Before & After art mods. Brief history & art process

All the cards in this book are scans from my personal Thoth pack, which have been modified by adding a custom frame to each one.  I'd like to believe that this particular pack has lots magickal metta, but you decide.   

Here is a little history (me & the cards).   After already having owned a tarot pack for a couple years, I had known that at some point I wanted to purchase a new pack, I was just waiting till I came across one that called to me.   Well, that happened while I was stationed in Karlsruhe West Germany in the US ARMY.   While exploring in Mannheim (circa 1984) I stopped into an old book store, and after looking around, I ended up leaving the museum-like store with Crowley's book4 and a full-size Thoth tarot pack.  I didn't know it at the time that this would lead to a lifelong quest in understanding the mystery, and eventually a successful attempt in writing part two to Crowley's historical Book of Thoth, but we will stick to the cards here...  Its 2021 as I write this, and this same wonderful pack is still with me today.   It has read-well since day one. I initially was doing throws for friends out of a book similar to "Tarot for Dummies", and believe it or not, they were all solid readings.   This pack has always been a good time, as long as they are not "pushed", as when asked the same question persistently, they will slap you with the same truth over & over.  I often say that they will poke fun at you, only the way a best friend or a sibling could do.

I want to give you a little more of the the cards history then I'll briefly explain the art modifications.   In August 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, where I lived with my ex wife and two kids.  We had devastating winds & flooding from a steadily rising gulf of mexico. The water was chest-high in the house, and overhead in the backyard.  After swimming into the storm to retrieve a small aluminum boat, I swam it to my back porch, put my son, my daughter, our keys, wallets, and cell phones, along with our cat all into the aluminum boat.  As I stood in the water on the back porch holding the boat, my ex wife was busy brushing spiders off of me that had been floating by, and alternately making marks on the wall to see if the waters were receding yet.  Anyway, when it was all over we realized that we had literally lost everything, and I mean everything, from cars, house, jobs, band equipment, to my beloved old Thoth tarot pack.  

We were rescued the next day by family, and after cleaning up and a night of good sleep, we went back to the house to see what we could salvage.  Not much.  Everything was ruined, everything.  I stumbled across the cigar box where I kept my Thoth pack, and opened it to find the pack wet and hard like a soggy little brick.   I set it in the sunlight and wrote it off as a goner.  After a couple days I noticed that the edges were a bit crispy, so I proceeded to slowly take apart the brick.   Some were thick and discolored, some were molding, it was awful.  Something told me to persist though, so I mixed up some water and bleach, and started lightly spraying them to kill any mold, some I utilized a hot iron to squeeze them back flat & thin, and miraculously they came back to life.   After coming so close to losing them, the first thing that I did was scan them.  I didn't know it then, but that was the beginning of The Book of Thoth II.

As far as the cards in this book, I have attempted to highlight Lady Frieda Harris's fine artwork by creating frames in the flashing colors of the corresponding cosmic forces, (derived from book 777).  You be the judge. Let me know in the comments your thoughts on the before/after images here.  Lastly, if you like this version of the Thoth tarot,and would like to see it released, please let me (and potential publishers) know.  Commentary on certain cards may follow.

Thank you. 

Neognostica,  (Edward James Cavanaugh)