The Crowley Tarot Handbook

This was my first tarot manual 15 years ago, and it is not your typical tarot cookbook. Crowley and Lady Freida Harris' cards are challenging and multi-layered, and a book attempting to interpret their dense symbolism requires a certain amount of depth. The layout of 'The Handbook' is well-organized & consistent. It teaches basic tarot spreads, gives information on tarot symbolism and history of each card, explores the relationship of each card to other divinatory systems (e.g. I Ching, Classical myth & Astrology) and provides interpretive categories of Relationship, Work, Etc. Most interpretations are more than satisfactory, especially for beginner to intermediate students of tarot. The only drawbacks to the Manual are unsatisfactory interpretations for some court cards, though this could be a reflection of court cards' tendency to be ambiguous in readings, and the poor quality of the binding. Overall, Akron & Banzhaf do an admirable job of presenting a useful & cohesive guide to a deliciously complex deck. If you are looking for a book geared towards personal growth and development, or a workbook that guides you through tarot basics step-by-step, you will prefer Mary Greer's 'Tarot for Yourself' and 'Tarot Mirrors'.

This by far is the best deck. And with the handbook, things got more easy and I found more interesting spreads and things to do and more detailed meanings. I don't reccommend this to beginners, but to intermediate and advanced, the sky is the limit. The illustrations on this deck is not only great, but holds true meaning. The handbook goes into detail that is easily understood about the meanings of every single detail on the card. What more can I say? Well, lots, but basically, this is a great deck and the handbook makes it even better! Can't have one without the other!

This is not really a beginner tarot text, but the Thoth deck is not a beginner's deck, either. This is an extremely visual approach to the deck, and brings in a lot of outside material as well. If you choose to the ignore the more esoteric Crowley approaches, e.g. Qabala, there is still plenty here to get you going with this fabulous deck. I say it's not a beginner deck, but with a book this accessible, less experienced readers might be able to get over that hurdle. While Crowley's "The Book of Thoth" is the definitive text to accompany the Thoth deck--and if you spend a lot of time with the deck, you're going to want to dive into that eventually--this book is very detailed while still being user-friendly. For those new to the Tarot, or to the Thoth deck, this is probably the best place to start. A good bridge between this book and the BOT is Lon DuQuette's *excellent* book about the deck. The presentation of this material is also very well-done; the layout makes the book easy to use as a reference. Finally, the spreads in the back alone make this worth the price of admission!

For years I have been teaching my tarot students at Santa Fe Community College using the Thoth deck. This bok is a superb adjunct to the deck, and useful to instructors and students as well. Often, before I do a reading, I refer to it, just for inspiration.