Think of the keywords most often associated with The Magician: Power, talent and skill, resourcefulness, manipulative, opportunistic. Often when it appears in a tarot spread, it will be identified as a very powerful card of great importance.

If we look at a few generations of tarot, particularly once it became an instrument of the occult, we typically see a man standing before a table displaying the tools of his trade. Most often, he looks downward. Sometimes he is known as Le Jongleur (the juggler) or le Bateleur (slight of hand trickster), which betrays his identity as a common street performer. His diminutive stature is further betrayed by the rank of his card,which is number one in the tarot deck. In the game of tarocchi, before occult assignations to the trumps, the higher the number on the trump cards, the greater its significance in the game. Higher numbers had the greater value, and were much more significant to the game. His appearance in play was not particularly seen as an asset.

In current times, whenever The Magician appears in a spread or is discussed online, contemporary readers tend to give this card great importance. He's often referred to a master, with gestures that suggest, 'As above so below', to allude to his having divine powers that transcend the human condition to one of spiritual enlightenment.

So how did our little troubadour elevate his stature over the centuries? 

I am not about to claim that I know the origin and secrets of the tarot. No one can claim that. But if we take a look at antiquity we will see strong parallels to each of the Major Arcana cards and how they may have contributed to tarot imagery. It also connects us to those who have gone before us, providing a bridge to the past, and continuity of time until we arrive full circle.

Many readers say they don't need to understand the history of tarot in order to read the cards and that the history of 200 BCE or longer ago, is no longer relevant to the meanings of the cards. After all, as do most things, the tarot deck has been evolving. Sometimes the titles have changed, and most obviously, the imagery has changed over the course of several hundred years. But the tarot deck has retained its essence: A seventy-eight card deck with twenty-two trumps, four suits, and a royal presence.

I'd like to argue that by understanding history and putting the cards in historical context, we achieve greater understanding of the cards which in turn gives our readings greater depth. This depth of understanding is also reflected in the art of the artist who created it, and if there is no understanding by the artist or its creator, then the reader at best gets a watered down interpretation, a superficial knowledge which is exactly what a reading is meant to avoid.

If we go back even before our first known tarot cards of 1400s Italy, we can trace the Magician's name to the Latin Magus, which itself refers to the more ancient origin of the word in the Persian cult of fire known as the Ahura Mazda. Ahura Mazda is considered the highest spiritual tier of worship. (Light and Wisdom)

So how in the millennium plus years between ancient Persia and the early Renaissance of Italy, did the significance of the 'Magician' flip flop?

We may need to take a look at Simon Magus for that explanation. He was a simple street magician of Samaria who rose in rank by tricking others into believing he had divine powers. He was eventually exposed as a false messiah, a fraud.

Skip a few hundred years or more to early Medieval Europe during the Albigensian Crusades. The highest ranking clergical position at the local level was that of Bishop, and Bishop Fulques was the Bishop at the epicenter of the Crusades. Fulques was a common man from Marseiiles, once a juggler and street performer who rose to the ranks of Bishop in Toulouse and who ultimately betrayed his people for his own gain. Once again a magician gave The Magician a bad name.  Interestingly, from the Magician's appearance on the TdM decks, the Magician is seen standing on thorns or nettles. This would have clearly been recognized by the contemporary audience as a symbol of evil and wickedness growing within the subject who was standing on it. My guess is that the low esteem of the card in the tarot deck (its low ranking number) is courtesy of those historic personalities who abused power. (This is nothing that I have read before, but a connection that I have made while trying to understand the cards.)

The lesson of the low ranking stature of The Magician is the ego. The ego gets into trouble when it uses power for personal gain. Vanity and pride are the sins of The Magician who can only be saved by being reduced to nothing, total annihilation of his sense of self until within his journey he achieves an affinity with everything when he returns to the highest tier of reality, the Essence of the Universe. Hence the lemniscate, one without boundaries in relation to time or space. One is All. (Reminiscent of the Uroboros)

Man, existing on the lowest tier of reality, transcends the limitations of his ego by denying it, and eventually through his death, he ascends to once again be joined with the divine realm. 

