I’ve been using smoky quartz with The Tower card lately. Helps when that card shows up and you’re not ready for it. The Thoth deck can be intense, smoky quartz might help if you’re feeling overwhelmed by some of the messages.
Your experience sounds pretty typical for Thoth. It’s tied into this whole Western Mystery tradition and pushes you into heavy material right away.
I was put off by the Crowley connection, too, at first. Once you dig into the structure and correspondences, it starts clicking.
The deck is still demanding, like working with a professor who expects you to keep up. Getting the Tower first? Yeah, that’s Thoth saying it’s going to mess with everything you think you know about tarot. Pretty much everyone goes through that phase where the deck is just… difficult.