Crowley Thoth Review

This Crowley Thoth review reveals fundamental problems within one of esotericism’s most revered occult artifacts. Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris² created a sumptuous visual language for Tarot that bridges astrological decans with card divination. Its planetary correspondences and symbolic depth offer genuine insight into cosmic expressions, inspiring practitioners for decades.

Yet the very magnitude of this achievement obscured a deeper structural challenge that no amount of creative brilliance could fully resolve. Crowley worked from a fundamental disadvantage. The Minor Arcana is, at its root, a modified playing card deck. Playing cards were already spreading across Europe when Tarot emerged as an Italian variation of the original, with adjustments for the game of Tarocchi. And in this twist of history, the coherence of the inherited codes of the 52-card deck was fundamentally broken. This structural distortion would prove to be Crowley’s undoing, leading him to miss the single most profound magical principle hidden within the ancient decan system: the Law of Three.

Above: four cards from Aleister Crowley's Thoth tarot painted by Frieda Harris during 1938 to 1943.

The Numerical Dilemma

The problem begins with numbers. Crowley faced a seemingly intractable challenge: how to map 40 Minor Arcana cards (Ace through 10 in four suits) onto the 36 decans of the zodiac. His solution was understandable but ultimately flawed—he removed the Aces and assigned them to the Equinoxes and Solstices, leaving the remaining 36 numbered cards to correspond with the decans.

Here we encounter the first crack in the foundation. The 10s never belonged in this cycle in the first place. Numerologically, 10 represents a return to 1 (1+0=1)—it is a number of beginnings, not endings. How can a system modeling the completion of seasonal and elemental cycles culminate in a number that speaks of fresh starts rather than fulfillment?

The ancient wisdom keepers understood something Crowley overlooked: all numbers within a magical system must be of the same numerological order. When we work with the nine gates of each season, and the nine gates of each element, we are operating within the realm of the single digits—the archetypal numbers 1 through 9. The intrusion of 10 breaks this harmonic unity, creating dissonance where the system demands resonance.

The Missing Trinities

Perhaps more significantly, Crowley’s approach to the Equinoxes and Solstices reveals a profound misunderstanding of their true nature. He assigned single Ace cards to these cosmic turning points, but no single card—no matter how elevated—can capture the complexity of these moments.

The Equinoxes and Solstices are not static points but dynamic processes. They are the final phase of a waning season touching upon the new waxing energy of the coming season through opposing elements. Imagine the cosmic explosion resulting from the transfiguration of the Omega (9) into the Alpha (1). This is this magnetic, epic union that opens the way for the mystical Third. Here we witness the birth that is the Solstices and Equinoxes. The legendary portal through which new realities manifest. In short, the invitation for invisible Spirit —the Holy Ghost.

This is the Law of Three in action, the same universal principle that repeats like a rhyme throughout the Temple of Hathor in Egypt, the ancient ceremonial center of decan astrology. The famous Zodiac of Dendera from that temple makes this principle explicit: picture three figures in each quadrant of the wheel of time, coming together with arms crossed at the cardinal points—creation through union made manifest in stone. There is no isolated figure stationed at these cosmic crossroads; instead, we witness the ancient truth that magic is about convergence. What we see is not mere zodiac decor but deliberate transmission of sacred knowledge. These cosmic events are highly transformative precisely because they embody the sacred mathematics of trinity: the ancient understanding that all creation emerges from the union of opposites.

Above: The Dendera Zodiac, Egypt Museum, https://egypt-museum.com/the-dendera-zodiac/

Crowley, for all his magical expertise, repeatedly overlooks this fundamental tenet. He misses (or ignores) the Law of Three at the four cardinal points, and equally critical, fails to acknowledge it within the zodiac signs themselves.

The True Mathematical Architecture

The original Ace error cascades through Crowley’s entire system when we examine how he numbers the zodiac signs. In decan astrology every zodiac sign is divided into three parts, and in his arrangement, each sign contains three consecutive numbers: Aries gets 2-3-4, Taurus gets 5-6-7, and so forth. But these are not triads—they are merely sequences. They lack the archetypal power that comes only through true mathematical trinity.

Consider the profound disconnect: Cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn) represent beginnings, initiative, and dynamic action. Yet in Crowley’s system, they begin with the number 2. Does this make sense for signs that symbolize fresh starts and pioneering energy? Would it not be more coherent for Cardinal signs to begin with 1—the number that actually is beginnings?

