The Magician: a writing excercise

[Anonymous No.14704913]

What does this card make you think of? A person you know or from history? A feeling? An idea? A book you read? Something shameful you did? Spill your heart out anons. Feel free to use your prettiest or ugliest prose.

[Anonymous No.14705123]

bump

[Anonymous No.14705157]

>>14704913
Potential, purposeful action is possible, all elements at their disposal, innumerable paths all unchosen waiting to be pursued and closing quickly.

[Anonymous No.14705168]

>>14705157
>innumerable paths all unchosen waiting to be pursued and closing quickly.
what's going on big guy?

[Anonymous No.14705219]

I want to conjure up a spell to have sex.

[Anonymous No.14705228]

>>14704913
A poet and scientist, and a failure; rational but full of unnatural hope (he knows the price of the future because he already paid more than he possessed). Empty, and yet focused to keep the lives of others in balance. Ultimately, a great fool in disguise.

[Anonymous No.14705244]

Concentration without effort

[Anonymous No.14705265]

>>14704913
Worth noting that the original name, "Bateleur", means something like juggler, or street performer. Magician is a bit of a misleading translation, because it conjures the idea of a master of magical art (although stage magician is not so far from bateleur I guess).

Look at the table, with the various tools, the cups, the dice. The Bateleur is a player, a curious, ingenious child trying out possibilities.He's at the beginning of his journey and reviews the tools he might have to use in the process.

It's commonly said that all cards in the Tarot are different iterations of the Bateleur, different roles or lives played by the Bateleur. He's really the yet-inderterminate character whose story is about to unfold with the rest of the Tarot.

[Anonymous No.14705276]

>>14705168
Paralyzing indecision birthed from directionless drive, a lack of self confidence, and fear of failure. I'll be finishing my degree in the next few months and I'm not sure where to look for
gainful employment, my savings is dwindling and when its gone all expenses will be coming out of my partner's pay which could understandably lead to resentment and us drifting apart.

[Anonymous No.14705306]

>>14705276
What's your degree in?

[Anonymous No.14705319]

>>14705306
Political Science

[Anonymous No.14705324]

>>14705265
>It's commonly said that all cards in the Tarot are different iterations of the Bateleur, different roles or lives played by the Bateleur. He's really the yet-inderterminate character whose story is about to unfold with the rest of the Tarot.
That's genuinely fucking interesting. Probably not an accident that he is card number one, since every number is really just one repeating itself, i.e. 2=1+1, 3=1+1+1, etc. Thanks for sharing, anon

[Anonymous No.14705354]

>>14705319
Are you considering Law School?

[Anonymous No.14705370]

>>14704913
Based tarotposter

[Anonymous No.14705452]

>>14705354
Going in I was, but the more I learn about law the more anti law I lean. The whole structure feels nearly unjustifiable, generally unenforceable, and is definitely incapable of keeping up with society's rapidly increasing complexity. Not sure I could live with myself taking that route at this point, no matter how lucrative it is.

[Anonymous No.14705818]

>>14705452
I respect that you're a man of principle, but you should know that being principled is going to make your life hard as fuck

[Anonymous No.14706041]

>>14705818
It will, maybe I'll cave, but hard mode provides a sweeter victory

[Anonymous No.14706277]

bump

[Anonymous No.14706383]

>>14704913
He must be truly skilled in arcane ways to have trained a snake to guard his dice.

[Anonymous No.14706441]

>>14705265

i think main commonalities, would be the concept of play.
Whether it be the legit magician, or street performer.
they both seek to mess with perceptions.

I wonder though does reality define the magician
or does the magician define reality?
does the magician even care?
is reality just an outward expression of inner desires?
who desires who more? Does reality desire liars?
or do liars desire reality?

Is the magician still playing by the rules?
is he even playing the same game?

[Anonymous No.14706906]

bump

[Anonymous No.14707241]

bump

[Anonymous No.14707339]

