Comparative Tarot 01: The Magician/Magus

[Rose Lalonde]

Le Bateleur/The Magician/The Magus

 

Please see the discussion thread if you'd like some background about the study group.

 

If you post about more than one deck, please add a separate post below for each to make it easier to index. You can write about the same deck someone else did.

 

As a visual start, here are the Ben Doav's TdM, the RWS, and the Thoth. (You don't have to compare your deck with these, though, if you have another deck in mind.)

 

If you'd like to add a small image of the card you're discussing that would be great. If not we can google it.

 

Feedback on comments about this card are welcome here! For general questions and suggestions, please use the discussion thread.

 

 

Anna K Tarot

Green Witch Tarot

Jonasa Jaus Tarot

Röhrig Tarot

Rosetta Papyrus Tarot

Victorian Fairy Tarot

[Trogon]

Here is The Magus from the Röhrig Tarot. I always loved the way that his creative energy bursts forth from his mind, bringing into being what he visualizes. Röhrig's Magus differs from both the Thoth and RWS in that we don't have the physical elements seen (either floating nearby, or on the table in front of him). This Magus is manifesting from and with his imagination. He "works in the realm of ideas" (from the book).

[Trogon]

Anna K Tarot - The Magician.

 

This Magician compares well to our popular idea of a wizard or sorcerer of medieval times. This card portrays him as much older, and therefor, perhaps, having more experience than the young man pictured in the RWS. He has his tools, the items representing the suits of the Tarot and he is actively summoning or conjuring something "out of thin air". I feel there is more of mastery here than in the RWS where he appears to just be learning to use the tools he has.

[Bookworm]

Here is The Magus from the Röhrig Tarot. I always loved the way that his creative energy bursts forth from his mind, bringing into being what he visualizes. Röhrig's Magus differs from both the Thoth and RWS in that we don't have the physical elements seen (either floating nearby, or on the table in front of him). This Magus is manifesting from and with his imagination. He "works in the realm of ideas" (from the book).

Oh yes, he's a very cool Magus.

[Bookworm]

Here is the Magus from the Rosetta Papyrus. He looks pretty Thothy-y, juggling all his toys. I kind of prefer an older looking Magician, generally, but I am working with the Rosetta exclusively at the moment. One thing I like about this image is the perspective. We are looking up at him, and he is looking down at us. I haven't really figured out what all the extra things he's juggling are. I'm used to a wand, sword, etc., but he has four additional symbols, which may be all symbols of Mercury. I like that the Sun is rising behind him, since Mercury is never far from the Sun (so says the book). The "twinned Apes of Thoth shake their fists and distort his words...giving him the reputation of a trickster," also from the Book of Seshet.

[Onaorkal]

Here is the Magus from the Rosetta Papyrus. He looks pretty Thothy-y, juggling all his toys. I kind of prefer an older looking Magician, generally, but I am working with the Rosetta exclusively at the moment. One thing I like about this image is the perspective. We are looking up at him, and he is looking down at us. I haven't really figured out what all the extra things he's juggling are. I'm used to a wand, sword, etc., but he has four additional symbols, which may be all symbols of Mercury. I like that the Sun is rising behind him, since Mercury is never far from the Sun (so says the book). The "twinned Apes of Thoth shake their fists and distort his words...giving him the reputation of a trickster," also from the Book of Seshet.

 

I love symbols, so I couldn't help but to do a bit of searching about those other symbols!  :P

 

On the left, I'm pretty sure it's the symbol of Kneph, an Egyptian god : http://symboldictionary.net/?p=3159

After the Coin, it looks like a feather isn't it? That could probably be related to communication?

Then a Moon crescent, a Sword, then a papyrus roll, which makes sense with the feather not too far.

Then we have a torch, a Cup and finally the Magus is holding onto the Caduceus : http://symboldictionary.net/?p=1131

 

That's what I found, if it can be of any help!

[Bookworm]

Thank you so much, Onaorkal. That is very helpful!

[GreenFaerie]

I'm sticking with the VFT since it's my DOTW, and also because it is my favorite deck.

