Thoth Tarot Cards in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic

''Thoth Tarot'' is an esoteric tarot deck painted by Lady Frieda Harris according to instructions from

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley ( ; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, novelist, mountaineer, and painter. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

. Crowley referred to this deck as ''The Book of Thoth'', and also wrote a 1944 book of that title intended for use with the deck.

Background

Crowley originally intended the Thoth deck to be a six-month project aimed at updating the traditional pictorial symbolism of the tarot. However, due to increased scope, the project eventually spanned five years, between 1938 and 1943.

Symbolism

The illustrations of the deck feature symbolism based upon Crowley's incorporation of imagery from many disparate disciplines, including science and philosophy and various occult systems (as described in detail in his ''The Book of Thoth'').

Deck variants

As reported in the table below there are six known major versions of the Thoth Tarot with significant differences.

Differences from the Rider–Waite Tarot

Order and names of trumps

Crowley renamed several of the trumps compared to earlier arrangements, and also re-arranged the numerical,

astrological Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of celesti ...

and

Hebrew alphabet The Hebrew alphabet (, ), known variously by scholars as the Ktav Ashuri, Jewish script, square script and block script, is a unicase, unicameral abjad script used in the writing of the Hebrew language and other Jewish languages, most notably ...

correspondences of 4 trumps compared to the

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn (), more commonly the Golden Dawn (), was a secret society devoted to the study and practice of occult Hermeticism and metaphysics during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Known as a magical order, ...

's inner order deck in accordance with the Tarot of Marseilles, his 1904 book ''

The Book of the Law ''Liber AL vel Legis'' (), commonly known as ''The Book of the Law'', is the central sacred text of Thelema. The book is often referred to simply as ''Liber AL'', ''Liber Legis'' or just ''AL'', though technically the latter two refer only to ...

'' (''Liber AL vel Legis'') and its "New Commentary." In the "New Commentary" and ''The Book of Thoth'', Crowley demonstrates that his trump arrangement forms a double loop in the zodiac-number and letter-number correspondences compared to the Golden Dawn deck, where there is no loop.

Names of court cards

Crowley accepted the Golden Dawn's changed names of all the court cards which can cause some confusion for people used to the more common decks. Specially since he changed the structure of the court cards, while each of the places retains much of the original meanings, there are subtle differences. The typical corresponding names are as follows:

Minor Arcana

Wands

Cups

Swords

Disks

Restoration of original artwork

Harris' renditions of the tarot are on

watercolor paper Watercolor paper (or watercolour paper) is paper or substrate onto which an artist applies watercolor paints, pigments, or dyes. Many types of paper are manufactured specifically for watercolour painting. The paper may be made of pulp (paper), ...

affixed to a thick backing; the acidity of the backing, according to a report from 2006, resulted in discoloration of borders, and to some extent, the paintings themselves. The paintings also required cleaning and the repair of small tears. A conservation plan called for cleaning the surfaces, the removal of backing (while retaining original inscriptions), reuse of the hand-painted window mats, and replacement of overlays with acid-free, museum-quality paper. The project was completed in 2011. The paintings are stored by the

Warburg Institute The Warburg Institute is a research institution associated with the University of London in central London, England. A member of the School of Advanced Study, its focus is the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture – cros ...