>>14705324
Thanks anon. There's always plenty of things to say about any Tarot card. For instance, the shape of his hat is deliberately made to look like the infinite sign, which was first used around the time the Tarot was being cemented. It represents the Bateleur limitless potential, especially spiritual potential. Note also the variety of tools on his table -dice, cup, knives, bag with plants, balls : no other Tarot card remotely attain that level of detail. And those tools can each be thought as a metaphor for the fundamental operations of the mind -divding, cutting, moving, bringing together- it's like a glimpse at an alphabet that is both practical and speculative, that makes up both physical and mental human abilities.
There's also a sexual sign, but implicit: the stick in the right hand aligns with the ring in the left hand, and the bateleur is not looking at them. Because, see, the Bateleur is still a child. The Tarot can be read, among other thing, as the journey of the occult initiate, and as the life of the Christ (two forms of the same thing really). The Bateleur is both the initiate at the start of his journey, who still has everything to learn, and the infant Jesus. So sex for him is still but a potentiality, if a powerful one (note also the leaf or tree in the distance conveniently positioned between his legs, and the table hiding his groin: sex is everwhere here, but always distant or hidden).
Other things that denote the Bateleur as an offspring fresh off some primordial origin: his curly blond hair (a sign of youth), his slanted downward look -the bateleur is looking at his past, inscrutable in the distance. If you're ready to go that far the infinite hat itself looks suspiciously like an oyster.

But that's not only locker-room analysis. The duality of sexes hints at the achemic duality of the world. In the bateleur it is still implicit, improperly realized and not brought out or made actual. In the XXIth card, the World (the last card if you exclude the Fool which isn't numbered and is out of the normal cycle), the androgyny is made explicitly, a testament to the accomplishment of the Bateleur, who has actualized within himself the duality of the comos (as above, so below, as in the macrocosm, so in the microcosm: the initiate strives to align is inner organization with celestial harmony). The World, then, is precisely when the initiate has succeded to make a world out of himself and this implies in some sense androgyny, self-completion: the accomplished intiate is no longer tormented by the opposition of sexes, nor is he tempted by it, or even oblivious to it (as is the bateleur), he is himself that duality finally made coherent and whole. Thus the first and last card echo each other, like the draft echoes the building and vice versa.

[Anonymous No.14707341]

>>14704913
In my mind, the magician is the schemer, the layabout, the revolutionary, the poisoner and the healer, the man who could change the world if he wished but instead aspires to a higher calling or a petty dispute. He is in the hands of Iago, putting money in purses and plucking branches from willows; He is in the eyes of Hamlet, gazing into broken mirrors and the shadows of graves; he is in the humor of Ishmael, pulling ever onward into the sea, leaving the life of the land behind; he is in the heart of Dedalus, the words of Adam, the voice of Satan. The Magician is pride and The Magician is humility.

[Anonymous No.14707352]

Who is the magician that makes the grass green?

[Anonymous No.14707368]

>>14707339
Give me some reading reccs on the Tarot. You sound like you've been around the Tarot block, if you catch my drift.

[Anonymous No.14707427]

>>14707368
Eliphas Levi is a definite reference. Read Secrets of Magic but beware, it's not a close image analysis, more of a spiritual-magic doctrine where each chapter correspond in spirit to a Tarot arcane. For instance he'll tell you that the number 4 represents cosmic balance (think of the 4 cardinal points, this is something that also appears in chinese mythology for instance), which mean balance of the four elements and the four directions, but also balance between the visible and invisible world. And the fourth tarot card is the Emperor, who indeed is a figure of incontested power and authority. So more generally the Emperor means "peace in the kingdom through lgitimate authority".
That's an example, but Levi (who is not jewish btw, his official name is Alphonse Louis) goes much more in detail.

You can also read Jodorowsky, Aleister Crowley, and the anonymous Meditations on te Tarot.

[Anonymous No.14707476]

>>14707427
Thank you, I've only read Levi's Transcendental Magic, but I loved it.

[Anonymous No.14707486]

>>14707427
I can't find a book with that exact title, did you mean this one
https://www.amazon.com/Great-Secret-Occultism-Unveiled/dp/0877289387/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=secrets+of+magic+levi&qid=1581474926&s=books&sr=1-1

[Anonymous No.14708020]

bumping

[Anonymous No.14708041]

It makes me think of you OP.

You’re being really dumb by doing follow up questions to your initial question.

By doing that you’re suggesting ideas apart from the ones the card evoques by itself. Take it in consideration for the next post

[Anonymous No.14708062]

>>14707368
The Creative Tarot: A Modern Guide to an Inspired Life.

While it doesn't get deep into the history of tarot, I provides a very clear and useful way to use tarot cards and what they symbolize.

[Anonymous No.14708108]

>>14708041
Rude. But I'll take that into account.

[Anonymous No.14709113]

bump

[Anonymous No.14709382]

>What does this card make you think of?
it makes me think of bumping the thread before i go to bed. nighty night /lit/

[Anonymous No.14709714]

>>14708108
Sorry, I fucking hate my ex

[Anonymous No.14711004]

>>14704913

[Anonymous No.14711067]

>>14711004
That’s stupid
1. Cows don’t use tools
2. Cows don’t stand up
Wtf is the point of this bullshit?