In contrast, when we examine the sequence 1-2-3, we discover something remarkable. This true triad contains two odd numbers (active, masculine, initiating) and one even number (receptive, feminine, stabilizing). This mathematical structure perfectly mirrors the nature of Cardinal signs: the restless initiative that characterizes these signs, their impatience with stagnation, their driving need to move from potential into action.

Compare this to Crowley’s 2-3-4, which emphasizes the feminine principle with two even numbers. While receptivity has its place, it hardly captures the essential nature of Cardinal energy.

Fixed Signs and the Stability Code

The misalignment is equally apparent with Fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius). Crowley begins these with the number 5—an odd number that speaks of movement and initiative. Yet Fixed signs embody stability, resistance to change, the power of accumulation and preservation. Two odd numbers (5 and 7) within this sequence emphasize restlessness and motion—qualities contrary to Fixed nature.

The natural sequence 4-5-6 tells a completely different story. Here we find what might be called the first material/physical triad: the stabilizing power of 4 (the square, the foundation), the dynamic tension of 5 (the pentagon, life force), and the harmonious completion of 6 (the first perfect number, cosmic balance). This numerical architecture actually supports and reinforces the Fixed signs’ essential nature rather than contradicting it.

Mutable Signs and the Completion Mystery

The misalignment reaches its peak with the Mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces). These signs carry the dual nature of transition and completion—they are simultaneously the bridge to the next cycle and the culmination of the current one. The final synthesis of their respective seasonal journeys.

In Crowley’s system, these signs culminate with the number 10—but as we have established, 10 is numerologically equivalent to 1, a number of beginnings. How can signs that represent the completion and synthesis of entire seasonal cycles end in a number that speaks of fresh starts?

The answer lies in the number 9—the true completion number, the final single digit, the omega that perfectly balances the alpha. When Mutable signs culminate in 9, they achieve genuine closure, creating space for the new Cardinal energy to emerge naturally in the next cycle.

The 3-6-9 Revelation

The corrected system reveals an elegant pattern that validates Tesla’s famous observation: “If you only knew the magnificence of the 3, 6 and 9, then you would have the key to the universe.”

The Law of Three ripples throughout the entire decan science as the fundamental frequency. We find it in the three modalities within each element (Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable). It appears again in the three sections of every zodiac sign that define the decans themselves (beginning, middle, end). And we encounter it once more in the three numerical triads that define each season (1-2-3, 4-5-6, 7-8-9).

There are literally three instances of the Law of Three operating simultaneously within the zodiac of the decans — it’s the motor! And it’s not coincidence but architecture. The 3-6-9 pattern creates expansion—each triad building upon the last like ripples moving outward from a central source.

The creative essence of these true triads is further verified by examining them geometrically: the point (1), the line (2), and the triangle (3). These are the minimal elements needed to create any stable form, the triangle being the fundamental building block of all manifest reality. (No wonder so many temples were triangles!) True triads carry this fundamental frequency of creation, generating infinite possibilities through their mathematical resonance.

Crowley’s flat number sequences (2-3-4, 5-6-7, 8-9-10) lack this generative power. They move horizontally through space but cannot expand vertically through dimensions. They are arithmetic without alchemy, counting without creating. It is sequence without architecture, number without magic. When we restore the authentic triadic structure, we don’t just correct the mathematics — we unleash alchemy.

This is why the ancient system works and but modern approximations fall short. The Law of Three isn’t just a string of numbers — it’s the engine of manifestation itself, perfectly preserved in the humble deck that’s been waiting quietly in everyone’s junk drawer.

The Unbroken Template

The profound irony is that the solution has been hiding in plain sight for centuries. While occultists have labored to “make fit” the fractured Minor Arcana (14 cards per suit and 56 cards total), the playing card deck has quietly preserved the original time codes in their pristine mathematical purity.

Consider the elegant completeness: 52 cards corresponding to 52 weeks of the year. Four suits mirroring the four seasons. Thirteen cards in each suit matching the thirteen weeks in each season. This is not coincidence but design—the unbroken preservation of an ancient chronological system that predates all gaming modifications and tarot elaborations.

While the tarot underwent structural revisions that broke its original coherence, playing cards slipped under the radar, quietly maintaining their hidden function as temporal calculators, cosmic calendars disguised as entertainment.

Troublesome 10 and the Court Card Revelation

This preservation includes a crucial insight about the troublesome 10. When we examine the playing card structure, something remarkable emerges: the 10 naturally belongs not with the numbered cards below but in the upper ranks—as a Lady card. The 10 represents a completely different numerological order than root numbers, and when we see it as integral to the court, young feminine energy returns to the archetypal spectrum.