Understanding who The Magician could be, gives a reader greater depth of understanding when it appears in a reading. We shouldn't limit our readings to the coined keywords which may only give our readers a limited and superficial understanding of the card's meaning.

As always, I hope you have enjoyed this post and I welcome comments.

Photo from top left: Tarot of Marseille Lo Scarabeo; Oswald Wirth Tarot US Games reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902 USA.  Copyright ©(2011) by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.  Further reproduction prohibited; Rider Waite Tarot reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902 USA.  Copyright ©(1971) by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.  Further reproduction prohibited; (Sacred Rose Tarot) reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902 USA.  Copyright ©(1982) by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.  Further reproduction prohibited; The Cosmic Tarot and the Anna.K Tarot; (Cosmic Tarot) reproduced by permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, CT 06902 USA.  Copyright ©(1998) by U.S. Games Systems, Inc.  Further reproduction prohibited; and the Anna.K Tarot Llewellyn 2013

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As a kid, the first deck of tarot I ever saw was in 1968, the 1JJSwiss deck. (Visit my first blog posting titled, Forty Seven Years Later...) I mention it again because to my knowledge, it was the only deck available in the U.S. until 1971 when US Games reproduced the Rider Waite deck for American consumption.

In 1976 a high school friend came upon a copy of the Rider Waite deck (which I will from this point onward refer to the RWS). They were called tarot, just as the cards I was familiar with from Dark Shadows, but they looked so different. I was seven years older in 1976 then I was when I first saw tarot through a child's eyes, and this time, I was ready to learn more.

I high tailed my fanny to the local bookstore and bought my first deck of tarot cards, the 1JJSwiss.  Actually, it was probably more accurately the novelty store known as Spains which had unusual items that were sometimes even a bit risque. Certainly tarot was not mainstream at this time and Spains is just the store that would have carried it at this time. Remember that tarot did not become mainstream in the states for several more years. The 1JJSwiss is more or less in the tradition of the Marseille Tarot. (The Popess and Pope being replaced with Juno and Jupiter.)  Within a year or two, I also bought the only other deck available in the U.S, at that time and the only other tarot deck I had ever laid eyes on, the RWS.

Like the Marseilles deck, the 1JJSwiss did not have illustrated pips to make immediate sense of their meaning. I learned quickly that 'immediate' is not necessarily a word to use while learning tarot. Today I can say that I've been reading the cards as long as most people alive have been reading them, and I am still learning. It is a fascinating and never ending journey. But at that time, as a 17 year old, I wanted answers regarding my new fascination and there was not a lot of information available to a mainstreamed kid in suburban Philadelphia. In the time between owning my 1JJSwiss deck and then my RWS deck, I had studied as much as I could and I assigned meaning to the cards based on study as well as my own observations.

As a neophyte, and also because I was an artist, it was natural for me to start with the Major Arcana cards. They had a picture and a story to tell. It was a happy coincidence that I had recently been accepted into the Tyler School of Art of Temple University in Philadelphia at the same time and since art was my life, the art of tarot sucked me in. I bought a few books, I don't remember which ones since I now have so many books I don't remember the first. But I do remember that finding a book for the 1JJSwiss was a futile pursuit, at least in my realm of reality. Bear in mind that this was long before the internet and mall bookstores had a very limited selection of esoteric knowledge if any at all. I was learning enough to know that in the pips, the numbers and suits mattered. I assimilated meanings for each pip that jibed with what I was learning in my tarot studies and I came up with number associations. The decorative cues were minimal on the Marseille pips, but assigning them meaning was kind of easy for me because as a kid, I gave certain numbers meanings and color associations. This predated any knowledge of tarot of course, but it became useful when I started coming up with meanings for the cards with no pictures. I soon had a meaning for each pip card of each suit one through ten.

Naturally, once I bought the RWS deck, each card had a picture, and since the meanings sometimes differed from the meanings I had assigned my Marseille styled pips, I equated the two styles of tarot with learning a second language. I was bilingual as a young person due to my Spanish heritage and having lived in Spain, and so I was pretty adept at viewing the different deck styles as being slightly different languages. I never saw one or the other tarot language as superior or more pure. I saw them as different languages with more commonalities than differences and appreciated both for their intrinsic beauty. Number combinations, suit combinations and the appearance of both the arcanas give new and subtle meanings to the cards in a spread.

