A Description of the Cards of the Tarot

By Aleister Crowley

Book Overview

This book originally appeared in Crowley's larger volume, The Equinox, in 1912. In is a complete and thorough study of all the cards of the tarot. Each is presented with a detailed description that is... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585093076
• ISBN13: 9781585093076
• Release Date: July 2007
• Publisher: Book Tree
• Length: 80 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.2" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Amazing treatise on the Tarot. Must have reference for Tarot readers of any style decks!

Crowley is always a well informed, eloquent writer, and this excerpt from the Equinox is no exception! This uses some different titles than his later deck and writings, and occured before he made the later switch in titles and positions within the Major Arcana, however, the inf is meaningful and valuable nonetheless. Crowley can be a bit cryptic and hard to digest at times, but his wisdom is always well worth deciphering. While he could be a bit arrogant as a person, that doesn't negate his deep understanding of occult symbolism and systems. This small book is great to have, as it is easier to carry around than a volume of the Equinox. It has informative tables, great explanations, and useful methods of reading any deck. While this work isn't as elaborate as his later Book of Thoth, the wisdom and value in this still remains. This is a must have reference for anyone who reads Tarot, studies Tarot, or is just interested in occult symbolism in general. Great book!

Best reference for Golden Dawn style tarot decks.

When Aleister Crowley split with the Golden Dawn, he considered his sacred duty to publish all of it's "secret" teachings. This is his version of "Book T," the GD's lesson on how to read the Tarot. This was written before Crowley designed his own deck, and the descriptions of the cards clearly refer to the original GD deck, and not his Thoth. This is, therefore, an invaluable source on interpreting the GD deck itself, and those derived from it, including the Rider-Waite and all of its clones. It is very weak on the Major Arcana, giving only short keywords and no theoretical background. As Crowley says, "This table [of keywords] is very unsatisfactory. Each card must be most carefully meditated..." The Minor Arcana, however, are described in great detail, along with their Cabalistic and astrological attributions. There is additional interpretive information, including reading by dignification, and a description of the Golden Dawn "all day method" of reading the cards. If you want to read GD style decks, this is THE source; before the est-groupies and psychobabblers got ahold of it. This same info can be found in other compendia of Crowley's works, but this edition is short and to the point.

The Easiest Interpretation

This is the easiest to read out of all the several books on Crowley's Thoth Tarot because of its small size at a fitting 66 pages. I found this at Barnes & Noble in a mall, so it isn't that hard to find, nor are a lot of Crowley's books. This is short interpretations on each card of the Thoth Tarot with some tables thrown in for good measure. A lot of others I've seen when reading Crowley seem to think this is hard to read. While I admit I struggled with Crowley early on I understood it all. I started with novels Moonchild and Diary of a Drug Fiend. Once you get use to his poetic cadence and manner of speech, this is not very difficult to read. If you can understand Shakspear(?- spelling) you should be able to understand Crowley. Not a very big investment at all if you are interested in Crowley and especially his wonderful Tarot. I would recommend The Book of Thoth and Tarot Mirror of the Soul in addition to this. I finished this is 3 sessions over a two day period. At the price, you can't go wrong.