Introduction
The Thoth Tarot family encompasses the tarot pattern conceptualized by the occultist Aleister Crowley and executed by the artist Lady Frieda Harris between 1938 and 1943. While loosely based on traditional structures, it represents a radical departure from earlier standards, infusing the cards with complex Kabbalistic, astrological, and alchemical symbolism associated with Crowley’s philosophy of Thelema.
Originally published only as illustrations within a book in 1944, the actual deck was not mass-produced until the late 1960s. Since then, it has become one of the most influential esoteric tarot patterns of the 20th century, second only to the Waite-Smith deck in popularity.
History
Origins in the Golden Dawn
Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) was a prominent and often controversial figure in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a secret society devoted to the study of the occult, metaphysics, and paranormal activities. Crowley joined the Order in 1898. The Golden Dawn utilized a private, esoteric tarot deck known as the “Book T,” which was drawn by member MacGregor Mathers and restricted to initiates.
After breaking with the group and publishing many of its secrets, Crowley harbored a long-standing ambition to create a definitive tarot deck that would rectify what he perceived as errors in earlier patterns (Booth 2001; Decker and Dummett 2002, ch. 9). However, for decades, this project remained an unrealized concept.
Collaboration with Lady Frieda Harris (1938–1943)
The project finally materialized late in Crowley’s life. In 1938, he began a collaboration with Lady Frieda Harris (1877–1962), an artist and associate who became instrumental in translating Crowley’s abstract concepts into visual reality.
The working relationship was intense and iterative. Crowley provided the intellectual framework—ideas regarding the symbolism, Hebrew attributions, and color scales—while Harris painted the 78 cards. Harris was not merely a scribe; she brought her own artistic sensibilities to the project, employing Projective Synthetic Geometry to create the deck’s distinctively abstract, dynamic aesthetic. The process was laborious, often requiring Harris to paint multiple versions of specific cards before Crowley was satisfied. The artwork was finally completed in 1943 (Decker and Dummett 2002, ch. 9; Farley 2011, 185–187).
Insert Image: [Side-by-side comparison of a standard Marseille card and the Thoth equivalent, showing the artistic leap.] Caption: A comparison between the traditional woodblock style of the Tarot de Marseille and the abstract, geometric rendering of Lady Frieda Harris in the Thoth Tarot.
The Book of Thoth and Structural Innovations
In 1944, Crowley published The Book of Thoth, a limited-edition treatise that included color plates of Harris’s paintings and Crowley’s extensive commentary on the deck’s symbolism [1] .
While the deck draws inspiration from the Tarot de Marseille—the standard French pattern dominant since the 17th century—Crowley introduced substantial changes to reflect the “New Aeon” of his Thelemic philosophy:
- Renaming of Trumps: “Justice” (VIII) became Adjustment; “Strength” (XI) became Lust; “Temperance” (XIV) became Art; and “The Last Judgment” (XX) became The Aeon.
- Symbolic Density: The Minor Arcana, while scenic, are less narrative than the Waite-Smith deck and more reliant on rigorous color scales and astrological symbols [1] .
Posthumous Publication and the Occult Revival
Crucially, a playable deck was not independently published during Crowley’s lifetime. Due to wartime shortages and financial constraints, only 200 copies of The Book of Thoth were initially printed. Consequently, very few people had access to the imagery for nearly two decades [2] .
Crowley died in 1947, and Harris died in 1962. It was not until the “Occult Revival” of the late 1960s that the Thoth Tarot was mass-produced as a standalone deck. Llewellyn Worldwide and Weiser Books began selling versions of the deck in the late 1960s, finally making the work accessible to the general public (Kaplan 1990, 152, 156).
Variants and Imitators
Following its mass-market release, the Thoth Tarot inspired a new generation of esoteric deck designers.
- The Thelemic Tarot (1977): Published by Baphomet Publishing, this deck adhered closely to the contours of the Harris illustrations but stripped the images back to black-and-white for a starker appearance. The anonymous designer noted, “I have tried to remain as close as possible to the structure of the Lady Frieda Harris pack” [3] .
- Printing Variants (Blue vs. Green): In 1978, U.S. Games Systems published two distinct variants. The “Green Thoth” (Version C) featured a greenish cast to the borders and imagery. The “Blue Thoth” (Standard) utilized a blue box and included two alternative paintings of The Magus (Magician) that Harris had executed during the design phase (Kaplan 1990, 152, 156).
Foundation Holdings
The Etteilla Foundation preserves several key artifacts from the Thoth Tarot family history:
- Version A1 (1967): Produced by Llewellyn Worldwide, representing the first mass-produced edition of the deck.
- Version B (1969): The subsequent edition produced by Weiser Books.
- Version C “Green Thoth” (1978): A U.S. Games Systems edition notable for its distinct color grading.
- “Blue” Variant (1980s): A later U.S. Games Systems edition featuring the alternative Magus cards.