Deck: The Classic Tarot (Lo Scarabeo)
1 - IL BAGATTELLO
I am posting a selection of my thoughts so far but as me and this magician are having such fun together, I may edit this post to add more thoughts as the week progresses...
I am very much relying on my own impressions as I go along. For example, looking at numerology, I am working out what the number 1 suggests to me, rather than just looking it up. I'm finding this enormously useful to get past what I'm TOLD this card means, to what makes sense to me.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
A rather craggy faced man.
Holding a cup aloft as if to say cheers, but his expression makes me think this salutation is less than sincere.
He stands in front of a table littered with items- a jug, a dish, a hammer, some pliers, a ball of tweed, a shoe-horse.
He wears an apron. I imagine it is leather. Some sort of cobbler's garb. Yet his clothes underneath look quite formal, almost a military coat, and fine-coloured. Is he who he says he is?
He wears his hat at a jaunty - dare I say cocky - angle.
Can this man be trusted?
I get the sense that although his outer expressions and posture show one thing, inside his mind is firing with calculations, his next move. He is quick witted, able to think on his feet, able to manipulate the moment in order to achieve his outcome.
The image gives me a strong sense of audience.
I like him. He is quite charismatic. I feel drawn to him and want to hear what he has to say.
Who is this man?
Salesman
Con-man
Repairman
Magician
Inventor
Actor
Politician
Evangelist
LWB
Strong will
Upright: Ability, spirit of initiative, will power, free of prejudice, diplomacy.
Reversed: Unscrupulous, social climbing, lies, quackery, wrong judgement, wrong actions.
These interpretations seem to suggest that when the card is upright, the Magician is at his best - able, focused, goal-oriented.
When reversed, the Magician is untrustworthy, manipulative.
With two sides to his personality, the Magician is a difficult card to read without using reversals. Very much will depend on the positional meaning and the nature of the question.
NUMEROLOGY
1
The first
A straight line - direct, direction
Invention, innovation
Beginning
Independence, individuality
Self-reliance
Leads the way, leadership
Taking charge
Goal-oriented
Focused
Confidence
Also
Solitude, loneliness
Narrow-mindedness, one-track mind
Restriction, inhibition, limits - "one is all there is"
Egotism, dictatorship
Blinkered attitude
Bravado
GENERAL THOUGHTS
We tend to associate the Magician with mental ability. Yet, as a Major Arcana card, he should relate to all realms of life. Thus, his "will" can be applied mentally, physically, emotionally, creatively and spiritually.
As I've been looking at the Classic Il Bagatello, I pondered the role of the Magician in the Major Arcana. As a major card, he has to stand for more than just "confidence" or "willpower". Although those are strong concepts, they are only two of the very many attitudes we can align ourselves with in our lifetimes. There has to be more than that. And it occurred to me that, in the same way that the Magician is sometimes about how you present yourself, the Magician card in general, as a Major Arcana card, seems to represent the idea of IDENTITY.
Numerologically, the number one stands alone. It represents the self.
We see and experience the world in relation to ourselves - always from this viewpoint of "I", the number one.
EGO could be said to be another name for IDENTITY.
And what is WILL but the assertion of "I" on the world?
1 stands for the individual
"I" is where we begin
APPEARANCES
This morning, while walking, it occurred to me that Mr Ben was a bit like the Magician. He would walk into the fancy dress shop, choose a new costume, and become that character.
Pip
P.S. Thought I'd better explain that last bit...In the UK, when I was growing up, Mr Ben was a children's tv animation. Each episode, Mr Ben would don a different costume (i.e. pirate, astronaut, clown) and embark on an amazing new adventure.
Edited to add the following:
After reading arachnophobia's post, I wrote the following:
I'm walking down a busy market street, pushing my way through the crowd of people. Stalls line the pavement on either side, single tables displaying their wares, their owner's barks drowning each other out. On one table, pygmy rabbits lollop on a bed of lettuce leaves. On another, the vendor climbs a stepladder to retrieve the top hat on a stack of hats, "beautiful choice madam". But I'm not interested in buying, only of getting out of this crowd, which seems to thicken with every step.
I break through the last few people and see the street come to a T-junction - my exit. One last vendor cries out for my attention. "Shoes repaired. Good as new." I push past him and am nearly free when he calls out "I can change you." I stop in my tracks.
Turning, I see a craggy-faced man behind a stall littered with rusty old tools - pliers, a small hammer, other instruments I don't recognise. He wears a tarnished leather apron but his clothes underneath are pristine, some kind of military coat with shiny buttons.
He holds out a cup, which I take without knowing why.
"Who do you want to be?" he asks, with a smirk.
I stare down at the cup, which is filled with a dark red liquid, and that's when I wake up, wondering, "Who do I want to be?"
Also...looking at the keyword on the card this evening
WILL
Dictionary definitions...
n.
1 faculty by which a person decides what to do
2 strong desire or intention (will to live)
3 determination, will-power (has a strong will)
4 legal written directions for the disposal of one's property after death
5 disposition towards others (good will)
6 what one desires or ordains
v.
1 try to cause by will-power
2 intend, desire
3 bequeath by a will
at will : whenever one wishes
with a will : energetically or resolutely