78 Weeks: Bateleur / Magician

[rcb30872]

Bit late, but here I go:

I am using the Radiant Rider-Waite deck

By the way, when it mentioned LWB - I assumed that meant the book that came with the deck, in the box!!

So, according to the LWB the divinatory meanings is skill, diplomacy, address, sickness, pain, loss, disaster, self-confidence, will, the Querent himself.

Initial Impressions
There are certain things that stick out to me that relates to making a balance between earthly passions and spiritual aspirations. For instance, the fact that one hand is pointing up to the sky, or the heavens, if you like, and the other one is pointing to the Earth, not only that the man is wearing a white tunic, I guess you can call that, which indicates spiritual matters, and the fact that he his wearing a red robe over the top which indicates passion. On the table he is standing near, or I guess it is more of an alter, there is a Sword, Cup, Pentacles and Wand, indicating that he has the necessary tools for whatever he is thinking of doing. It is just a matter of putting them together, as if to say that they are the ingredients, and it is just a matter of how these things are mixed etc, as to what the outcome will be, in the sense that he can be a chef or a cook, so it is getting the right mix, not too much of this, and not too little of that, and how long will it take to "cook". So, what I guess what I mean by this is that it is just a matter of how these tools, or ingredients, are used to whether it could be a success or not. There are flowers around, which reminds me of Spring, which with that, makes me think of new beginnings.

More indepth impressions
So, after saying all that, it is a time when something new has been started. It is still early days. By the looks of things, if given the appropriate time, conditions and attention this could be a great potential for something significant and substantial for the future, in which there will be a sense of success and victory somewhere down the track. This could be anything, perhaps it is a creative project, a venture or a romantic situation.

The fact that it is The Magician, makes me think that we could be looking at things of an esoteric sense, perhaps in the sense of intuition and gut feeling. I guess, when I think of it this way it kind of reminds me of the Ace of Wands. Where there may have been and idea/thought/concept that had appeared apparently out of nowhere, and that whatever this idea may have been something effort has been put into this to make it into something more concrete, something that has come into a sense of reality, I guess this is what I am trying to say.

On top of that, to me it seems to say that things are not what as they seem. For instance, there may be someone in your life may seem to be friendly, charming and to have your interests in mind, but matter of fact that he is a bit of trickster, being deceptive, and that the only person he is really interested is in himself, and his interests. He is out for himself, not caring who he hurts or injures in the process, although things may seem the contrary.

This is for me today, there are other aspects that I need to look into for this card, and will do so at some point, this week!

Thanks for a great opportunity

Bec

 

[tieduptinkerbell]

this is it then

the place to post about the Magician...the first of 78 cards to be studied?

i think so...please let me know...

thanks

Bell

 

[arachnophobia]

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)

This time viewing it, mythos, it seems not so much the balls of the jongleur, and their motion, that jump out at me, but the mask in all its power: maybe because I have also just viewed the Magician from the Crone deck!

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.

Interesting that you can almost interchange the two at times, mythos: I have often thought, especially in the Crowley deck, that he should have swapped the Fool and the Magician around! Maybe the confusion arises from their common starting point in Kether (the clear light of the diamond mind), but the Fool descends by the right-hand path, basically more naive and innocent, whereas the Magician descends through the thorny thickets of the left-hand path?

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
So what is s/he trying to say to us? Nothing is as it appears. The world is filled with magic if you look.

I find the Magician of the Lunatic Tarot (www.tarotgarden.com) less mythological, but also very interesting. At first I mistook him for the Mad Hatter of Alice Through the Looking Glass (and 'Alice' themes have pervaded my own Tarot!) but then I see that the cards sticking out of his top cat do not amount to the '7/6d' price tag, but rather the first 4 pipped cards, suit(s) uncertain. He only carries two magical tools that we can see, namely the sword and the wand. Perhaps the roses hide the cup and shield? In the Secret Dakini Oracle at least, the "rose-garden" represents an earthy card. If so, then he seems wiser than the Fool, or the Lover, for that matter, who both unwisely "wear their hearts on their sleeve", presumably for all to exploit and take advantage of. This Magician has cunningly hidden his grail from curious and prying eyes. We seem him surrounded by the lilies of innocence and the roses of experience: you can almost smell, at least, the roses! Perhaps representing a more 'experienced innocence' than that of the Fool, i.e. an integration or synthesis of innocence and experience, as intended by the dialectic of William Blake...

