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Welcome to the Discoursing With The Gods webpage Between 1938 and 1943 Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris worked to create the Thoth Tarot deck, which they called the Book of Thoth. Crowley was an English occultist, mystic, ceremonial magician, poet and mountaineer, and his vision was to blend symbols from many disciplines, including science, philosophy, alchemy and mythology, as well as to draw on his extensive knowledge of various occult systems, both East and West. The deck wasn't published during Crowley's or Harris's lifetime. It was first published in 1969 by Ordo Templi Orientis, with later updates to the quality of the card images. The original paintings now hang in a London museum. Dr. Stefan Schindler's book, Discoursing With The Gods: The Art and Practice of Tarot Divination, uses Crowley's Thoth Tarot deck in his explanations of the various Tarot cards because he finds Crowley's symbolism to be exceptionally rich and sophisticated, yet refreshingly simple to interpret. The information in Discoursing With The Gods applies to all Tarot decks, and may be fruitfully used by all practitioners, novice or experienced. In addition to drawing on his long career in philosophy and psychology, Dr. Schindler draws on Egyptian, Judeo-Christian, alchemical and Eastern symbolism to interpret the meaning of all 78 Tarot cards. The book shows how to perform a Tarot reading using The Celtic Cross Method, as well as Dr. Schindler's more simplified invention: The Dialogue Method. Based on forty years' experience, the book also narrates the journey of The Fool -- associated with Parsifal: Arthurian hero, Wasteland healer, and achiever of the Grail Quest, who also resolves the tension in troubadourian Eros -- through the 22 'major arcana', to illustrate what C. G. Jung calls Individuation and Abraham Maslow calls Self-actualization. Discoursing With The Gods concludes with "A Tarot Reading for The New Aeon", as well as with an exploration of the Qabalistic Tree of Life as a symbol of cosmic evolution. Visit the Discoursing With The Gods Blog for articles by Stefan Schindler. |
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