Klimt Tarot - Study Group - the magician

so , I'll just start with the magician
the source painting can be seen here http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fakultätsbild_Medizin.jpg

or http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Klimt-medizin.jpg

it is called medicine , the person despicted of the card is at the bottom and the sources say it is ;hygeia

from wikipedia's article of hygeia :

was a daughter of the god of medicine, Asclepius. She was the goddess/personification of health , cleanliness and sanitation. While her father was more directly associated with healing, she was associated with the prevention of sickness and the continuation of good health but in time she started to be increasingly identifyed with the ancient Italian goddess of social welfare


well I personally dont relate hygeia to the magician all that much althugh ,perhaps the social welfare part. but the painting does relate to me to the magician , the snake on her hand is as I can see pouring poison on a bowl, for an antidote perhaps? the look on her face is solemn and the snake seems to be under her trance. achieving this withouth effort. it reminds me a little bit to the strenght card. she doesnt have the 4 pips around her but that's not a big issue for me, but if you had to you could still find the elemnts in the card.

also from wikipedia but about the painting itself;

Medicine was the second painting, presented in March 1901 at the tenth Secession Exhibition. It featured a column of nude figures on the right hand side of the painting, representing the river of life. Beside it was a young nude female who floated in space, with a newborn infant at her feet, representing life. A skeleton represented death in the river of life . The only link between the floating woman and the river of bodies is two arms, the woman's and a man's as seen from behind. At the bottom of the painting Hygieia stood with the Aesculapian snake around her arm and the cup of Lethe in her hand, turning her back to mankind. Klimt conveyed an ambiguous unity of life and death, with nothing to celebrate the role of medicine or the science of healing. he was attacked by critics who ... yada yada yada .the painting is great those critics suck


well this also adds up to the magician meaning , she basicly holds the power of life and death

hmmm what do you think? it's a lot of info to process for me so I'll talk about it later

my impressions....

I see a powerful woman here, and as for the snake charming sometimes I feel she is feeding the snake, sometimes gathering its poison......the snake looks as if it has been entranced..I'm sure she will speak Parseltongue!

This Magician is courageous - the snake may be an illusion and turn into a length of rope at any moment....or it might start to chat (thinking of Glycon here, I suppose).

All this mystery and ambiguity but ultimately only the Magician knows what is really going on here;she knows all the tricks of her trade & is unafraid to try anything once.

velvetina said:

I see a powerful woman here, and as for the snake charming sometimes I feel she is feeding the snake, sometimes gathering its poison......the snake looks as if it has been entranced..I'm sure she will speak Parseltongue!

This Magician is courageous - the snake may be an illusion and turn into a length of rope at any moment....or it might start to chat (thinking of Glycon here, I suppose).

All this mystery and ambiguity but ultimately only the Magician knows what is really going on here;she knows all the tricks of her trade & is unafraid to try anything once.

Click to expand...

ah , thanks for this , even with all the research I had done I couldnt find a lot of meaning in this one m but now I can , I could also see the snake as wisdom , I can even see ho perhaps that snake was transformed by her into that shape or perhaps she's drinking the antidote to become a person now n_n

The magician

I find this one of the more challenging cards of Klimt. As compared to other Magicians, Klimt uses a female instead who holds a snake , or perhaps, it is the other way around -- the snake holds on to her arm but not tightly.

THis immediately reminded of the snake symbol in medicine and later, I found out that it wasn't really a snake but "the rod of Asclepius (⚕; sometimes also spelled Asklepios or Aesculapius), also known as the asklepian,[1] is an ancient symbol associated with astrology, the Greek god Asclepius, and with medicine and healing. It consists of a serpent entwined around a staff. The name of the symbol derives from its early and widespread association with Asclepius, the son of Apollo, who was a practitioner of medicine in ancient Greek mythology. His attributes, the snake and the staff, sometimes depicted separately in antiquity, are combined in this symbol.[2] Hippocrates himself was a worshipper of Asclepius." - I lifted this from Wikipedia.

The Magician is quite resourceful and knows the Will and the Word. I am still trying to find this in the card ... although I do realize something now that I stare at the card.

The Magician appears to be going by feel - she stares not at the snake but allows the snake to either feed from the bowl she holds or put its venom on it. The venom may be transformed into an elixir of healing since the Magician is capable of mixing resources and elements to find that which will heal, solve, get things done, etc.

