The Magician (Tarot card)
Encyclopedia
Trump
A trump is a type of card in some card games.Trump may also refer to:* Trump * Trump * Trumps * The Trump * HMS Trump , a British submarine* The Trump Organization, a business conglomerate...
or Major Arcana
Major Arcana
The Major Arcana or trumps are a suit of twenty-two cards in the tarot deck. They serve as a permanent trump suit in games played with the tarot deck, and are distinguished from the four standard suits collectively known as the Minor Arcana...
card in most traditional Tarot
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination. In divination it is considered by some to succeed The Fool
The Fool (Tarot card)
The Fool or The Jester is one of the 78 cards in a Tarot deck; one of the 22 Trump cards that make up the Major Arcana. The Fool is unnumbered...
card, often numbered 0.
Iconography
Sleight of hand
Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation or legerdemain, is the set of techniques used by a magician to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly....
artist", a practitioner of stage magic. The Italian tradition calls him Il Bagatto or Il Bagatello, which has similar connotations to the French term according to old dictionaries. The Mantegna Tarocchi
Mantegna Tarocchi
The Mantegna Tarocchi, also known as the Tarocchi Cards, Tarocchi in the style of Mantegna, Baldini Cards, are two different sets each of fifty 15th century Italian old master prints in engraving, by two different unknown artists...
image that would seem to correspond with the Magician is labeled Artixano, the Artisan
Artisan
An artisan is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items, and tools...
; he is the second lowest in the series, outranking only the Beggar. Visually the 18th-century woodcuts reflect earlier iconic representations, and can be compared to the free artistic renditions in the 15th-century hand-painted tarots made for the Visconti and Sforza families. In the painted cards attributed to Bonifacio Bembo
Bonifacio Bembo
thumb|Portrait of Francesco Sforza. ca. 1460.Tempera on panel, 40 x 31 cm. [[Pinacoteca di Brera]], Milan.Bonifacio Bembo was an Italian painter and miniaturist of the early-Renaissance period....
, the Magician appears to be playing with cups and balls
Cups and balls
The cups and balls is a classic performance of magic with innumerable adaptations. The effect known as acetabula et calculi was performed by Roman conjurers as far back as two thousand years ago...
.
In esoteric decks, occultists, starting with Oswald Wirth
Oswald Wirth
Oswald Wirth was a Swiss occultist, artist and author. He studied esotericism and symbolism with Stanislas de Guaita, and in 1889 he created a set of Tarot trumps based on the Marseilles deck. His interests also included Freemasonry and astrology.-External links:* * *...
, turned Le Bateleur from a mountebank into a magus. The curves of the magician's hat brim in the Marseilles image are similar to the esoteric deck's mathematical sign of infinity. Similarly, other symbols were added. The essentials are that the magician has set up a temporary table outdoors, to display items that represent the suits of the Minor Arcana: Cups, Coins, Swords (as knives). The fourth, the baton (Clubs) he holds in his hand. The baton later stands for a literal magician's "wand".
The illustration of the Tarot card "The Magician" from the Rider-Waite tarot deck
Rider-Waite tarot deck
The Rider-Waite tarot deck is the most popular Tarot deck in use today in the English-speaking world . Other suggested names for this include the Rider-Waite-Smith, Waite-Smith, Waite-Colman Smith or simply the Rider deck...
was developed by A. E. Waite for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...
in 1910. Waite was a key figure in the development of modern Tarot interpretation, though not all interpretations follow his theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
.
In the tarot game
In the games of tarocchi and French Tarot, Le Bateleur is the lowest ranking trumpTrump
A trump is a type of card in some card games.Trump may also refer to:* Trump * Trump * Trumps * The Trump * HMS Trump , a British submarine* The Trump Organization, a business conglomerate...
card. He is one of the bouts, or "ends", in the French game of Tarot; taking a trick with these cards has a special scoring significance.
Esoteric significance
Some frequent keywords are:- Action — Consciousness — Concentration — Personal power
- Practicality — Energy — Creativity — Movement
- Precision — Conviction — Manipulation — Self confidence
- Being objective — Focusing — Determination — Initiative
A youthful figure in the robe of a magician has the face of the divine Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
, the sun god, with a confident smile and shining eyes. Above his head is the mysterious sign of the Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit
Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of the Hebrew Bible, but understood differently in the main Abrahamic religions.While the general concept of a "Spirit" that permeates the cosmos has been used in various religions Holy Spirit is a term introduced in English translations of...
