A borderless version of Thoth?

[Joan Marie]

Does anyone know if there is a borderless, keyword-free version of the Thoth Tarot available for purchase?

I saw the photo of Nemia's trimmed deck and think it's so lovely.


Also, second question, does anyone know if those borders and keywords were a part of the original design of the deck or were they added later?

[ParsifalsWheel]

No borderless edition that I know of, you have to trim it yourself. I have a Weiser edition from 1969 and it has the titles and numbers in light-blue borders.

[Charlie Brown]

My understanding is that an official borderless Thoth won't happen as long as the deck is still in copyright.

[Amoroso]

Last I heard the OTO and US Games were battling it out over copyright issues. Is it still under litigation?

A big borderless Thoth would be great.

[AstralPasta]

I trimmed my deck this week and I went from “eh” to in love. I felt 11 / 13 year old me go “yes, this is what I’ve been looking for.” Like this is a tarot deck. I still think the faces of the fool and magician are weird / derpy, but I’m absolutely in love with the minor arcana. I’m even looking around for Thoth based decks with similar but different minor cards.

I get the ‘coming homek feeling people talk about when arriving at this deck. It just feels like....an actual occult deck??? I’m still so surprised. I’m really in love. The minors are gorgeous and so intelligently designed This deck really shouldn’t have those ugly greenish borders.

I kinda wish I’d gotten the jumbo size because it’s so small now, but that’s okay. I’ll have both eventually hahaha.

I’m also gonna be mainly reading it intuitively right now, with astrology. I wanna get to know it more organically and emotionally. I tend to lead mentally and get obsessive, so this can be my “break” deck for now, especially since I’ve got a lot of....pies....fingers in many pies...(< weird side effect of english having become your first language and not starting out as it. wonked up idioms).

Woohoo!

[Mashburn]

I brought my new rangefinder binoculars and trimmed my deck this week and I went from “eh” to in love. I felt 11 / 13 year old me go “yes, this is what I’ve been looking for.” Like this is a tarot deck. I still think the faces of the fool and magician are weird / derpy, but I’m absolutely in love with the minor arcana. I’m even looking around for Thoth based decks with similar but different minor cards.

I get the ‘coming homek feeling people talk about when arriving at this deck. It just feels like....an actual occult deck??? I’m still so surprised. I’m really in love. The minors are gorgeous and so intelligently designed This deck really shouldn’t have those ugly greenish borders.

I kinda wish I’d gotten the jumbo size because it’s so small now, but that’s okay. I’ll have both eventually hahaha.

I’m also gonna be mainly reading it intuitively right now, with astrology. I wanna get to know it more organically and emotionally. I tend to lead mentally and get obsessive, so this can be my “break” deck for now, especially since I’ve got a lot of....pies....fingers in many pies...(< weird side effect of english having become your first language and not starting out as it. wonked up idioms).

Woohoo!

I'm guessing that's not very advisable for beginners, right?

[Charlie Brown]

I'm guessing that's not very advisable for beginners, right?

In what sense?

[Joan Marie]

I'm guessing that's not very advisable for beginners, right?

In what sense?

I had the same thought as Mashburn.
I would say in the sense that without the card names at least (if not the keywords too) it would be hard for beginners to identify the cards. YOu also lose all the symbols (planets, kabbalah, elements, & zodiac)

I created two games to help learn the Thoth Trumps by name and by elemental, planetary and zodiac signs without the benefit of the borders.

You can see them here:

Thoth Tarot: Names & Numbers

Thoth Tarot: Elemental, Planetary & Zodiacal Trumps

[Maskelyne]

I'm guessing that's not very advisable for beginners, right?

Depends on how you like to read the cards. The Thoth retains enough of the traditional imagery to make most of the cards easily recognizable to anyone who knows the structure of a tarot deck. I rely a lot on visual cues, and trimming this deck really made it come to life for me. Among other things, the way the visual patterns sometimes align between the cards suggests connections and relationships.

[fire cat pickles]

As far as I know, Uncle Al wanted the keywords on them. It was how the deck was designed.

Copyright is held by the OTO and they ain't giving it up. As long as they have a grip on it, the keywords stay as per Crowley's original design. If you want it borderless, you'll have to trim yourself.