It wasn't until the eighties that I began to see more decks being made available in the bookstores. We couldn't open the decks to see them, in those days you had to purchase the deck to see what was inside. It was an exciting outing. You never knew what you were going to find when you got home. Still, if the packaging said tarot, you knew there were going to be 78 cards and you knew the cast of characters.

Nowadays, with so many decks available, reading each deck is an exercise in learning a new dialect of an old language. No deck, fully illustrated pips or not, speaks the exact same language even if based on one of the primary systems: Marseille, RWS, or Thoth. Each tarot artist (and I use that term to describe decks designed by artists who are actually tarot readers), adds something, a new perspective, dimension or vibe to their respective decks. But, the cards do have meanings. I am often dismayed to read some of the interpretations I come across online. My bullshit meter goes apeshit. Some people say they are reading intuitively, which I agree is part of reading well, but I sometimes fear that what is being called 'intuitive reading' has become code for lazy learning.

I also don't understand the schism that seems to be building primarily between the Marseilles and RWS camps. I don't mean that people should not have a preference. We all have our go-to-decks. But it confuses me and concerns me that increasingly, the attitude among some who proclaim allegiance to the Marseille camp is a bit snobbish. It's an immature attitude that makes me fear that the art is becoming trivialized by becoming too accessible and over exposed. Considering that the Marseilles tarot may have been heretical and created in rebellion of elitist society, it would be a pity if it succumbed to the vices it conceivably rebelled against.
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Like the original meanings of tarot cards my recent acquisition of the 1995 Lo Scarabeo out-of-print tarot deck is right here for the asking, and yet remains unknowable.

This is because I have yet to break its seal. I saved for it, made it an ambition of mine to finally own it, even kept its purchase from my more conservative husband (who did eventually find out), and yet there it sits in its factory sealed package taunting me. I bought it to study it, to use it for reading despite its incongruities with modern tarot images (which all owe a debt to it) But my conflict is that once I break the seal, its value as a collectible, though still high, will wane somewhat.

I am disappointed in myself for taking this stance. I didn't buy any of my cards as a financial investment, I bought them for my personal use. But there is no question that in recent years especially, tarot cards have become collectible items and big business. I can kick myself now for all the original boxes from some of my older tarot decks from the late 1960s and early 70s that I tossed in favor of placing a deck in a silk pouch or decorative box. Although I own some very nice older decks, quite a few of them are without their original packaging and therefore are of less value to a collector.

In the early days, the only tarot deck available in the U.S. prior to 1971 was the 1JJSwiss tarot deck which was the first deck I owned. (See my blog entry titled, 'Forty Seven Years Later') And yeah, I tossed that box, sigh.

I bought tarot cards to use them in readings. I am also an artist, so I bought multiple decks in appreciation of their art. I never bought decks based on having an awesome collection in later years, though that is what has happened.

My primary reason for buying the Sola Busca, the subject of this blog, is because in addition to being a reader, I am a lover of tarot history and the Sola Busca plays a huge role in the history of tarot as we have come to know it today. 

Buying this deck completes my core collection. Sure, I own many, many decks, but there are a few decks I could have lived without. Not so of the cards in my core collection.

So what cards do I consider to be in my core collection?

The Visconti Sforza is the oldest extant deck of tarot and dates to the mid 1400s. I purchased the restored Visconti deck by lo Scarabeo because my purpose was to use them for reading purposes. And also out of respect and awe of the first prototype of all tarot cards. It was a magnificent handpainted deck of playing cards for a wealthy and noble family of Milan. The pips of the Visconti deck have beautiful decorative but not illustrated pips.