Maybe he has also outgrown the use of at least some of his magical tools, weapons or props, and with increasing mastery has discovered his own best tool within himself.

Perhaps the four pipped cards designate that he no longer needs the magical tools, because he has discovered the elemental correspondences in the pure numerological essences of the numbers alone, i.e. seems at one with the Platonic 'forms', or Jungian archetypes, behind substance.

This 'hatter' seems far from mad! ;-))

 

[arachnophobia]

From The Quest:
The Magician

His eyebrows appear to be made of feathers, and gives him the look of an wise owl. From the crown of his head is a burst of light and stars as if he is drawing all the knowledge and power of the universe into him brain. He reminds me of the thinker.
The writings on the paper have his name written in many languages, signifying his ability to communicate with all.
This card too shows in the drawings all the elements of the Tarot. He is the problem solver.

*Both cards carry the symbol of Mercury, both cards also have the rune symbol Fehu-which is about taking control of the natural process for the benefit of others. They both also have the Hebrew letter Beth on them "in the begining".
(originally I was not going to tackle the additional symbols on these cards because I felt that it was overwhelming, but then I decided that now is really the perfect time try to learn them.)*

Interesting, Majecot, with the associations with Mercury and also the rune Fehu, which also coincides with my daily cyber-rune. I never thought of Fehu in its Mercurial associations before, but the resemblance to the wings on Mercury's cap seems obvious now! Even the Magician in the Lunatic Tarot does not seem poor, since Mercury obviously confers some financial rewards (exalted in Virgo, as well as ruling Gemini, remember!)... The Fool seems a regular footloose 'hippie' in comparison!

Curious also the traditional association of the Owl with 'wisdom', since I have just read in The Science of Harry Potter, that, while Owls (a power-animal of mine) have many remarkable abilities, notably of sight and hearing, and the ability to turn their heads through 270 degrees, 'smarts' do not seem particularly one of them, given that other birds, e.g. the entire crow family, including crows, ravens, jays and magpies, and also parrots seem far more intelligent, outperforming even primates on occasion! So scientists do not consider Owls actually capable of running a postal service, as in Harry Potter, and even the trainer of the owls in the movie had a very dim view of their 'smarts'! lol (I would think the Owl far more suited to the High Priestess, or Moon cards, or even the Queen of Swords, whom I at least have dubbed Athena!) ;-))

However, the mercurial associations remain strong in the case of the Magician, and the Secret Dakini Oracle features a magnificent caduceus entwined with not one but two interlaced serpents, against a background of dark illumination, which I find wonderfully enlightening to sleep upon, especially when one needs a solution to a problem! ;-))

 

[zazen]

.

.....

 

[mythos]

Interesting that you can almost interchange the two at times, mythos: I have often thought, especially in the Crowley deck, that he should have swapped the Fool and the Magician around! Maybe the confusion arises from their common starting point in Kether (the clear light of the diamond mind), but the Fool descends by the right-hand path, basically more naive and innocent, whereas the Magician descends through the thorny thickets of the left-hand path?

Now there is a question that I had never considered? Drats, now I'm going to have to think LOL. If you do use the Tree of Life (and having attributed 'shin' to the Fool, I guess that I can't avoid it without tying myself up in one of my endless binding contradictions, then, purely on the grounds that Binah is the 'mother', then mythologically the Magician would be a virgin birth? Whereas the Fool comes through the father to the mother, thus sperm to womb and physical birth, metaphorically. An interesting conundrum. Certainly a virgin birth would be a 'thorny-thicket' to explain to the man in your life LOL.

Of course one can think of Zeus who birth Athena etc from his head ...or as Zeus said the Athena ... "Eeeeeeeeee girl, you give me a headache! Huh humour!

Definitely have to ponder this!

I find the Magician of the Lunatic Tarot (www.tarotgarden.com) less mythological, but also very interesting. At first I mistook him for the Mad Hatter of Alice Through the Looking Glass (and 'Alice' themes have pervaded my own Tarot!) but then I see that the cards sticking out of his top cat do not amount to the '7/6d' price tag, but rather the first 4 pipped cards, suit(s) uncertain. He only carries two magical tools that we can see, namely the sword and the wand. ..... This Magician has cunningly hidden his grail from curious and prying eyes. We seem him surrounded by the lilies of innocence and the roses of experience: you can almost smell, at least, the roses! Perhaps representing a more 'experienced innocence' than that of the Fool, i.e. an integration or synthesis of innocence and experience, as intended by the dialectic of William Blake...

