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Scusami, non ho ancora tradotto tutte le pagine del mio blog nella tua lingua madre. Lo sto facendo gradualmente. Lasciami un commento qui sotto per rendere questa pagina prioritaria! 
The Magician is the first card of the Tarot, and it represents the beginning, the potential, and the manifestation of ideas in the material world. The card carries positive energy and possibilities. It invites you to be active, to show creativity, to be resourceful and to seize opportunities to reach your goals. It is the symbol of beginning, potential, the will to learn and the ability to manifest your desires in the material world. Keep in mind that the Magician also reminds you of the importance of self-confidence and perseverance to succeed in your endeavors.
The juggler was in the Middle Ages a sort of entertainer, a trick performer, an amuser in the public square or in lordly festivities. He was nomadic, could accompany troubadours. Today we would speak of him as a fairground artist or a street artist. These men lived on the margins of organized society. They were not part of any guild, those professional associations that protected established craftsmen. The juggler survived thanks to his skill and charisma, going from fair to fair, from castle to castle.
The juggler's techniques were varied but relied on manual dexterity and trickery. The cup and ball game was his most famous trick. He placed a small ball under one of three cups, mixed them quickly, then asked spectators to guess where the ball was. Of course, thanks to skillful manipulations, the ball was never where one thought. This game also served as a bet: spectators wagered money on their choice. It was a primitive form of three-card monte, that card game where one must find the queen among three shuffled cards.
The juggler also mastered the art of making objects disappear and reappear, cutting and reconstructing handkerchiefs, or doing tricks with loaded dice. All these accessories are found on his table in the Marseille Tarot: the cups, the dice, the knives, the coins. Each object had its function in his street shows.
Beyond his historical reality, the juggler embodies a universal archetype: that of the "trickster", the character who plays tricks and transgresses rules. We find this figure in all cultures. In Greek mythology, Hermes was the messenger god, but also the patron of thieves and merchants. He guided souls to the afterlife, but did not hesitate to play tricks on other gods. Like the juggler, Hermes was situated between worlds: that of gods and that of humans, that of truth and that of illusion.
This universal dimension explains why the Magician card still resonates today. It speaks of that part of us that must learn to navigate between different worlds, to develop our skill and resourcefulness. The juggler shows us that we must sometimes use cunning and ingenuity to survive and progress in life.
The art of the time shows the fascination for these ambiguous characters. The famous painting by Hieronymus Bosch "The Conjurer" (1505) shows a juggler in full action, surrounded by captivated spectators. Bosch perfectly captures the essence of the character: the one who creates an alternative reality and draws his audience into this illusion.
This work is inspired by the medieval astrological tradition of the "Children of the Planets", those illustrations that classified trades according to the influence of the stars. Jugglers were traditionally associated with the Moon, planet of illusion and wandering. This astrological classification durably influenced Tarot iconography.
Bosch also shows the social aspect of the phenomenon: the juggler attracts all types of audience, from bourgeois to peasants. His table becomes an intermediate zone where ordinary rules are suspended and where everything becomes possible, like in a waking dream.
The semantic evolution of the term "Bagatto" reveals the social evolution of the character. Starting from "bagatelle" (little thing), the word gradually comes to designate sleight of hand, then deception and even fraud. This degradation of meaning reflects the growing mistrust toward these traveling artists.
In the 16th century, "bagattellare" means "to do tricks", but also "to deceive" or "to dupe". The juggler is no longer just an entertainer, he becomes suspected of swindling. This linguistic transformation accompanies a hardening of social attitudes: what was tolerated as popular entertainment becomes condemned as dishonest practice.
When Tarot arrives in France around 1500, this ambiguity follows the card. The French term "bateleur" keeps this double nature: the legitimate street artist and the potential swindler. This semantic richness partly explains the symbolic complexity of the card in modern interpretations.
