After a four-month intensive study of the Thoth Tarot in 2012, using Lon Milo Duquette’s Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot, herewith my keywords based on the Thoth deck/system.

Major Arcana

Like other tarot decks, Crowley and Harris’s also comes with its own narrative for the spiritual journey of the Major Arcana progression, with all sorts of layers of Qabalah and Astrological symbolism, along with Egyptian mythological additions popular during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when the Golden Dawn society was active. I’ve found it a very idiosyncratic deck, speaking very much in Crowley’s social-rebel voice, softened to some extent by Lady Harris’s modernist, semi-abstract illustrations. So, the keywords here may have a different flavor than for a standard RWS deck. Interesting, though.

The Fool

power in potential, creation in bud, egg state, non-being, sudden impulse

1 The Magus

cunning, theft, skill, intelligence, craft, communication

2 The High Priestess

gracious influence, “moon-struck,” initiation, inner journey

3 The Empress

gentleness, pleasure, idleness, completion, beauty, dissipation, Nature

4 The Emperor

authority, ambition, vigour, war, victory, ill-temper, fiery action

5 The Hierophant

guardian angel, teaching, patience, goodness of heart, placidity, toil

6 The Lovers

duality vs. union, openness to inspiration, second sight, frivolity, indecision

7 The Chariot

triumph, ruthless control, obedience, hope, “die-hard’ attitude

8 Adjustment

balance, suspension of action prior to decision, lawsuits, marriage contract, treaty

9 The Hermit

creative energy, inner illumination, retirement from public life, secret impulses

10 Fortune

change in direction, good fortune

11 Lust

courage, strength, grand passion, use of magickal power, desire for divine union

12 The Hanged Man

sacrifice, punishment, loss, suffering, death

13 Death

transformation, voluntary or involuntary change, apparent destruction but illusory

14 Art

combining opposites to create new, realization, calculated action, escape route

15 The Devil

temptation, rigidity, obsession, blind impulse, unbalanced masculine

16 The Tower

danger, ruin, sudden death or escape, thwarted plans, combat, Shiva time

17 The Star

hope, unexpected help, clear vision, insight, dreaminess, error in judgment

18 The Moon

deception, madness, brink of change, bewilderment, lies, darkness before dawn

19 The Sun

glory, truth, gain, recovery from illness, arrogance, vanity, innocence

20 The Aeon

birth of the new age, final decision to move on, taking a definite step

21 The Universe

final synthesis, inertia, patience, crystallization of the matter, end of the matter, completion of cycle

Minor Arcana

Crowley treats the Aces in a special way, so I will list them in a section by themselves, and I’ll group the Court cards like I did with the RWS system even though they all have suits as well. So, first, the twos through the tens by suits.

Wands

2 of Wands

dominion, prospects

3 of Wands

virtue, trading

4 of Wands

completion, stability

5 of Wands

strife, competition

6 of Wands

victory, success

7 of Wands

valour, advantage

8 of Wands

swiftness, promotion

9 of Wands

strength, endurance

10 of Wands

oppression, burden

Cups

2 of Cups

love, relationship flowing

3 of Cups

abundance, celebration

4 of Cups

luxury, comfort (taken for granted?)

5 of Cups

disappointment, love lost

6 of Cups

pleasure, lovely memories

7 of Cups

debauchery, lost in fantasy

8 of Cups

indolence, mourning

9 of Cups

happiness, satisfaction

10 of Cups

satiety, total fulfillment

Swords

2 of Swords

peace, dilemma, contemplating a decision, diplomacy

3 of Swords

sorrow, emotional pain, regret

4 of Swords

truce, rest from conflict, healing wounds

5 of Swords

defeat, defeating others, empty victory

6 of Swords

science, travelling away from strife, respite from conflict

7 of Swords

futility, cleverness, strategic planning, manipulating with mind

8 of Swords

interference, feeling trapped, unaware of opportunity

9 of Swords

cruelty, nightmare, anguish of the mind (possibly illusionary)

10 of Swords

ruin, bottom of the pit, end of suffering, game over

Disks

2 of Disks

change, ups and downs of prosperity or mood, wandering, juggling

3 of Disks

works, skill development, building up, business growth

4 of Disks

power, defending abundance, fortress mentality

5 of Disks

worry, fear of loss/poverty, change for the worse

6 of Disks

success, influence, gain radiating out, generosity

7 of Disks

failure to thrive, harvest not ready, danger of loss

8 of Disks

prudence, cunning, obsessed with detail

9 of Disks

gain, good harvest, building wealth, social status

10 of Disks

accumulated wealth, legacy, old age

The Aces

Aces are the seeds, the pre-manifestation, pre-Big Bang. All the other minors are inside them in potential. They are the probabilities of matter before it is measured and manifested. Now that’s a large-/small -scale beginning. The entire universe is inside the Thoth aces. The alpha and the omega. So, keep the seed metaphor in mind with the Thoth. The Fool has the same characteristics.

Ace of Wands

unfocused light, inspiration, natural force, manifestation

Ace of Cups

potential fullness, fertility, beauty, infinite happiness

Ace of Swords

unstoppable light, vanquishing darkness, will, clearing out, pruning

Ace of Disks

multi-level inner treasure, rest, comfort, wealth, power

The Courts

The Thoth courts are a whole tapestry of personalities and their trauma and drama of duality and ultimate union. First, each level in the Court brings an elemental energy to pair with the element of the suit, with Knights (Kings) representing fire, Queens representing water, Princes (Knights) representing air, and Princesses (Pages) representing earth.

Crowley thought that knights were more virile than old kings, so his vision is of the Knight making love to the Queen while the king sleeps. And the Prince and Princess are not siblings but lovers as well, looking for each other so they can graduate to Queen and King by their union, but I think they might also be siblings and children of the original king (or Knight?) and Queen. It’s complicated. 🙂

But for reading purposes, we just have the challenge of remembering that Kings are Knights in Thoth-world, Knights are Princes (not so hard), and Pages are Princesses. Here we go with keywords (positive and negative)!

Knight of Wands

active, generous, impetuous; cruel, bigoted

Queen of Wands

adaptive, steady, attractive, powerful and popular; domineering, revengeful, over-sensitive to slights

Prince of Wands

swift, strong, impulsive, just and violent, noble; cruel, intolerant

Princess of Wands

brilliant, brave, forceful, ambitious, sudden to both anger and love; superficial, theatrical, cruel, unstable

Knight of Cups

graceful, poetic, quiet, calm; sensual, idle, untruthful

Queen of Cups

imaginative, kind, poetic, good-natured but a bit self-absorbed; easily influenced

Prince of Cups

crafty/artistic but also violent, fierce inside while calm outside; intensely evil and merciless

Princess of Cups

sweet, gentle, kind, poetic, dreamy, imaginative; selfish, into luxury

Knight of Swords

active, clever, fierce, delicate, brave; domineering, picky, tyrannical

Queen of Swords

perceptive, keen observer, quick and confident, graceful, fond of dancing; cruel, deceitful, unreliable

Prince of Swords

full of ideas, distrustful, careful, observant, destroys as fast as he creates; malicious, plotting, unreliable

Princess of Swords

wise, strong, graceful, dextrous; frivolous, cunning

Knight of Disks

a bit dull, patient, materially-oriented, clever but slow; grasping, jealous, cowardly

Queen of Disks

impetuous, timid, kind, melancholy, moody, honest; capricious, foolish

Prince of Disks

solid, intensifies good or evil, steady, reliable, slow to anger; selfish, stupid

Princess of Disks

generous, kind, diligent, careful; wasteful, prodigal