Maybe he has also outgrown the use of at least some of his magical tools, weapons or props, and with increasing mastery has discovered his own best tool within himself.

Perhaps the four pipped cards designate that he no longer needs the magical tools, because he has discovered the elemental correspondences in the pure numerological essences of the numbers alone, i.e. seems at one with the Platonic 'forms', or Jungian archetypes, behind substance.

This 'hatter' seems far from mad! ;-))

I didn't actually notice that it wasn't the '7/6d' ... but the four pip cards. I was reading recently, in a book on the Holy Grail - a History of imagination and belief surrounding the development of the grail legends, that, in the versions that followed closely on the Chretian de Troyes one, the grail was sometimes covered by a Samite cloth. Apart from reminding me of the cup in the 7 of cups of the Waite-Smith deck where the middle upper cup is covered by a cloth, it makes one wonder whether that symbolism is apparent in the Lunatic Tarot Magician's hiding of his grail.

Your observation that the 4 pip cards may indicate his discovery of the purity of elemental essences as Jungian archetypes or Platonic Ideas is very interesting. I hope Umbrae and Jeanette get some more of the Lunatic tarot in stock soon.

The Scapini Medieval Tarot

I. The Magician / Le Batelier


Since there is a leg missing from his table our poor friend has to prop it up with his knee. I think this is a very limiting pose for someone who is sometimes called the Juggler. I would have thought freedom was a vital need for this card.

Peaceful zazen,
Tim

There has been some very interesting discussion on the three-legged table in the Marseille deck section - the Marseille decks and the Visconti also have three-leggedness. I'd sum up the discussion for you, if I could remember any of it ... but alas, mythos has holes in her brain where the memories leak out. But, if you are interested, it is worth having a look. It was interesting ... now that I remember LOL.

mythos

 

[rcb30872]

the place to post about the Magician...the first of 78 cards to be studied?

i think so...please let me know...

thanks

Bell

Seems like the palce to post about the Magician, since everyone else has. I wasn't sure, but there were other ones here, I just assumed this was the place to do it, so I did!

Bec

 

[Guiding Cauldron]

magician

Wow, love reading and learning from all of you. I think the deck I'm using is a lil limiting maybe I'll switch to another one. I was using Tarot of Mermaids, but the cards are not very visual it mostly evokes emotions from you. But its been a fantastic card for me all week to focus on. Very tranquil, careing, calming.

The mermaid on this card is absolutely gorgeous! She has golden blue fins, long white hair, and she wears a white wrap around her shoulders floatingly. She holds what looks like a golden DR. Staff in her left hand and near her other hand a Trident. She has a calming surreal look on her face with a slight closed mouth smile.

Also on the card I focus on the pearl in the opened golden oyster shell, a pale coral colored conch shell, red coral, and rocky floor background. Theres a school of small fish in the background on one side. And the mermaid seems to be near the surface of the water to the human world.

I get the feeling she is just enchanting.

 

[Pipistrelle]

Wow, love reading and learning from all of you. I think the deck I'm using is a lil limiting maybe I'll switch to another one. I was using Tarot of Mermaids, but the cards are not very visual it mostly evokes emotions from you. But its been a fantastic card for me all week to focus on. Very tranquil, careing, calming.

Maybe you could keep studying the Mermaids but add another deck for comparison. The Mermaids is a beautiful deck and you describe the card so clearly, it would be a shame not to continue with it

Pip

 

[memries]

The Magician..RRW Deck

I studied and researched this card as much as I could so will not bore you with all that information.
My Card...Magician
I notice the Magician has an aura of yellow surrounding him. The infinity sign over his head should be on end in keeping with the crown chakra on the top of his head. It should go up so as not to stop the flow of energy going up or coming down.
Definitely he is a tricky fellow. For sure you want him on your side. He would be an awful enemy to have. The Magician makes the impossible, possible or so it would seem. Unpredictable, what you want you might not get but will receive something else.
Is the cup full or empty ? Or half full or half empty ? If the wand is on the table what is in his hand...a baton ?
Today I do not like him so much. I am leery of his intent. He wears a mask constantly and with this instills a feeling of power and awe.
He reminds me of Bill Clinton. I hope this remark is not offensive to anyone but it is, after all, just a personal opinion.