Hermetic Tarot - The Magician I

caridwen

Found an image of the Magician here:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/hermetic tarot/tarotdecks/HermeticTarot1980.jpg?o=1

Haven't tracked down the LWB for descriptions of the elements in the card. I found an interesting Tableu of Tarot by Henry J Turner Windower who gives the Tarot in order of planet and Tree of Life:
http://lh5.ggpht.com/-4uhvM4r8BQ0/TfDR1pW-I5I/AAAAAAAAAAA/ZtLJmyXqu0s/s1600/img082.jpg

The description from Regardie's book:

1st KEY-THE MAGICIAN This is a young man, with the Caduceus on his chest vestments, facing the altar on which are the four elemental weapons so frequently spoken of in the Golden Dawn. They are depicted here exactly as they are in the document describing the making of the four elemental weapons which have almost a universal application. They not only represent the four suits of the Tarot, the four Worlds of the Kabalah, the four Beasts of the Apocalypse -the four Kerubic signs - they represent the four letters of the Tetragammaton and so are the vice-regents of the Holy Name.

This is from page 132 of The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic by Israel Regardie
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6490178/The-Complete-Golden-Dawn-System-of-Magic

From The Tarot Trumps by G.H. Soror:

THE MAGICIAN
It represents the union and balance of the elemental powers controlled by mind. The Adept dedicating the minor implements on the Altar. The apths of Beth and Mercury link Kether toe Crown with Binah, the Aimah Elohim. The Magician, therefore, is reflected in the Intellect which stores and gathers up knowledge and pours it into the House of Life, Binah. The number of the Path, 12, suggests the synthesis of the Zodiac, as Mercury is the synthesis of the planets. The colors yellow, violet, gray, and indigo, point to the mysterious astral light surrounding the great Adept. It is a card lihnked with the name Tahuti and Hermes as the previous one is with Krishna nad Harparkrat or Dionysius.

http://www.tarot.org.il/Library/Misc/The Tarot Trumps.html

Neither Soror's nor Regardies' descriptions really fit the Hermetic iconography. There seems to be an illustration of Mercury in the card but he is not

...a young man, with the Caduceus on his chest vestments, facing the altar...

from Regardie's description and Soror's illustration.

Rather there is a man in a magic circle (or what I presume to be a magic circle) a burning candle is behind him and he is wearing robes and a hat. He holds a scroll in his left hand and a wand in his right. The wand has a five pointed star on the end. He has a pointed hat with wings. He seems to be in the middle of an incantation and his feet are placed at particular positions within the circle.

At his feet are objects: a Chalice; Sword; a small blade; a tablet and some flowers or herbs. I can't make out what the flower like object is. He seems the have the symbols for the four elements within the circle and the aforementioned candle.

Hermes holds a caduceus with one hand and points up with his other. He is called the Magus of Power.

I'm assuming the symbol in the middle is Mercury http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...rcury_symbol.svg/120px-Mercury_symbol.svg.png and the Hebrew letter is Beth.

In the Book of Thoth (BoT) Crowley says:

This card therefore represents the Wisdom, the Will, the Word, the Logos
by whom the worlds were created. (See the Gospel according to St. John,
chapter I.) It repre sents the Will. In brief, he is the Son, the manifestation in
act of the idea of the Father.

Crowley goes on to say:

He is the fluidic basis of all transmission of activity; and, on the dynamic theory of the Universe, he is himself the substance thereof. He is, in the language of modern
physics, that electric charge which is the first manifestation of the ring of ten
indefinable ideas, as pre viously explained. He is thus continuous creation.

https://www.dmt-nexus.me/Files/Books/General/Aleister Crowley - The book of Thoth.pdf

Since this card is sometimes referred to as the Juggler I'm wondering if that's why the Magician has juggler type sleeves under his robes.

In the BoT, Crowley says that references to the Magician are given in The Paris Working:
http://hermetic.com/crowley/libers/lib415.html which is a description of 24 'Workings' of magic.