, the sign of life, like an endless cord, forming the lemniscate
Lemniscate
In algebraic geometry, a lemniscate refers to any of several figure-eight or ∞ shaped curves. It may refer to:*The lemniscate of Bernoulli, often simply called the lemniscate, the locus of points whose product of distances from two foci equals the square of half the interfocal distance*The...
of infinity
Infinity
Infinity is a concept in many fields, most predominantly mathematics and physics, that refers to a quantity without bound or end. People have developed various ideas throughout history about the nature of infinity...
. About his waist is a serpent-cincture
Cincture
The cincture is a liturgical vestment, worn encircling the body around or above the waist. The term has two distinct meanings, the usage generally dividing along denominational lines...
or girdle, the ouroboros
Ouroboros
The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The name originates from within Greek language; οὐρά meaning "tail" and βόρος meaning "eating", thus "he who eats the tail"....
, the serpent devouring its own tail. The ouroboros is an ancient symbol of eternity
Eternity
While in the popular mind, eternity often simply means existence for a limitless amount of time, many have used it to refer to a timeless existence altogether outside time. By contrast, infinite temporal existence is then called sempiternity. Something eternal exists outside time; by contrast,...
, eternal becoming, or transmutation
Transmutation
Transmutation may refer to:*Biological transmutation, the claim that nuclear transmutation occurs within living organisms*Dimensional transmutation, a physical mechanism that transforms a pure number into a parameter with a dimension...
and transformation, but in this case it indicates more especially the eternity of attainment in the spirit. In the Magician's right hand is a wand
Wand
A wand is a thin, straight, hand-held stick of wood, stone, ivory, or metal. Generally, in modern language, wands are ceremonial and/or have associations with magic but there have been other uses, all stemming from the original meaning as a synonym of rod and virge, both of which had a similar...
raised towards heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
, the sky or the element æther, while his left hand is pointing to the earth. This iconographic gesture
Gesture
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of speech or together and in parallel with spoken words. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other parts of the body...
has multiple meanings, but is endemic to the Mysteries, symbolizing divine immanence
Immanence
Immanence refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence, in which the divine is seen to be manifested in or encompassing of the material world. It is often contrasted with theories of transcendence, in which the divine is seen to be outside the material world...
, the ability of the magician to bridge the gap between heaven and earth. On the table in front of the Magician the symbols of the four Tarot suits signify the Classical elements of earth, air, fire and water. Beneath are rose
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
s and lilies, the flos campi
Rose of Sharon
Rose of Sharon is a common name that applies to several different species of flowering plants that are highly valued throughout the world. The name's colloquial application has been used as an example of the lack of precision of common names, which potentially causes confusion...
and lilium convallium
Lily of the Valley
Convallaria majalis , commonly known as the lily-of-the-valley, is a poisonous woodland flowering plant native throughout the cool temperate Northern Hemisphere in Asia and Europe....
, changed into garden flowers, to show the culture of aspiration.
Divination
When the Magician appears in a spread, it points to the talents, capabilities and resources at the querent's disposal. Depending on the card's placement in relation to other cards, the message is to tap into one's full potential rather than holding back, especially when there is a need to transform something. There are choices and directions to take. Guidance can arrive through one's own intuition or in the form of someone who brings about change or transformation.The card can mean that a manipulator is floating around, usually if it's reversed. He may be a beneficent guide, but he does not necessarily have our best interests in mind. He may also represent the querent’s ego or self awareness. He can also represent the intoxication of power, both good and bad.
Qabbalistic Approach
According to Arthur Edward Waite, this card signifies the divine motive in man. It is also the unity of the individual being on all planes, and in a very high sense it is thought. With further reference to the "sign of life", i.e. the infinity symbol and its connection with the number 8, it may be remembered that Christian Gnosticism speaks of rebirth in Christ as a change "unto the Ogdoad." The mystic number is termed Jerusalem above, the Land flowing with Milk and Honey, the Holy Spirit and the Land of the Lord. According to MartinismMartinism
Martinism is a form of mystical and esoteric Christianity concerned with the fall of the first man, his state of material privation from his divine source, and the process of his return, called 'Reintegration' or illumination....
, 8 is the number of Christ.