Before arriving in France, the Magician card was born in Italy under the name "Il Bagatto". This Italian term comes from the word "bagatelle", which means "little thing" or "object of little value". This etymology already reveals the modest status of the character: he is not a great magician, but a simple street entertainer.
The oldest known Bagatto is found in the sumptuous Visconti-Sforza Tarot, commissioned around 1450 by the Duke of Milan. On this hand-painted card gilded with fine gold, the character wears elegant clothes and an extravagant hat that suggests an exotic character. The objects on his table seem to be balls and a cup, classic tools of the conjurer. His right hand hovers above a round object - coin, straw hat or even cheese wheel according to interpretations - while the left holds a wand.
This uncertainty about the exact identity of the objects shows that from the beginning, the card left room for interpretation. Artists of the time did not necessarily seek documentary precision, but rather the evocation of an atmosphere and a social role.
The more popular cards, engraved on wood and printed in series, give us a more realistic vision of the juggler. The Estensi Tarot from the end of the 15th century shows a man surrounded by children fascinated by his tricks. This touching scene reveals one of the facets of the trade: entertaining the youngest with innocent shows.
The Budapest Tarot, from the same period, presents a different atmosphere. The juggler is surrounded by adults in what seems to be a tavern. The atmosphere is more troubled: is it still a simple show or a rigged game session where the innkeeper takes his share of the winnings? This ambiguity between entertainment and swindling will long accompany the image of the juggler.
These first Italian cards already establish the essential elements: a man standing behind a table, conjuring objects, and especially this position of intermediary between innocent spectacle and calculated deception.
It is really interesting that among the first versions of the Magician, some cards could have shown a man dressed in a jester's costume. Opposite, we can distinguish a cap with bells. Note that on the Rosenwald sheet, there is missing a representation of the Fool card. So if the Magician, we do not know what representation was given to the Fool. It is quite possible that the card could have shown a defrocked man, truly mad, which is not what a jester is.
This initial confusion between Magician and Jester reveals a conceptual proximity: both are outcasts who entertain through their antics. But where the jester has an official position at court, the juggler remains a vagabond without protection.
That said, on the Budapest Sheet, the Magician does not have the attributes of the Jester. It seems that from the start, the Tarot Magician was not really seen as an entertainer but more as a conjurer, highlighting his ability to manipulate the objects in front of him. And this agility was all the more symbolic as on the Visconti tarot card, we find without possible doubt, the 4 objects pentacle, wand, knife, cup linked to the 4 Elements.
This iconographic stabilization shows that Tarot creators had a clear vision: the Magician should embody technical mastery and manual skill, qualities necessary to juggle with the symbolic forces represented by the four elements.
With the anonymous Tarot of Paris, the form is far from definitive. We observe yet another representation of the Magician. This diversity of representations at the beginning of the 17th century shows that iconography was not yet fixed. Each master craftsman brought his personal vision, creating a richness of interpretations that would only stabilize with the emergence of the Marseille Tarot.
It is only with the arrival of Jean Noblet's Tarot (and that of Jacques Viéville from the same period) that the Magician clearly resembles the canonical form, and adds a fundamental aspect: the 3-legged table that extends out of the frame. This way of representing the table evokes an incomplete Magician, who is not finished, and who only asks to grow. The young plant that appears between the Magician's feet also emphasizes the youth and inexperience of the man. The card embodies resourcefulness, urging the querent to show ingenuity to solve challenges and make the most of available resources.
Concerning the young man's middle finger, drawn seemingly in the shape of a rod, many commentators mention a gesture against the tax administration that ordered the annual destruction of wooden molds, to more easily control the productions declared by master craftsmen. I don't really share this opinion. The intelligence and especially the subtlety of mind that run through Jean Noblet's images, make me think that he was a scholar who had much perspective on his own existence, and quite a bit of humor too. It seems to me that through his middle finger, Jean Noblet reminds us of one of these great truths, maybe even both: 1) Life is a game 2) Mock the opinion of others.
