78 Weeks: Bateleur / Magician

How wonderful to finally join you all in the study and read your brilliant posts....

Last week was The Magician for me and all I could think about was FOCUS, to me a very important word associated with the Magician.

Focus on your goal, want you want to make or manifest, positive thinking is something else I associate with the Magician, because surely you want to manifest positive things, don't you?? RWS, what else would I use? XTAX

I started out when I joined AT writing comments for the 78 week study...then stopped. Diana's advice for one week (actually work for more than a year) was to write my impressions of each card, no books, no looking at a card while I write and keeping it under 200 words.

So, recently, I finished Le Bateleur:

Here is what I got:

Le Bateleur/The Magician I

There is something magical about all beginnings. They bring wonder and fear and hope. In the beginning we can’t see the road ahead. We often fail to trust that the Universe holds out to us all we need for each new project, new stage of life.

The Future is a dark secret to our eyes searching for certainty of success. The tool of Hindsight that can offer wisdom and clarity is not yet in our bag of tricks.

However, if we open our hearts (cups) and souls (wands) and minds (swords)and believe that all we need is held there on the Magician’s table, we can give form and function (coins/pentacles) to the idea channeled through the Bateleur from the Unmoved Mover.

This is not a time to be fooled or tricked by this sometime “barker” of wares. We must not be lured into believing that we should not begin for fear we might not succeed.
We must accept the challenge and take up the tools, lest the creation flies from our sight like a chimera, lost forever in some black hole between the boundaries of possibility and manifestation.

terri

magus

he is the highest acheivement of man or woman considering all limitations of the mind, and the powers that be. archetypically, he's someone being themselves. on a grander scheme, he is either someone being themselves, or someone transcending the limitations of what i have termed the default settings.
~A~

Now, I hope I am doing this right. It is the 30th, yes? Nobody else has started off their notes, so I hope I am posting in the right place.

Deck: The Buddha Tarot by Robert M Place

Card 1: Asita - The Seer

1 Asita - The Seer

First Impressions

My first thought, when looking at this card, is how different Asita looks from the other characters in the deck. He almost looks too western to fit in and the short haircut doesn't seem to fit in with the time that this pack is based. As with all majors, the colours are beautiful - a vivid-lipstick red predominates here, in his robes. In the background, beneath clouds, a more sombre mid-blue marks the sky. I am not sure what Asita sits on, but it is a very bright disc of yellow. He looks deep in thought and doesn't seem to be focusing on anything. He is facing his left (my right) which I imagine is looking towards the future.

This is a very different 'first' card than I am used to. Usually, I expect to see lightening shooting through from the heavens and entering the traditional magician, as he grounds it in the earth. But this card has a quiet and reflective mood. Maybe he is channeling some kind of higher energy, but rather than being physically active in his demonstration, it is all taking place within his mind. There is a stillness that maybe he needs for concentration and possibly a posture and mind-set that is required before we make things happen - almost like charging up a battery.


Notes compiled from 'The Buddha Tarot Companion' by Robert M Place

Asita was summoned by Suddhodhana, Siddhartha's father to cast the child's horoscope. Asita confirmed an earlier prediction that he would either be the emperor of all of India (a chakravatin) or if he embrased the spiritual path, he would be a world saviour (a Buddha). Asita found thirty-two marks and eighty signs that proved the child would be a great man. Siddhartha's father was very pleased that his son would become a great man, but since he was from an ambitious warrior clan, favoured the idea that the boy would become an emperor. To keep him on the worldly path, it was decided that Siddhartha could be steered towards the life of an emperor if he was kept from seeing four sights - an extremely aged man, a deathly sick man, a corpse or a holy-hermit (a sadhu).

Asita points the way to improvement so it is important to look at which card he is facing, should he be used in a spread.


Keywords

Skill, scholarship, initiations and divination. 'As above, so below' - the way of heaven should be manifested on earth.


Symbolic Imagery

I got an email from my friend today. His health has taken a turn for the worse and he said he is unable to walk to the end of the street. He has been signed off of work by his doctor but the hospital do not know what is wrong with him, until more tests have been completed. He is also concerned that his place of work may soon move, leaving him out of a job, and his long-term girlfriend has just told him that she no longer sees him as anything more than a friend. He is very down at the moment. Looking at this card, this evening, reminded me of him for a second or two. It doesn't necessarily look like him but it does have his calmness about it - the calmness and gentleness that I always associate with him. The clouds hanging over Asita's head also, at the moment, remind me of the problems and worries that are shading him from feeling happy and trouble-free at the moment.

I see knowledge in this card. I see a mind that is connected to 'other worlds'. He has the 'tools/skills' to communicate, divine and make things happen. He can predict, which I suppose could be a characteristic of a modern day magician. He is wise, and in this situation, marks the start of Shakyamuni's journey.

