In association with The College of Thelema of Northern California, Teitan Press has released The Thoth Tarot, Astrology & Other Selected Writings, by Phyllis Seckler (Soror Meral).

The book is edited and introduced by Dr. David Shoemaker, Gregory Peters and Rorac Johnson.

From the book’s description on the publisher’s website:

The Thoth Tarot, Astrology & Other Selected Writings, is edited by three of Phyllis Seckler’s former students: Rorac Johnson, Gregory Peters, and David Shoemaker. It includes a biographical sketch of Phyllis Seckler drawn from her own autobiographical writings, and two of her most important essays: “The Tarot Trumps of Thoth and Psychology” – a detailed analysis of the psychological and magical symbolism of the Trumps of the Thoth deck – and “Thoth Tarot and Astrology,” a significant study of astrology and the natal chart, with special reference to the cards of the Thoth deck. Both of these essays were previously serialized in Seckler’s journal In the Continuum, but they are here presented for the first time in book form, accompanied by redrawn and corrected diagrams.

In addition to the essays the book also contains a selection of important correspondence between Seckler, Aleister Crowley, Karl Germer and Jane Wolfe. These are followed by a transcript of the last major interview conducted with Phyllis Seckler, in which she recounted the details of her introduction to Thelema and involvement with the old Agape Lodge, her subsequent participation in various Thelemic organizations, and her thoughts on developments within the Thelemic world.

It retails for 45$US and is available from Weiser Antiquarian. For the first week – until September 28th, 2010 – the book will be available with free shipping in the US and at a reduced rate for international sales. For more information see Weiser Antiquarian.

Thelema NOW! is a new podcast put out by the OTO’s US Grand Lodge. It was launched a few weeks ago, and is, as far as I’m aware, the first Thelemic podcast since John Crow‘s Thelema Coast to Coast closed shop in 2007.

In the first episode the host, Frater Puck, interviews Richard Kaczynski, whose latest book is The Weiser Concise Guide to Aleister Crowley.They also discuss other recent projects, including an upcoming an edited and annotated edition of Aleister Crowley’s Sword of Song, a fifty page article on the Thoth Tarot which will be included in an upcoming anthology titled Tarot and Culture, an expanded edition of Perdurabo which will include another 50-100 pages of material based on new research since the book was first published, among others. Continue reading »

Tarot For The New Aeon: A Practical Guide to the Power and Wisdom of the Thoth Tarot, by P.C. Tarantino
Alternative Insights Publishing, 9780976618409, 402 pp. (incl. endnotes, appendices, and bibliography), 2007

In the introduction Tarantino describes the aim of the present book, noting that “While this book respects the original spirit of Crowley’s work, it has been crafted to make his timeless illuminations readily accessible to the modern reader.” This sounds promising, but ultimately Tarantino cannot deliver.

Tarantino claims that tarot is “an Egyptian word meaning ‘Royal Road’” though this has repeatedly been demonstrated to be the strange invention of an eighteenth century Frenchman whose etymological fabrications were eccentric to say the least. Continue reading »