Subsequently, the plant between the Magician's feet could take a very particular form, which can be considered similar to the appearance of a cactus. It seems relevant to notice that the appearance of this cactus can evoke the female sex through which the young Magician would have emerged, the ground lines drawing more or less skillfully his mother's legs.
From the 19th century, European occultists radically transform the image of the Magician. What was a simple street artist becomes a "Magician" with supernatural powers. This mutation is accompanied by the addition of new symbols that did not exist in historical versions.
The infinity symbol, or lemniscate, makes its appearance above the character's head. This mathematical sign, shaped like a lying eight, was totally absent from traditional Marseille Tarots. Occultists interpret it as the sign of unlimited power or eternal wisdom. But as I explained previously, seeing a lemniscate in the traditional Magician's wavy hat is pure modern fantasy.
The ouroboros, this snake that bites its tail, also appears on certain versions. This alchemical symbol evokes eternal cycles and regeneration. Again, this is a late addition that corresponds to no French or Italian card-making tradition.
Modern versions also modify the character's gestures. In the Marseille Tarot, the Magician looks sideways and manipulates his objects with a certain casualness. Occultist versions transform him into a solemn officiant: one hand pointed toward the sky, the other toward the earth, in a posture that evokes ceremonial magic rituals.
This gesture claims to show the Magician "connecting Heaven and Earth" or "channeling cosmic energies". It is inspired by ritual postures of 19th century secret societies, but has no relation to the historical iconography of the medieval juggler.
These gestural modifications completely transform the meaning of the card. The resourceful vagabond becomes a priest-magician, the street artist becomes an initiate in cosmic mysteries. This evolution reflects the spiritual concerns of the modern era, but it moves considerably away from the intentions of the original creators.
Modern versions often organize these objects in a very orderly manner: a cup, a sword, a pentacle and a wand arranged symmetrically. This ritualized presentation contrasts with the apparent disorder of objects in historical versions, where they seemed rather thrown randomly on the street performer's table.
These modern symbolic additions are not "false" in themselves. They testify to the vitality of the symbol, to its capacity to evolve and enrich itself according to the times. The lemniscate, the ouroboros and the initiatory gestures speak to contemporary Tarot practitioners, even if they were not present in the original versions.
The important thing is to distinguish what belongs to historical tradition and what belongs to modern reinterpretations. This distinction allows for a more conscious and more authentic practice of Tarot, where each symbol is understood in its context of appearance.
The modern Magician thus synthesizes several layers of meaning: the resourceful artist of the Middle Ages, the initiated magician of the 19th century, and the energy manipulator of the 20th century. This symbolic richness explains why the card continues to fascinate and inspire contemporary readers.
With this card, I like the idea that the Magician is neither whole nor finished. He seems composed of multiple red threads that are as many strands of life, as many past experiences good or bad. We must weave or knit these threads to become a unified, coherent, solid person and not be a somewhat chaotic draft as the card seems to show us. In this sense, I like this concept of the Magician who is only a sketch of himself.
So yes, at first glance we can see in this Magician either a salesman who tries to sell us anything, even a washing machine, like the Renaissance Magician who could use sleight of hand to extract some pentacles from somewhat naive passers-by. It could also be a kind of magician who tries to convince us that his machine washes whiter than white, reminding me of the advertisements of my childhood. Still, I like the idea that the Magician has to wash his dirty laundry. That the fool's journey, this journey that the Magician will lead, is a spiritual path, to find "enlightenment". But maybe it is simply a path to purify oneself, to wash and heal from our wounds and our missed acts. In this perspective, the washing machine makes perfect sense.
With this version, we are extremely close to a historical representation of what jugglers were, as explained in the genesis paragraph of the card, at the beginning of this article. Here, we observe more of a juggler than a magician. The Magician must learn to master the 4 Elements, and in doing so equip himself with multiple skills and talents that he will obtain along his path. I therefore like this multi-armed Magician who represents his many talents in development.
