AT Compartive Study - K - The Magician - 1

tarot of metamorphosis

this magician card is much brighter than most other decks i own.

its full of the colours and surreal-ness (if there is such a word!) of a real magician when he's creating things out of nothing, making things happen, changing his surroundings. this card really captures the "magic" of changing his immediate world into something else.

he is also considerably older- and wiser?- than most of the other magicians. i think this represents two things:
one, the magician at his best, when he has matured from just tricks designed to entertain to real migic which is capable of profound, beneficial and necessary changes.
two, a magician who, literally, is a magician: in terms of his interest in healing, maybe magic, some energy work... even a tarot reader!

he is someone who is in control of his world in the deepest, truest sense. he has 'mastered' his own inner landscape and therefore is not moved or destroyed by the outer world.

Samurai Tarot (Lo Scarabeo 2006)

Symbolism & Imagery
Prayer flag flying on the left. Large red structure behind him. Elderly man kneeling before low table. On table are a bowl, a sword and an implement that I don't know but I am guessing it is for a wand. I don't see the coin so this is not a traditional view of the Magician with all his tools. And his hands are clasped within his sleeves so that you can not see them.

Comparisons & Contrasts
We don't have a magician standing with one hand toward the source and one hand engaged in creation. We don't have all the tools present. There is movement represented in the flow of the grass and the clouds but no where else.
Initial Reaction
Contemplative man makes me see the other side of the Magician. The one who must stop and think before taking up one of the tools of his trade before him. Perhaps the coin is missing because it isn't necessary to him?
LWB
The origin: the starting poin of a journey is also its end. Even the Gods and Buddhas began with space.
Synthesized response
Having read the book, I can see that this is, in fact, the other side of the Magician. He has completed a journey and now waits to see what the next might be.