The 10 is numerologically a beginning—the first court figure—but also an even number, restoring crucial gender balance to what has historically been a male-dominated court structure. To me it seems just too easy to drop this card of obvious rank into the sea of faceless numbers below, erasing the perhaps “inconvenient” young female presence. This most certainly would have aligned with influences seeking to enforce male hierarchy. And while it’s hard to actually confirm the motivations, we can say there is historical precedent for Lady cards. Johannes of Basel’s 1377 account mentions playing decks with “a King and his attendant” and “a Queen and her attendant,” while early Tarot decks like the Cary-Yale Visconti included six courts per suit—three male and three female. These, among others, would suggest that court card variations have most certainly existed outside of what we have come to call familiar.

So the Lady steps out from the shadows, poised to take her place on the divination table, as well as within ourselves, as an indispensable facet of our own being. Behold. The court cards now illustrate the four fundamental aspects of consciousness within each of the four elements:

This harmonic balance leaves us with the nine numbered cards (1-9) in each suit—exactly 36 cards to match the 36 decans, with each suit containing the three perfect archetypal triads: 1-2-3, 4-5-6, and 7-8-9.

The Living System

What emerges is not a theoretical reconstruction but a living system simply awaiting our own ability to recognize it for what it is. The playing card deck, stripped of its later gaming associations, reveals itself as an esoteric treasure chest that includes the complete decan calculator, a device for tracking the subtle energies of micro and macrocosm as they move through their seasonal and elemental transformations.

This recognition transforms our understanding of both tarot and playing cards. The tarot, for all its symbolic richness, represents a fragmented memory of an earlier wholeness—essentially an altered playing deck (the Minor Arcana) with a 22-card oracle deck layered on top (the Major Arcana). The playing card deck, originating before these modifications and dismissed as mere entertainment, preserves the original mathematical skeleton of ancient science.

The implications are staggering. Every shuffle of a playing card deck potentially recreates the cosmic dance of the decans. Every deal echoes the original patterns by which consciousness mapped itself onto the wheel of time. The gambling house becomes, unknowingly, a temple where timeless rituals continue in surprisingly pure form.

This is not merely an alternative card system but the reception of a sophisticated signal sent from the past, a return to the mathematical principles that guided the mystery schools of Egypt and the sacred architecture of initiation temples. The true magic was never lost—it has simply been waiting for us to wake up and observe what’s right in front of us – daring us to question the tired gaming narrative we’ve been told about playing cards.

Modern Restoration

Recent collaborative work between C.J. Freeman and his daughter Ana Cortez has unveiled these hidden connections through independent research that remarkably validates ancient artifact. Freeman’s insight into the inclusion of the Lady card restored the numerological keys to the entire deck, while Cortez’s subsequent research connecting the playing card deck to decan manuscripts—conducted entirely independently of Crowley’s tarot work—revealed how the intricate coding of the decans perfectly overlays with the temporal coding of the deck.

This collaborative research culminated in “The Doors of Somlipith,” which provides comprehensive decan correspondences for the playing card system and features deck designs with unique archetype and Lady card restoration. This father-daughter collaboration demonstrates that working in earnest from the deck’s very particular numbering system, rather than inherited occult frameworks, yields revolutionary insight. The decan correspondences emerge organically. The fit requires no forced assignments and one has to seriously wonder if the pack of 52 was designed for this purpose from the beginning. The playing deck did come from Egypt after all.

The Path Forward

Crowley’s work with the Thoth Tarot blazed the trail for integrating decan astrology with card divination, creating a visual language that has enriched countless practitioners. His deck succeeds magnificently as a symbolic and artistic achievement. Yet the very elegance of his solutions may have obscured the mathematical misalignment at the system’s core – problems that no amount of ornate imagery could resolve.

The question now is not whether we have the courage to create something new, but whether we have the wisdom to recognize what’s right in front of us. The sacred mathematics connecting the movement of stars to the stirring of consciousness has been preserved in the most humble and ubiquitous of forms. In the beginning was not just the Word, but the Number—and the Number was Three, perfectly preserved in the simple deck that can be found in nearly every home, waiting to reveal the cosmic patterns hidden within its deceptively familiar geometry. And if the numbers themselves restore time’s hidden order, it is the courts—those archetypal mirrors of consciousness itself—that may yet reveal how to step free of the wheel altogether.

Further References

1. This article was originally published on anacortez.com : Crowley Thoth Review: The Fatal Flaw (and How to Fix It)►

2. ladyhightarot : The HerStory Behind The Thoth Tarot: The Great Work of Lady Frieda Harris►