LB

Myrrha said:

Marseilles-- Le Bateleur, or The Conjuror (thank you Major Tom)


12/27/03
Notes from the past few days:
I am still here at the fair or marketplace, performing amazing feats of prestidigitation, doing and doing without stopping. Infinity is weighing heavy on my head. I am good at what I do, but that is all I do. Do I want to do this for ever? There is something missing, missing like the leg of my table.

Instability (missing table leg, four legs would be stable) lots of wordy, flashy energy. Lots of doing.

Two ideas from reading about this card: the idea that he is ignorant and doesn't know the potential of the objects he is playing with, which is why he holds the objects the way he does (Gettings) and the idea that he represents the first cause, the creator of the visible universe (Wirth) and that is why he is an illusionist, juggler, conjurer. (Wirth changed the picture quite a bit for his deck but it is still interesting to read his view)

Wirth talks about Le Bateleur charging a "coin-amulet", maybe this projecting of "the fire of heaven" into the coin, symbol of the earth suit, is a way of fixing things, of making this life at the fair more than monkey tricks.

12/22/03
I am standing at my table at the fair like I do most days, it is a day like any other and I am doing the same thing I always do, making these little objects appear and disappear...

My arm sure is tired from holding this little stick up. Why am I holding it in my left hand rather than my right? It would feel more natural to make this gesture with my right hand. I am not paying attention to what I am doing because I am doing rote tasks, things I have done hundreds of times before. I just do them, without really paying attention.

What is all this trash I am playing with anyway? I can do certain tricks with these objects. Am I a monkey of some kind? I am wearing a monkey suit. I feel very irritated all of a sudden. That little plant expresses the way I feel, prickly, uncomfortable. I need to make a change, create something, start something, make a begining, do something different from what I have been doing all this time.

12/21/03
(Notes from my journal last night) This card is very energetic. I feel like sleeping with it next to my head is a bad idea and is keeping me awake. This is the first card, it is a card about beginnings. It makes sense to start here.

--Myrrha

Click to expand...

I like this phenomenological approach, Myrrha, and have used it in my notes re my own Tarot creation, so here I transcribe it verbatim:

Look at me, mum, I'm a genius, just like Leonardo - no, not the Turtle! - but hey, there may even exist afficionados who recognise the elements of brilliance, genius, creativity, even in Ninja Turtles! Genius? Brilliance? "Genius" in the classical sense of inspiring spirit, brilliance in the sense of Kether-diamond/cutting edge overshadowing you, as you channel its energies from above, in whatever field of the arts, painting, like Leonardo, sculpture, like Michelangelo (a self-confessed, divinely inspired "wizard with a chisel"), performing, literary, or intellectual, scientific... "Any dream will do", whatever gets your creative juices flowing, and puts you "in the zone"! Hence, the classical masks of comedy and tragedy, for in adopting an 'alien persona', the performer finds our common unity and identity under the skin of our differences, and masks also seem de rigueur for the shamanic shape-shifter, adopting another 'divine essence' to manifest it, and finding it also an aspect of oneself... Will you, won't you, will you, won't you, join in the dance of creative expression? If you don't think yourself at all artistic or 'magical', you just haven't discovered your preferred style and medium yet... "Any dream will do", for Spirit to manifest itself in all its diamond-edged, unmistakeable clarity... Of course, 'instability' and 'something missing' also go with the Magician as well, for what artist can ever say s/he has said everything, in any given work? Instability and "artistic temperament" seem also the hallmarks of the 'real artist'... Although the 'real magician', or alchemist, passes beyond this, as in my Secret Dakini Oracle card, into great dark depths of contemplation, and peace; I can sleep peacefully with this card at least underneath my pillow, and it does help turn solutions to problems I had to sleep on the next day! Even in the 'occult arts', hidden behind the curtain, you still feel very much in the cosmic limelight... Did we not feel magicians or artists as children, until some unfortunate educational experiences discouraged us, and drummed this, seemingly, out of us?

Keywords: ACTOR/ARTIST; creative or artistic expression ;-))

As well as journalling and colouring (black & white card images), I am going to use this 78 weeks of study as a way of getting through 78 Degrees of Wisdom which I have failed to do so far. I should be able to manage one card at a time. I do find this book very hard going, though.

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

The Magus - Thoth deck

Astrological symbol on the Magus card: http://www.chemsoc.org/viselements/pages/alchemist/alc_mercury.html

I think the most often asked question with this card is "Why 3?" There are three different Magus cards in the Thoth deck. At first, they all look so different, but at a closer look, they all have symbols that are the same.

The same symbols include: goblet/cup (element of water), the coin (element of earth), the sword/dagger (the element of air), the flaming torch (the element of fire), the quill, the scroll, the monkey figure, and the winged sandals.

From astrologycom.com: "Mercury, the messenger of the gods, symbolizes mentality: our intellect and mental outlook, the way we think and communicate. Mercury, as Hermes, is the emblem for the magus, the wise counsellor, divine messenger, and the prince of thieves."