What catches my attention in this card is first its name: the Shaman. It brings us back to the idea of transmission but especially initiation to a "spiritual art", I use this expression because I don't want to use the terms "secret art", "occult art", "esoteric art". And the fool's journey through the 22 cards of the trump series is indeed an initiatory path. Of course, the card chooses to show the master and not his disciple, his apprentice. Somewhere, it would have been more relevant to show the Shaman on the High Priestess card or the Pope card. However, signifying unambiguously on the first card of the series, that the content of Tarot speaks of an initiatory journey, is undoubtedly a clearer message than that of the Magician of the Marseille Tarot.
With this card, I like the idea that the Magician doesn't have a table, but a piano keyboard in front of him. It's quite nicely thought that the Magician must arrange and build his life like composing a musical symphony. There is a framework and standards to respect, like there is a music book with staves on which to write. There are absolute truths, principles with which one cannot compromise, like placing a treble clef at the beginning of a score. There is a way of living to learn, like there are chords and melodies that are more harmonious than others.
Parole chiave per le 78 carte dei Tarocchi di Marsiglia e del Rider-Waite-Smith, da inserire nel vostro mazzo preferito. I vostri dépliant sempre con voi, a portata di mano, per guidarvi nei vostri tiri. Grazie ad essi, le vostre interpretazioni guadagnano in ricchezza e finezza.
The Magician is not a magician! He doesn't do magic, he is a conjurer, in clear terms: he is a person who, through his skill, manipulations, tricks, produces magical illusions by making objects disappear, appear, change place or aspect. We could say of him that he is a juggler or an illusionist. First, producing illusions is not what French master craftsmen of the Renaissance retained. These scholars first wanted to show at the first stage of the spiritual journey, that this adventure was addressed to everyone, because the Magician comes from the common people, he is even rather poor. The Magician is a wanderer by nature, a perfect social role to suggest the idea of journey. Finally the Magician shows great agility, and it takes that to learn to master the 4 Elements. So here are the 3 essential aspects of the juggler's trade that master craftsmen retained. He is not a magician, in the sense that he has no magical power, he does not perform miracles, even making illusions goes beyond the initial concepts of the card. He is not a magician, because he is not part of an elite, he has received no secret knowledge. Worse than that, he still has many things to learn, while the title of magician implies that he has acquired mastery of his art. His goal is not to link or connect Earth and Heaven as his gesture shows on the R-W-S card. No, his goal is to become himself, to become One, to find his place in the world, as the last card of the journey shows so well: The World.
Many Tarot enthusiasts see in the wavy shape of the Magician's hat a disguised lemniscate, that is the infinity symbol. I must demystify this fantasy and return to the reality of the time. There were among French master craftsmen, great scholars, Jean Noblet was one. Jean Dodal also transmitted subtleties, and a quite striking personal interpretation in his tarot. But Jacques Viéville, contemporary of Jean Noblet, engraves his tarot with many French mistakes. The French Academy was founded in 1634 with the initial objective of unifying spelling and grammatical rules of the French language. If 16 years after the creation of the academy, Jean Noblet shows real mastery of "canonized" French, Jacques Viéville still writes in approximate French. Moreover, the engraving of his tarot is less precise and qualitative than that of Noblet. In short, French master craftsmen were for some scholars but most were above all craftsmen without great education apart from learning their craft know-how. And from the beginning of the 18th century, that is very quickly after the "standardization" of the French tarot tradition (which will become Tarot called "of Marseille" much later), craftsman master craftsmen will give way to merchant master craftsmen, buying molds or having them reproduced identically. From the beginning of the 18th century, tarot of French tradition is no longer a playing card deck with a spiritual message, it has become a playing card deck, period, that is sold by thousands for export, in short it has become merchandise.
