THE GOLDEN DAWN TAROT

Although I have the G.D. deck I hardly use it, for a very unscientific reason, I think it's ugly. Wang made a point of criticizing Pamela Smith for painting badly. Which I thought somewhat strange since I think the Waite deck is beautifully drawn, and odd too since Wang so clearly has missed a few drawing classes. I am also simply used to the Waite/Smith deck. I am still and often astounded when I find the ellegant way P Smith hid (occulted) very esoteric information in her pictures. there are some wonderful metaphores hidden in something as simple as a black line, there is as one example, an extremely subtle message in the 5 cups, look and you will see a black line touching the lip of one of the spilled cups and touching the lip of one of the standing cups. Think of that path which first crosses the Abyss. See that the 3 spilled cups may well be seen as the 3 supernals (their contents flowing into the Earth)(toward Malkuth) the 2 upright cups may be Chessed and Geburah. The black figure stands in the place of Daath and may be Abyss-mal. Note the Supernal cups are below the black line, except that it touches the lip of the cup which may be Binah, and crosses to the lip of the cup which may be Chessed. also these 2 cups both have the orbits of their openings on the other side of the line. It seems clear that the Line represents the transfer of Binahs fluids to Chessed, or rather the path which crosses the abyss. Of course there is far more. For my purposes, namely 'reading' the book T. The Waite deck is rich. Since I seem to need to knock Crowley at every oportunity, I will say only that the cards he colaborated on are beautiful, as art probably the best. Recently I saw Salvador Dali's deck. I hardly expected the depth of his understanding of the Tradition which is realy beautifully expressed in his cards. Without peer the most beautiful I've ever seen. at $100 however outside the reach of the average person. JR

Jon, I agree that it is not very pretty. The reason for this is simple. Regardie had his Tarot deck stolen and he re-drew the cards, quickly, by memory. He gave the sketches to Wang so that Wang could re-draw the images. Unfortunately, according to Regardie, Wang simply copied the sketches and gave them a quick coloring. If you check, there is even some incorrect symbolism when compared to book T in Regardie's _Golden Dawn_ book.

I prefer Sandra Cicero's New G.D. Ritual Tarot. It is far more colorful, the colors are more attractive and intense, and although the human figures are not like, the flat images of Smith or the more realistic images of Robin Wood, the EYES of the figures seem to have a remarkable life of their own. Also, this deck includes an extra card meant for ritual work which is described in the G.D. rituals but nowhere else.

Just some comments on this. Waite used many sources, including his own G.D. deck. But if your read book T you will find that the Tarot, according to the G.D., was interpreted according to strict, kabalistic rules. Knowing that the six of wands is Tiphereth in Fire, and understanding the meaning of that, requires no images. In fact, I find that the images are, for me, limiting when they appear in the Smith-Waite deck and the zillion-and-one imitations that are out there. For me, I prefer the numerical version of the G.D. (and numerous other) deck(s).

I agree. However, I prefer to use the Thoth deck for meditation and magical workings rather than for divination.

I believe that there are cheaper versions of the deck available. Check with U.S. Games. However, I personally think that his deck is the ugliest thing since the James Bond 'Tarot of the Witches' (not to be confused with the 'Witches Tarot' of E.C. Reed). I guess it's just a personal perspective, and although I disagree with you on this point, I respect your opinion.