So, on the card, we have a representation of all the elements, an ability to communicate our ideas effectively (the quill), and an ability to bring them to the physical plane (the scroll).

Within ourselves is the ability to communicate, any way we can, even a newborn is able to communicate through subtle signals what it needs. The language is there, but can we understand it, can we use it effectively?

The call to adventure

The Magician

In the Mythic deck, he is shown as Hermes – a trickster god who could help you or harm you, depending….. I think of the winged shoes he has a Messenger of the God so as to be fleet of foot…….or maybe sleight of hand?

A habitué of the crossroads – and standing there where the paths cross, he will be the one who will set you down a path……or not. He commands the four paths and draws them together with the 4 symbols of the Minor Arcana. What path you choose is up to you.

He’s the person that one encounters, seemingly by chance, who sets one into action down the path to adventure and discovery – or not.

To me, he represents what Campbell refers to as “the hero’s call to adventure.” Two scenes keep playing through my mind. The first is Dorothy’s encounter with the Scarecrow. There the Scarecrow is standing up (at a crossroad?) and riddles and points to confuse her, and then joins her on the the Path to Oz.

The second is Neo’s encounter with Morpheus in “The Matrix”

Morpheus: I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice... Tumbling down the rabbit hole? Hmm?
Neo: You... could say that.
Morpheus: I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees, because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, this is not far from the truth...
<snip>
Morpheus: This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill: the story ends; you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill: you stay in wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. Remember, all I'm offering is the truth, nothing more.

Click to expand...

So, what path do we choose? What adventure awaits? Do we dare expand our “comfort zone?” Do we answer the call to discovery that this card offers?

The Mythos Tarot

The Deck:- The Mythos Tarot - which currently primarily exists in my head. With the magician, or whatever name you wish to use, the painting is done (complete? - maybe not - but done)

Was reading Campbell's Hero of 1000 Faces:

A few quotes maybe: 'Krishna and Balarama arrived as jugglers' p. 295 (Balarama was Krishna's brother) - our Jongleur keeps good company - this appeared in the section on the 'Transformation of the Hero' ... interesting, because the magician transforms.

My theory of the Major Arcana is that as the 'spiritual' element, each and every card exists within every other card ... so our Magician, Bateleur, our Mountebank who travels from village to village, market to market ... and thus lives outside societal structures ... and then both wows his audience with this 'tricks and illusions', also creates discomfort and fear because, if he can 'trick' us into thinking that rabbits live in empty hats, then how do we know that he won't steal our chickens, our daughters, our wives?

I sat on the balcony of a Guest House that I stayed in India every morning and watched for hours as a beautiful young West German man practised twirling his fire sticks, juggling balls, and other 'tricks'. Tricks? no - how he entertained was the result of hard, hard work.... of many hours practicing to achieve mastery ... so too, with our trickster/magician. Everything is not as it appears.

S/he is a person of many sides, and by living outside the normal bounds of society and culture, he represents the wild part within us - the non-conformist, the rebel, but one who works hard nonetheless, while merely giving the appearance of ease. He reminds us of the difference between appearance and reality - what appears safe and normal can be destroyed in a moment by a natural or man-made disaster - the magician knows this. He knows that behind all the things that we construct, the systems, the infrastructure, the anti-terrorist laws, that a bomb could explode in our faces - because both the good and the bad (depending on one's perspective - because both are part of the whole) also walk outside the mainstream.

So, our magician is a shapeshifter, a sun god/dess ... as all cards in the majors are - both masculine and feminine - and a moon god/dess, as all the cards are regardless of gender. What we see in the magician's tricks, is not what 'he' sees ... he sees the oneness behind all things.

To me, the Fool belongs between cards XX and XXI - is unnumbered. It is the Magician, Hermes the traveller-trickster-communicator-magician-juggler who wanders through the deck and brings us all the messages - he is the 1 - unique, the hero.

"The hero is the champion of things becoming, not of things become, because he is....He does not mistake apparent changelessness in time for the permanence of Being, nor is he fearful of the next moment (or of the 'other thing'), as destroying the permanent with its change." Campbell p.207

With his six arms he is a bodhisattva manifesting the Buddha who "reveals himself (the Buddha) in human form with two arms, in superhuman forms with four arms, or with six, or twelve, or a thousand..." Campbell p.127

The question arises, did I read Campbell before I painted the Magician ... and the answer is 'No' ... but he nonetheless helped me to understand what I was trying to say with my painting.

So what is s/he trying to say to us? Nothing is as it appears. The world is filled with magic if you look. Watch my eyes, they will show you the way, but watch my hands and you will be merely mystified? The journey/quest is difficult ... it may look easy at the beginning, but until you learn that there is no beginning and no end, that the road will take you many places outside of your safety zone, that you will fall and hurt before you understand, that even your safety zone is an illusion, you will not have even taken the first step!

mythos