In Klimt's card, the Magician is in control - the snake beckons to her bidding, and though she does not look at the snake, she knows intuitively that the snake will hit its mark - I also find the tail of the snake quite beguiling -- it is curled like a spiral. Spiral is a symbol of change ... the Magician's gown is filled with long tweeds with leaves, circle which has lines in it (I would not know the symbolic meaning of this particular design) - could the elements be in this? Her gown symbolizing Fire because of its color; the plants symbolizing earth; the circle with lines - could this be air? And the curl of the spirals in both the snake and the cloth on the right side - could this be symbolic of water?

Be that as it may, the Magician has all the elements at her disposal for her to do as she wishes.

poopsie said:

I find this one of the more challenging cards of Klimt. As compared to other Magicians, Klimt uses a female instead who holds a snake , or perhaps, it is the other way around -- the snake holds on to her arm but not tightly.

THis immediately reminded of the snake symbol in medicine and later, I found out that it wasn't really a snake but "the rod of Asclepius (⚕; sometimes also spelled Asklepios or Aesculapius), also known as the asklepian,[1] is an ancient symbol associated with astrology, the Greek god Asclepius, and with medicine and healing. It consists of a serpent entwined around a staff. The name of the symbol derives from its early and widespread association with Asclepius, the son of Apollo, who was a practitioner of medicine in ancient Greek mythology. His attributes, the snake and the staff, sometimes depicted separately in antiquity, are combined in this symbol.[2] Hippocrates himself was a worshipper of Asclepius." - I lifted this from Wikipedia.

The Magician is quite resourceful and knows the Will and the Word. I am still trying to find this in the card ... although I do realize something now that I stare at the card.

The Magician appears to be going by feel - she stares not at the snake but allows the snake to either feed from the bowl she holds or put its venom on it. The venom may be transformed into an elixir of healing since the Magician is capable of mixing resources and elements to find that which will heal, solve, get things done, etc.

In Klimt's card, the Magician is in control - the snake beckons to her bidding, and though she does not look at the snake, she knows intuitively that the snake will hit its mark - I also find the tail of the snake quite beguiling -- it is curled like a spiral. Spiral is a symbol of change ... the Magician's gown is filled with long tweeds with leaves, circle which has lines in it (I would not know the symbolic meaning of this particular design) - could the elements be in this? Her gown symbolizing Fire because of its color; the plants symbolizing earth; the circle with lines - could this be air? And the curl of the spirals in both the snake and the cloth on the right side - could this be symbolic of water?

Be that as it may, the Magician has all the elements at her disposal for her to do as she wishes.

Click to expand...

I see the spirals as air ( as in whirlwind, tornados, etc.) and the wavy lines as streams of water perhaps drops of water too. but I dont really need to see the magician with all the elements , a magician is in control of them either way , I guess. the sanke for me is wisdom , intelect and rebirth. and she looks pretty confindet and even cocky , wich is the social aspect of the magician we ussualy dont see.

1 The Magician

Here is a photo of the card: http://antifornicator.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Golden_Tarot_of_Klimt_Magician.jpg

Here are my notes on the card:

The face of the Magician (Magi) is altered from that in the painting "Medicine" (Medi): Magi wears no make up, does not look straight at the viewer and does not have her head as high in the air.

I think this latter is to continue a bit of the "I can turn my back on you" aspect of the painting. This Magi is fixed on other things and has made no big deal of your arrival/coming as she has not stopped here works to put on make up for you.

Magi's jaw is also less square than Medi's which gives her a more malleable though more haughty look. It also makes her seem less 'all-powerful'.

Magi's snake hovers in the air above her plate showing that her spirituality has taken much of the control of the ritual -as well as her feminine, sexual kudalini energy. The snake is a little blacker than the painting's and has its mouth open fiercely! Her subtle approach to things is not to be taken lightly! Medi's is under her plate and has it's mouth closed unconcerned.

Magi stands alone without the other figures of the painting behind her, though the energies of other beings can be sense around/behind her.

The normal blueness of most Magician cards is gone here, replaced by a predominate orange-y red/coral.

The darkness in character is evidenced by the swatch of black behind Magi to her left (our right). It is interesting to note that while this darkness is evidence to us (on our right-hand side =consciousness) it is thought to Magi to be a well-hid trait (to her left or her subconscious). This may be why she is alone as well; she is unaware of the effect that she has on others and thinks that her darker qualities are hidden and that her illusion has covered them when in fact it is something the 'lesser mortals' can actually pick up on.

Magi has splotches of gold symbols around her that lead to the elements, etc. that she has at her disposal (as before mentioned).

Magi's gave looks to the viewer's left(subconscious) which is her right/conscious. Her subconscious deals with things from our conscious world that, combined with her depths come out... magical.

She does not have a full halo but she has spots of gold about her head.. perhaps, good or at least some enlightenment.

That's pretty much what the first conversation between her and I discussed I should have plenty more as time goes on!