In other traditions this card can refer to scholarly knowledge. The Fool (card 0) has learned something about the workings of the world and now sees himself as powerful. Perhaps the reputation of the Magician is derived from the Fool misunderstanding what is happening while the High Priestess (the next card) is looking back, thinking that the Magician is missing the point of spiritual knowledge.
Mythopoetic Approach
Some schools associate him with HermesHermes
Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...
, especially Hermes Trismegistus
Hermes Trismegistus
Hermes Trismegistus is the eponymous author of the Hermetic Corpus, a sacred text belonging to the genre of divine revelation.-Origin and identity:...
, a syncretic Egyptian/Greek figure who is a combination of Hermes and of Thoth
Thoth
Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...
, a god of the moon, knowledge, and writing. In this aspect, The Magician guides The Fool
The Fool (Tarot card)
The Fool or The Jester is one of the 78 cards in a Tarot deck; one of the 22 Trump cards that make up the Major Arcana. The Fool is unnumbered...
through the first step out of the cave of childhood into the sunlight of consciousness, just as Hermes guides Persephone
Persephone
In Greek mythology, Persephone , also called Kore , is the daughter of Zeus and the harvest-goddess Demeter, and queen of the underworld; she was abducted by Hades, the god-king of the underworld....
out of the Underworld every year.
He represents the potential of a new adventure, chosen or thrust upon one. A journey undertaken in daylight, in the Enlightenment tradition. He brings things out of the darkness into the light. He explores the world in order to master it. He is solar consciousness.
He is associated through the cross sums (the sum of the digits) with Key 10, The Wheel of Fortune
Wheel of Fortune (Tarot card)
Wheel of Fortune is the tenth trump or Major Arcana card in most Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.-Description:To the right is the Wheel Of Fortune card from the A. E. Waite tarot deck. A. E...
, picking up on Hermes as a Trickster figure and a god of chance, and Key 19, The Sun, bringing us back to Apollo and to enlightenment.
He embodies the lesson of “as above, so below," the lesson that mastery in one realm may bring mastery in another. He also warns of the danger of applying lessons from one realm to another.
The Magician transcends duality. He has learned the fundamental elements of the universe, represented by emblems of the four suits of the tarot already broken apart and lying on the table before him. Similarly, in the Book of Thoth deck, he is crowned by snakes, another symbol of both infinity and dualism, as snakes have learned from Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk, modern day Iraq , placing his reign ca. 2500 BC. According to the Sumerian king list he reigned for 126 years. In the Tummal Inscription, Gilgamesh, and his son Urlugal, rebuilt the sanctuary of the goddess Ninlil, in Tummal, a sacred quarter in her city of...
how to shed their skins and be reborn, thus achieving a type of immortality; the blind prophet Tiresias
Tiresias
In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet of Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo; Tiresias participated fully in seven generations at Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus...
split apart coupling snakes and as a result became a woman, transcending the dualism of gender.
Alternative decks
The Vikings Tarot depicts Tyr as the Magician; he is lifting his arm that was severed by the Fenris wolf.The Osho Tarot calls this card Existence and depicts it as a naked figure viewed from the back sitting on the lotus of perfection, gazing at the beauty of the stars.
In the Shining Woman Tarot, the magician is a shaman.
In the X/1999 Tarot, made by CLAMP, The Magician is Kamui Shirou (the main character of the story).
In the Trinity Blood tarot deck, Isaak Fernand Von Kampf?r is depicted as the Magician card.
In the The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
is a Japanese light novel series by Takaya Kagami, with illustrations by Saori Toyota which was published by Fujimi Shobo in Dragon Magazine from February 25, 2002 to October 25, 2006, and has 11 volumes. Its sequel, began publishing on October 25, 2007 and currently has 9 volumes...
Tarot, The Magician is Ryner Lute.
In the upcoming Anne Rice
Anne Rice
Anne Rice is a best-selling Southern American author of metaphysical gothic fiction, Christian literature and erotica from New Orleans, Louisiana. Her books have sold nearly 100 million copies, making her one of the most widely read authors in modern history...
Tarot deck, the Magician card depicts Lestat.
In the Goddess Tarot by Kris Waldherr, the Magician is portrayed as the Egyptian goddess, Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
.
In the Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
Tarot, the Magician is depicted by Prospero
Prospero
Prospero is the protagonist in The Tempest, a play by William Shakespeare.- The Tempest :Prospero is the rightful Duke of Milan, who was put to sea on "a rotten carcass of a butt [boat]" to die by his usurping brother, Antonio, twelve years before the play begins. Prospero and Miranda survived,...