 

In this deck, The Magician has been renamed The Conjuror. I like the name change, as it suggests different things to me. The Magician (particularly in the traditional RWS card) always strikes me as someone who has spent a lot of time learning, and he uses a lot of rituals and tools to accomplish what he wants, perhaps drawing on potions, crystals, and other natural ingredients in his magic. All of that is very useful (and I say this as a lifelong academic, and someone who tends to like study and rules), but The Conjuror, to me, also suggests the element of visualization and bringing something to fruition or into being. To conjure suggests creating something where there was nothing, while magic (and hence, The Magician) has seems to me to be about tapping into what already exists.

 

In order to achieve goals (or to manifest things/events that haven't happened or don't exist yet), you have to be able to visualize them in your head, conjure them. In order to reach a goal, you have to be able to see it happening before it does. And this Conjurer can see everything; he has confidence! He is standing. He has elements of all four seasons swirling in the air in front of him, suggesting that he is master of the seasons and therefore of the deck (in the VFT, the suits each have a season rather than the more traditional Swords, Cups, etc.). He is in tune with the seasons and the elements, and knows his mastery over them. With planning and will, he can bring forth whatever he likes, and enjoy himself while he does it. :)

 

(I also like that this Conjuror fairy is somewhere in middle age; he is old enough to seem wise, yet young enough that his position and skill don't feel unattainable.)

[GreenFaerie]

I went to the Green Witch Tarot for my second post because I also like the differences in this image. First, we have a witch rather than a male magician. While many of her tools are close to hand, she is engrossed in cooking - perhaps a potion, perhaps a spell, perhaps a meal. Like the Conjuror, she is a little older - if  you look closely, you can see that there are lines on her face. This is a witch who is perhaps in her mid-forties or so? She has plenty of wisdom, but also plenty still to learn, which always reminds me that learning is a process, not an endpoint.

 

I also like that she is leaning over a cauldron - not only does that invoke Cerwidden, and therefore transformation, but cooking itself is a transformational process, as much an art as it is a science. Like the Conjuror and his visualization, cooking isn't just about rules, it's about instinct and belief, a little something extra that maybe can't be learned. I myself have almost no cooking skills  :D, but I can appreciate the metaphor. Sometimes arriving at the right place and gaining what you want takes study and practice, but it also takes belief, and the knowledge that you might well be transformed along the way. Staying the same is not an option if you truly want to attain what you seek.

[Rose Lalonde]

Jonasa Jaus Tarot

 

 

Looking through my new copy of this (Jodorowsky inspired) deck, I was struck by the Magician, because it looks very different from the cards in the top post, but at the same time seems not so far removed from them, particularly the RWS and Thoth. As in those, there's a strong focus here on directional force up and down -  the yin of water pouring down and yang of the plant growing up, meeting at the center where water reaches soil to produce life.

 

The way both water and plant are inside cups and held by similar looking hands creates a symmetry that reminds me of "As above, so below" in the Tree of Life that the Magician is often associated with. (The white light behind makes me think of Kether on the Magician's path, but is probably intended to be the sun.)

 

[GreenFaerie]

This is such a lovely card! Thank you for sharing it. :)

[Rose Lalonde]

Thanks, GreenFaerie! This deck isn't my usual 'type', but I couldn't pass it up.

 

Actually, this card has that sense you mentioned in the EW of a more informal sort of magic. Water and sunlight turn a seed into a shrub or tree. (Or for most people they do... I'm terrible at gardening. I'd much rather cook!)

[GreenFaerie]

That's true! It does have that feel, doesn't it? :) I am terrible at cooking (mostly; I can make about five things really well), and while I don't like gardening, exactly, I can do it. I have a knack for weeding and cleaning beds, anyway, though I don't particularly enjoy it. I don't have the "green thumb," though; my mother has it and can make anything grow.  My spouse, on the other hand, is an incredible cook, and no one will ever be able to tell me that cooking isn't all about magic and chemistry. It is definitely its own magical skill!