From the Third Working:

The Caduceus contains a complete symbol of the Gnosis; the winged sun or phallus represents the joy of life on all planes from the lowest to the highest. The serpents, besides being active and passive, Horus and Osiris, and all their other well known attributions, are those qualities of Eagle and Lion respectively, of which we know but do not speak. It is the symbol which unites the Microcosm and the Macrocosm, the symbol of the Magical operation which accomplishes this. The Caduceus is life itself, and of universal application. It is the universal solvent.

I'm wondering if this card is a magician of the Golden Dawn trying to invoke a god through Hermes, their messenger. From the Paris Workings:

In the beginning was the Word, the Logos, who is Mercury; and is therefore to be identified with Christ. Both are messengers; their birth-mysteries are similar; the pranks of their childhood are similar...

The transcripts talk of a particular hour and day on which to invoke Mercury which is three hours before dawn on the day of the full moon. He goes on to say that both Mercury and Christ are associated with fish and are one and the same.

Elendil

The Hebrew letters on the card are a rendition of RAPHAEL.

Chiska

From what I read, the Mercury figure is there to represent the communicator / messenger of the gods aspect of the Magus. Rather than the

The GD Magus is quite a simple card, but the Hermetic certainly takes the image to the next level.

caridwen

Chiska said:
From what I read, the Mercury figure is there to represent the communicator / messenger of the gods aspect of the Magus. Rather than the

The GD Magus is quite a simple card, but the Hermetic certainly takes the image to the next level.

From what I've been reading, to me the card does look like an initiate using Mercury as a channel to something. Mercury is after all messenger of the gods. It looks like an Enochian tablet at his feet and other paraphernalia for spell working. I've been wondering if the Hermetic is simply a tool for magic rather than for divination as the images and writing are so specifically bound up by magical symbolism. I'm also wondering if he is 'charging' that blade.

Chiska

It was from the LWB - I should have mentioned that. Also mentioned is that the elements plus the tools are shown to indicate his mastery of them.

The only thing that Dowdson did was the tarot - I haven't found a book besides the LWB. And it really is helpful as he does go into some descriptive detail.

caridwen

Chiska said:
It was from the LWB - I should have mentioned that. Also mentioned is that the elements plus the tools are shown to indicate his mastery of them.

The only thing that Dowdson did was the tarot - I haven't found a book besides the LWB. And it really is helpful as he does go into some descriptive detail.

I have my LWB around somewhere - it is the where however, that is the problem

eta It is not Dowson's deck. The deck is supposed to be a recreation of Mathers' personal deck. I'm not sure if this is correct but apparently, each initiate had to draw up their own deck which is why this is in black and white. If you look at the Soror explanations from Book T they give instructions to the initiate on how to colour their deck. They explain the colours and the symbols for each card. These are instructions to the initiate. The Hermetic is supposed to be Mathers' deck as an initiate so would therefore, I presume be full of occult symbolism for his own magical use. It was printed in black and white privately by Dowson so that the owner could then hand colour it.

saswanso8

In looking into RAPHAEL, he is supposed to be the healer. Does anyone have any theories on why this appears in the altar? I thought maybe it was due to healing through medicinal herbs (the flowers), but I can't find anything else that really alludes to this, so it doesn't hold water. I did find some information about how this angel is supposed to be the healer through God, so the spiritual linking to the physical as discussed in the LWB as the function of the Magician.

A five pointed star (pentagram) is inscribed on the Magician's hat, further alluding to the fact that he has mastery of the elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and spirit.

The six pointed star (hexagram) at the end of the wand is traditionally used for occult summoning, so I think there is something to the theory Caridwen had about channeling something. What could it be?

I don't know anything about the Hebrew alphabet at all, so when the LWB says "Beth. House." I didn't realize that BETH means "House."

Hermetic Tarot - The Magician I

caridwen

Elendil

Chiska

caridwen

Chiska

caridwen

saswanso8