.
In the Mythic Tarot deck, the Magician is depicted by Hermes
Hermes
Hermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...
.
In pop culture
- In the video game Persona 3Persona 3Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, originally released in Japan as simply , is the fourth video game in the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series of console role-playing games developed by Atlus, which is part of the larger Megami Tensei series of video games...
, the Social Link established with the character Kenji Tomochika is of the Magician arcana, and the party member Junpei Iori has the Personas Hermes and Trismegistus, both associated with the Magician. In the sequel Persona 4, one of the main characters, Yosuke Hanamura, has a Persona and a Social Link of the Magician arcana. Strangely, all three of these characters also have a troublesome outcome resulting from the different love interest that each character has.
- In SegaSega, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
's "The House of the DeadThe House of the Dead (arcade game)The House of the Dead is a first-person, light gun arcade game developed in 1996 and released in 1997 by Sega.Players assume the role of agents Thomas Rogan and "G" in their efforts to combat the products of the dangerous, inhumane experiments of Dr. Curien, a madman.-Gameplay:The House of the Dead...
" the fourth and final boss of the first gameThe House of the Dead (arcade game)The House of the Dead is a first-person, light gun arcade game developed in 1996 and released in 1997 by Sega.Players assume the role of agents Thomas Rogan and "G" in their efforts to combat the products of the dangerous, inhumane experiments of Dr. Curien, a madman.-Gameplay:The House of the Dead...
is named after the Magician tarot card and resembles a demon that can manipulate fire. The same foe returns in a powered-up incarnation to serve as the penultimate boss in the immediate sequelThe House of the Dead 2The House of the Dead 2 is a light gun arcade game with a horror theme and the second game in the The House of the Dead series of video games, developed by Sega for video arcades in 1998 and later ported to the Dreamcast and Microsoft Windows, and also found on the Xbox as an unlockable bonus in...
, and it reappears yet again in The House of the Dead 4 Special.
- Tarot cards and their use play a major role in a Season 4 episode of the television series SupernaturalSupernatural (TV series)Supernatural is an American supernatural and horror television series created by Eric Kripke, which debuted on September 13, 2005 on The WB, and is now part of The CW's lineup. Starring Jared Padalecki as Sam Winchester and Jensen Ackles as Dean Winchester, the series follows the brothers as they...
titled "Criss AngelCriss AngelChristopher Nicholas Sarantakos , better known by the stage name Criss Angel, is an American illusionist, writer, director, musician, and actor...
is a Douchebag". The Magician card in particular is featured prominently towards the end of the episode.
- The Magician is a monster card in the Yu-gi-oh!Yu-Gi-Oh!is a Japanese manga created by Kazuki Takahashi. It has produced a franchise that includes multiple anime shows, a trading card game and numerous video games...
card game, as part of a group of cards called the Arcana Force.
- In the third series of Jojo's Bizarre AdventureJoJo's Bizarre Adventureis a manga written and illustrated by Hirohiko Araki. Every main character's name in each part can be read as JoJo. The manga, published by Shueisha, first ran in the magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1987 to 2002, before being transferred to the seinen magazine Ultra Jump in 2004. The current story...
, Muhammad Abdul has a bird-like fire stand named Magician's Red.
- In Saint Seiya Episode G series, Mu of Aries is depicted as The Magician in the tarot cards version of the manga.
- In the video game Magical Drop (series), The Magician is portrayed as a type of sorcerer, carrying around a rose and with the symbol of infinity on his bandanna.
- Dave Tango of TAPSThe Atlantic Paranormal SocietyThe Atlantic Paranormal Society is an organization that investigates reported paranormal activity. Based in Warwick, Rhode Island, United States, TAPS was founded in 1990 by Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. In 2004, the organization itself became the subject of Ghost Hunters, a popular weekly...
has a tattoo of it on his right arm.
- In the SNES video game Ogre Battle: The March of the Black QueenOgre Battle: The March of the Black Queenis a 1993 real-time strategy role-playing video game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, directed by Yasumi Matsuno with artwork by Akihiko Yoshida...
, the Magician is portrayed as holding a wand surrounded by mists. On drawing the Tarot card after liberation of one of the towns, it increases the allies' intelligence by 1, and causes a wall of fire to engulf foes when used in battle.