March 24 - 30, 2012 ~ Etteilla Book of Thoth

Etteilla Book of Thoth
Lo Scarabeo, 2003

I received this deck in trade in February 2012.  I thought that since I like beating myself over the head with Etteilla type decks, that this would be a good addition! 

The cards are the usual nice Lo Scarabeo card stock.  A bit taller than most decks, but not huge.  There are no extra titles as is usual for LoS decks, just the original Etteilla titles.  It came with a nice multilingual LWB that was surprisingly informative. 

Like most Etteilla decks, it is melodramatic. For example, the 10 of Cups Reversed is "Wrath."  That is a bit strong, don't you think?  It makes the deck a beginner's nightmare because everything is proscribed.  One would think that having proscribed meanings such as one finds with Etteilla decks that it would be easier.   However, as mentioned, these proscribed meanings are overly dramatic in nature.  There are sinister men waiting around every corner to bilk a poor widow of her savings.  Perhaps, life tended more to the dramatic in the 18th century?

Source material is not widely translated, but there are resources available on the Internet.   Villa Revak is a fun and informative site.  There are many interesting things to read there and I do recommend it.  Additionally, doing a search for "Etteilla" at SuperTarot will yield some interesting results.   Source material in French can be found at Google Books - do a search for "Alliette."  Another place to visit is the National Library of France. 

As a reading deck, it is a bit difficult.  For one thing, the elements are quite different.  Wands are Earth; Cups are Water; Swords are Air; Coins are Fire.  Another is the numbering of the Majors.  Villa Revak has a nice summary of correspondences for majors.  He also provides supporting works for his correspondences.   At first, reading the card by looking at the image and taking element into account was difficult.  Toward the end of the week, I was getting able to read the pictures and find the support for the proscribed card meanings.  Though, I will admit I never brought astrology into the mix as my knowledge of astrology is very limited.

As a final reading, I ask the cards if there are any final words.  This deck gave me the Knight of Coins, reversed 10 of Cups and 3 of Cups.  Essentially - invest the work and frustration will turn to success.  While this is true, I am not sure if I want to invest that much time into a system that doesn't seem to fit for me.  I am quite fond of the Thoth / Golden Dawn Tradition.  I appreciate the historical significance of the Etteilla, but I can't see it becoming my primary system.

Rating: Keeper