[Anonymous No.14711079]

bump

[Anonymous No.14711081]

The magician is the familiar of the creator. That who calls pictures from the void by taking raw forms, shapes, and colors from the unfathomable depths of imagination. To the magician the cosmos is a blank canvas on which he paints. Emptiness is pregnant with possibilities. Possibility is his medium. Power to craft a world, to draw something from nothing, to wield the tools of a god, that is his prerogative.

[Anonymous No.14711104]

>>14704913
eclectism

[Anonymous No.14711750]

bump

[Anonymous No.14712160]

bump

[Anonymous No.14712336]

bump

[Anonymous No.14712349]

>>14704913
the role of chance in one's life

[Anonymous No.14713045]

>>14707486
Still waiting on a response to this

[Anonymous No.14713271]

>>14704913
For some reason the card made he think of Robert Browning’s poem about Caliban on Setebos.

Caliban is playing pretend that he is Prospero. Some blinded, tortured sea creature that Caliban keeps as a pet he calls Caliban

[Anonymous No.14713288]

>>14705244
Based Meditations poster!

[Anonymous No.14713433]

>>14704913
Even with endless possibilities before us, we tend to focus on those out of reach.

[Anonymous No.14713822]

bump

[Anonymous No.14714416]

bump

[Anonymous No.14714643]

>>14704913
It makes me think of the card as shown.

[Anonymous No.14715224]

bump

[Anonymous No.14715740]

bump

[Anonymous No.14716157]

bump

[Anonymous No.14716357]

bump

[Anonymous No.14717656]

>>14704913
sixteen

[Anonymous No.14718036]

bump

[Anonymous No.14718406]

bump

[Anonymous No.14718847]

bump

[Anonymous No.14718912]

>>14711004
I am absolutely baffled by what the joke is supposed to be here
What in the fuck

[Anonymous No.14719789]

bump

[Anonymous No.14719797]

>>14704913
cultivation

[Anonymous No.14720219]

bump

[Anonymous No.14720610]

bump

[Anonymous No.14720867]

>>14704913
The illusionist on the streets, rather than using his magick for trickery, he uses his magick for entertainment. Giving laughes and joy to innocent children and passers-by. Dedicating his craft to fun and games for the enjoyment of others. Where an illusionist manipulates others, a magician gives to others.

[Anonymous No.14720934]

Skill, diplomacy, address: sickness, pain, loss, disaster, self-confidence, will; the Querent (if male).

Reversed: Physician, Magus, mental disease, disgrace, disquiet

[Anonymous No.14721027]

>>14720934
A youthful figure in the robe of a magician, having the countenance of divine Apollo, with smile of confidence and shining eyes. Above his head is the mysterious sign of the Holy Spirit, the sign of life, like an endless cord, forming the figure 8 in a horizontal position (infinity symbol). About his waist is serpent cincture, the serpent appears to devour it's own tail. This is familiar to most as a conventional symbol of eternity, but here it indicates more especially the eternity of attainment in the spirit. In the Magician's right hand is a wand raised towards heaven, while the left hand is pointing to the earth. This dual sign is known in very high grades of the instituted mysteries; it shews the descent of grace, virtue and light, drawn from things above and derived to things below. The suggestion throughout is therefore the possession and communication it the powers and gifts of the spirit. On the table in front of the Magician are the symbols of the four Tarot suits, signifying the elements of natural life, which lie like counters before the adept, and he adapts them as he wills. Beneath are roses and lilies, the flos campi and lilium convallium, changed into garden flowers, to shew the culture of aspiration. This card signifies the divine motive in man, reflecting God, the will in the liberation of its union with that which is above. It is also the unity of individual being on all planes, and in a very high sense it is thought, in the fixation thereof. With further reference to what I have called the sign of life 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 Martinism, 8 is the number of Christ.

*Mastery over word, mind, and matter. The ability to turn ideas into actions, handle problems, and control one's life. The initiation of great projects, new works, or a new way of life. Eloquent and moving communication. Arcane and eldritch technologies.

[Anonymous No.14721688]

>>14704913
I'm a magician, but I'm ballin like a doge
Got a bateleur in a cage
Andrea Gritti in a rage
Man, I'm a real venetian in the range rove
Like Loredan, I take the stage
I'm the real deal, I'm the doge