In this context, only master craftsmen like Jean Noblet or Jean Dodal could have placed a lemniscate on the Magician card. And if they had done it, they would not have discreetly hidden it in the man's hat. First because the target of these master craftsmen was the "real" people, the "common" people, mostly illiterate or unable to read, not knowing the infinity symbol. And Noblet or Dodal, when they have something to say, they say it clearly: the LL of Noblet's Magician is not a mistake, but the clear meaning that he was initiated by his master. Similarly Dodal puts a '4' on The Emperor card, to signify that he too was initiated by his master. So if Noblet and Dodal had wanted to put the infinity symbol, they would have engraved it as such. In short, seeing a lemniscate in the Magician's hat is a pure fantasy of modern times.
Come on, let's forget the initial perspective of French master craftsmen. Was Waite right to ask Pamela Smith to draw the infinity symbol above the magician's head? Waite writes in his book 'The Pictorial Key To The Tarot' that the lemniscate is the sign of the Holy Spirit, the sign of life, or again in reference to Martinism, 8 is the number of Christ. Well we must face the evidence, the day Waite wrote these words, he had really smoked or maybe simply drunk... I will stick to the usual interpretation I read: "The lemniscate evokes that the magician has infinite potential for realization" or "The lemniscate evokes that the magician has potential for infinite realization". Well already, that's more convincing. Yes, indeed, through this card we talk about "potential" indeed. But what is an "infinite potential" or an "infinite realization"? Because there, concretely, we're talking about simply finding one's place in the world, not climbing to Heaven or joining the beyond. Where is the infinite?
I'm going to be direct: simplify your life in understanding this card, forget the infinity symbol!
| Symbolic interpretation | Right direction (Positive) | Beginning, potential, youth, flexibility, learning, availability | Reverse direction (Negative) | Slow start, inexperience, incompetence, fumbling, unawareness, lack of confidence, passivity, perility |
| Psychological interpretation | Right direction (Positive) | Enthusiastic, ambitious, spontaneous, daring, mischievous, optimistic, resourceful | Reverse direction (Negative) | Idealist, reckless, immature, careless, confused, lost, naive, childish, irresponsible, suggestible |
| Advice | |
| Give meaning and direction by listening to your heart. Develop your potential. Give yourself a chance. Take charge of your life. Don't fear the future. Life is an eternal beginning. Let every day be like the first day of your life. See with fresh eyes. Listen as if you knew nothing. Decide as if you'd never been hurt. | |
| Thematic Interpretation | Love | Spontaneous meeting. Beginning of a relationship. Youthful or reckless love. Immature feelings | Work | New mission or ambition. Independent activity. Self-taught. Difficulties due to inexperience | Money | Little or no financial backing. Investment to be considered or ill-considered. Unscrupulous banker | Family / Friendships | Open relationship. Joy in family. Tensions due to tactlessness. Immature dialogue | Health | Vitality. New physical activity or therapy. Healing path. Beginner practitioner |
| Divination / Prediction | Who ? | A young man. A juggler. A candid or carefree person. A learner or beginner | Where ? | At school. At the market or fair. At the circus or a show | When ? | At the beginning of the year, at the start of the season. At the start of a trip. Very soon | How ? | Searching for meaning. Undoing behaviour. By juggling or adapting. By discovering or learning. |
In uno spirito di solidarietà e apertura, propongo tirature in partecipazione libera e consapevole (pagamento in libera coscienza) con il Lenormand o i Tarocchi. Se la mia guida vi è utile, ringraziatemi con una donazione. Fate la vostra domanda qui
A 50 anni, appassionato da più di 20 anni di tarocchi, ho aperto questo blog per condividere le mie conoscenze sull'argomento. Pratico e insegno il 'tarocco psicologico', anche se rimango uno 'studente dei tarocchi' perché non penso che si possa un giorno 'padroneggiare i tarocchi'. Imparare i tarocchi, è imparare a vivere, l'apprendimento non finisce mai... Saperne di più ...
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