of his Thoth Tarot deck, first created on March 21st, 1944, the ideas were from Aleister as the paintings for his cards were made by artist Lady Frieda Harris, under strict supervision together their teamwork invented one of the most well known and traditionally challenging Tarot decks in history!
Inspired heavily by Aleister's own religious beliefs Thelema, he created a deck that not only challenged the traditional meanings of the Tarot but also reinvented them in his unique style, a few distinctive differences are the Pentacles in the Thoth Tarot are called "Discs", and the names for major and minor Arcana were drastically changed, here is the full list comparing traditional The Order of the Golden Dawn Tarot labeling and Aleister's:
[Waite-Rider] - [Thoth]
The Fool - The Fool
The Magician - The Magus
The High Priestess - The Priestess
The Empress - The Empress
The Emperor - The Emperor
The Hierophant - The Hierophant
The Lovers - The Lovers
The Chariot - The Chariot
Strength - Lust
The Hermit - The Hermit
Wheel of Fortune - Fortune
Justice - Adjustment
The Hanged Man - The Hanged Man
Death - Death
Temperance - Art
The Devil - The Devil
The Tower - The Tower
The Star - The Star
The Moon -The Moon
The Sun - The Sun
Judgment - The Æon
The World - The Universe
(SIDE NOTES: Despite cards like Adjustment being equivalents to Traditional cards like Justice, their number placements are different in their respective decks, Justice is the 11th Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks, as Adjustment is the 13th Major Arcana card in the Thoth Tarot deck, and while there is only one Magician in the Major Arcana, in the Thoth Tarot there is THREE Magicians in the Major Arcana, called the Magus Cards.)
As for Minor Arcana, only the Major Suits' names were changed, the only suit that had their name changed entirely was the Pentacles as previously mentioned, here is the list of comparisons between traditional Tarot Major Arcana suits and the Thoth Tarot Major Arcana suits:
King - Knight
Queen - Queen
Knight - Princess
Page - Prince
(Also, every Minor Suit card had its name beside the Ace cards)
These differences are not only distinct but are very unique and interesting, Aleister was a master of his craft and the Thoth Tarot is a brilliant example of his Occultist craftsmanship!
So if there is anything you should take from this, it should be to not follow or copy what everyone else is doing but to do your own thing and follow your path to what you want to achieve, especially in the art of Occultism.
[Pictures of Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot]
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