Although I dislike almost everything Crowley represents to the pagan world, I do have to admit his tarot deck has some stunning artwork.  Designed in the art deco time period, it is unusual and breathtaking.  When I saw these cards, I simply had to have them.  However, I don't think I could use this deck to do readings.....

I do know people who read with the Thoth deck, and they say that its imagery either grabs you or it doesn't.  There are keywords on the cards which basically prompt you as to their meanings, which is helpful since I don't think the artwork is scenic enough to prompt you in and of itself, at least not till you get better acquainted with it.  This is one of those decks that you really have to acquire a taste for.  The Minor Arcana are fairly bland and the majority of the intrigue is contained in the Major Arcana.  Major Arcana use fairly standard titling, with a few substitutions.  Lust replaces Strength, Art replaces Temperance, and the Universe replaces the World.

The deck uses typical suits of Cups, Swords and Wands, with only one change, disks in place of pentacles.  The name of the suit itself is presented in a shadowy type text underneath the image at the bottom, and you have to look closely to see it.  I totally missed it the first time through the deck, and it was only when it was pointed out to me that I really noticed it.  The titles of the suits do appear in the Court card titles, so that you can definitely get them there, but look in the bottom for that shadow writing!  Numbered cards in the suit are somewhere between a pip card and a scene card.  The arrangements of suit icons is somehow abstractly evovative.  Court titles are Knight, Queen, Prince and Princess.

Periodically I take this deck out and give it another chance.  One of these days it may just grab me.  Then again, it might not.  By the way, the Thoth tarot deck is available in a standard deck size, but also comes in a larger version.  Men might find this to be helpful for larger hands.  I think the artwork is gorgeous, and would recommend that someone collecting it for the art get the larger version.  The smaller one is more useful for reading with.  This is not a deck for a beginner.  Many decks since then have been based on the Thoth model, including most German decks.  But it's not an easy system, full of extremes of darkness and light.  Several books are available for it, however, and the serious student can really go far with this deck -- if it grabs them in the first place.

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Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace