This is perfect for you, Imp, and perfect timing - you going to procure a copy?

Alex Toth is a great comics artist, legendary even, but his name lacks the extra "H"

[And I know you knew that, Imp, just making silly chat] Nevertheless, his name is close enough that he very likely had Thoth looking over his shoulder and guiding him...

ciarconn

10:29 / 22.09.03

Uh, no... the egiptian book ot THOTH...

Quantum

10:42 / 22.09.03

It's a euphemism for the Tarot major arcana, based on the myth that the egyptian god Thoth's wisdom was written down in the eponymous book, for magicians to discover.
It's unbound in the ancient Egyptian style, so it would be like a deck of cards, but there's no evidence of a relation between Egypt and the Tarot before the sixteenth century (historically), it's one of those Tarot creation myths that enrich the cards.
Check out the Crowley book and deck for all you need to know.

ghadis

10:49 / 22.09.03

Many occultists (myself included) pronounce it TOTH and it's often spelt that way in many renaissance books by Bruno,Dee and Agrippa to name a few. It seems fairly interchangable and theres not much point in being pedantic about it. I guess it's kind of like those people who moan on about the right way to spell Cabala (Kabbalah, Qabala etc). The RIGHT way to spell it is in Hebrew!

Right about Alex Toth being a comics legend..

ghadis

10:54 / 22.09.03

Although i guess that if you're playing about with english Qabala it would proberly make a difference...

Tamayyurt

11:27 / 22.09.03

Hey, you can check out this site on Thoth it's been very helpful.

adamswish

13:19 / 23.09.03

been looking to get a further understanding of the thoth cards I have and did find the crowley book at the weekend. It shall be a purchase of mine soon.

Then this thead appears, you've got to love synronicity haven't you.

Quantum

13:40 / 23.09.03

Thoth supposedly overcame the curse of Ra, allowing Nut to give birth to her five children, with his skill at games.
The way I heard it he gambled with the moon (inventing Tarot to do it) and won five days to add to the year, the five children.

Thank you all

Quantum - I'd guess that story you just told might be a way of negoiating the differences between the 360 degrees in a circle and the actual number of days in the year? Whats the source?

Quantum

14:23 / 25.09.03

It's from 'Forest of Souls' the (excellent) recent Rachael Pollack Tarot book, and she got it from Egyptian myth AFAIK- it is indeed used to explain the extra days in the calendar, and the reason the months are irregular as well I think. The subtext is about escaping restrictions of order by inviting chance into the equation (i.e. gambling) and is thus also an allegory for free will and an explanation of the necessity of a random element for divination.

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