Reddit reviews Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot: New Edition

For books on the Qabalah, the two best books to have been written on the subject are The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune and The Chicken Qabalah of Rabbi Lamed Ben Clifford by Lon Milo Duquette. I'd also pick up a copy of 777 And Other Qabalistic Writings of Aleister Crowley, which is a book of qabalistic correspondences.

The best book on the Golden Dawn would be The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magick, which covers (almost) everything someone would wish to know about the original Golden Dawn and was written by one of the most famous initiates of the Golden Dawn.

There is not many books on Rosicruciaism, and many books that are out there on it are fraudulent and are not an accurate representation of the Rosicrucians. The only book that I would say is worth a read is Zanoni, which is a fictional story written by a Rosicrucian. It is based on Rosicrucian philosophies and symbolism.

As for Tarot, I myself prefer the Crowley/Thelemic system of tarot over that of the Golden Dawn, so I can only really recommend books on that system, which are The Book of Thoth by Aleister Crowley and Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo Duquette.

For the goetic demons, the best text would simply be The Goetia

Also, some beginner books I usually recommend are:

Circles of Power: An Introduction to Hermetic Magic by John Michael Greer, which is a beginners guide to ceremonial magick.

Book 4 by Aleister Crowley, which is the most comprehensive treatise on the practice of magick to ever be written, in my own personal opinion.

Enochian Magic in Theory by Frater Yechidah with Enochian Magic in Practice by Frater Yechidah, which are guides to the Enochian system of magick, a very popular and powerful system of magick, developed by the famous magician and advisor to Queen Elizabeth I John Dee, and used and improved upon by many occult orders, most notably the Golden Dawn.

And finally, The Corpus hermeticum by Hermes Trismegistus, which is the foundational text of all hermetic and occult philosophy.

It comes with a small explanatory booklet. I'd say the best actual book that really encompasses the whole system (because obviously it's not just a mere fortune telling device) is Crowley's own The Book of Thoth (1944). https://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Thoth-Egyptian-Tarot/dp/0877289506/ref=sr_1_2?crid=341Z03425G3GA&keywords=the+book+of+thoth&qid=1568848465&sprefix=The+book+of+thoth%2Caps%2C559&sr=8-2

However, if you're starting out with tarot or unfamiliar with Crowley's often convoluted and in depth writing-not to mention his oft made assumptions that we've all got a clue what the fuck he's trying to say- I can heartily recommend Lon Duquettes approachable, concise and easy to swallow Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Aleister-Crowleys-Thoth-Tarot/dp/157863623X/ref=sr_1_4?crid=341Z03425G3GA&keywords=the+book+of+thoth&qid=1568848843&sprefix=The+book+of+thoth%2Caps%2C559&sr=8-4

I'd start with the deck and Lon's book then move on to The Great Beast's volume, but I'd say they're both pretty much required reading for any serious student of the Thoth tarot. Duquette's book isn't exactly essential but it does make life a whole lot easier for us mere mortals!

Edit; there is a few other books of the deck out there but imho none come close to these two.

This will help greatly

https://youtu.be/DWhFaz415hQ

What are you interested in? Wicca, candle magick, hermeticism and alchemy, Setianism, Qabalah, tarot, mythology, astrology, goetia, esoteric christianity? A little bit of everything?

My recommendation is to start with something you're really interested in and pick up that one thing. If you're interested in Crowley, then you might be interested in tarot. My suggestion is getting a simple book by a laymen's author like Amber Jayanti on the tarot. As you read the book, circle, highlight or write down (or add to a shopping list) sources to which that author refers - Jayanti may cite Paul Foster Case a lot. Once you read some Case books, then you'll start to see Crowley pop up. Pick up Lon Milo DuQuette's book on Crowley's Tarot. Then you can probably read Crowley's Book of Thoth.

My other advice is not to worry about not picking up every little detail of every book. You won't have the schema necessary for every small detail in every book, and part of reading in the occult is rediscovering the deeper meaning of something you thought you already knew, like a spiral upward.

Rider Waite Smith deck

Thoth deck and the Duquette book

Tarot de Marseilles and the Ben Dov book

Check out the Thoth tarot book for more info on reading the cards. I also recommend reading Lon Milo Duquettes book on understanding the Thoth Tarot. Also also, check out liber Theta from Temple of Thelema . There's also an explanation and analysis on divination with Tarot from Soror Meral in Temple of Thelema's periodical called In the Continuum.

book of thoth

understanding Thoth tarot

liber Theta

in the Continuum vol 1

You'll want to read issue no.7 for divination