By 1491, the Sola Busca Tarocchi deck was created, and is the oldest known complete deck created using a printing process. The images were transferred from copper engravings. What makes them particularly significant in the world of tarot, is that they were the first deck of tarocchi to fully illustrate the pip cards. To my knowledge it is not known if the images had esoteric significance at the time of its creation, but it is known that they greatly influenced esoteric meaning and illustrations assigned to the cards by future creators of tarot decks intended for divination or as a spiritual path. It is evident that prior to the RWS deck, created in 1909, Pamela Colman Smith was introduced to the Sola Busca deck when black and white images of it were on display in the British museum in 1907. A comparison of several cards of the sola Busca and the RWS deck bear this out. Pixie was definitely familiar with the imagery and borrowed heavily from the Sola Busca when creating her imagery on the cards she created with Waite.

The other significant cards in my core collection are: the Marseille Deck, (mid 1600s and significant to me for their possible assignations by those who may have attempted to preserve the story of the Cathars or other mysterious agenda); the Grand Etteilla Egyptian Gypsy Tarot Deck (early 1790s) which is the first known deck created expressly for divination; the RWS deck which I own in multiple publications. This is the deck that most modern decks of tarot are indebted to; and lastly the Aleister Crowley Thoth deck for its combination of disparate disciplines to communicate each card's meanings.

Increasingly, appreciation for the Marseilles style deck is responsible for more modern decks being created in styles reminiscent of the style Marseille and gaining in popularity to the long reigning tradition of RWS.

In owning the Sola Busca and completing my core collection, I kind of feel that any tarot cards I buy from this point onward are just superfluous and part of my tarot addiction, unless one completely makes its mark on the tarot community in the way that each of the aforementioned decks have.

I have read that the Sola Busca are not easy to read since its creator took liberties in designing this particular tarocchi deck. It does not follow the traditional order of the major arcana in the Sforza deck which came earlier or the Marseilles deck which came later. My guess is that artistic license was taken to create scenes as they were were commissioned by the noble family to tell the story of their familial line, to make known or commemorate their family history.

I surely have digressed from the point of this blog which is: Should I or should I not open the factory seal of my Sola Busca deck and use these cards? My heart says yes, but my mind says no. I will surely keep you posted.
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The first time I ever laid eyes on tarot cards was 1968. In fact, it was the first time many Americans ever saw a deck of tarot because it was the first time it ever appeared on American television.

Can you guess where? It was the 1966 - 1971 daytime soap, Dark Shadows. The deck used in that episode is the deck shown above, the  1JJSwiss Tarot deck.

Four cards were referenced, which I have recreated in the aforementioned photo.

In those episodes (#368 and #369) A tarot reader read cards for Barnabas Collins. The reader was an incarnation of Grayson Hall, who most often played Dr. Julia. In this episode she was the Countess, a relation to his beloved Josette.

Several of the cards were laid out for a reading and the Countess Identified Barnabus as represented by the Magician. The Countess identified the lemniscate above the Magician's head as a sign that Barnabus would live forever. She then focuses our attention to the High Priestess (which in this deck is titled Junon) who the Countess identifies as Josette. Then she shutters, removes the cards from the table. She says placed next to Josette's card is The Wicked Woman. She exclaims that there is a wicked woman in the house. We never see the card representing The Wicked Woman and who knows which of the tarot cards was meant to represent her. Probably one of the reversed queens. The countess also points out La Mort, and La Maison De Dieu, more commonly known as: Death, and The Tower. As for the wicked woman in the house, we all know it was a reference to Angelique, the astoundingly beautiful evil nemesis of Barnabas. The woman (witch) who is responsible for cursing him and turning him into a vampire.

More than likely, this deck was used because the Rider Waite deck had not yet become available in the U.S. and this particular deck was the only tarot deck available in the U.S. at the time. This deck was originally published in 1831. The Rider Waite Smith deck, as it is more commonly referred to today, was not available for purchase in the U. S. until 1971 and the RWS deck did make later appearances on the show after the 1971 season.

I personally believe that Dark Shadows was the single most great influence in sparking interest in tarot to a whole new generation of young people who in turn are now the master elder readers of today, at least in the United States. I believe Dark Shadows is responsible for this country's renewed interest in tarot ever since.

I was ten years old when these cards appeared on TV, and I was glued to my set. Aside from being addicted to the show which I watched religiously with all my neighborhood friends, this show and these particular cards were my first initiation into the study and nearly life-long practice of tarot.

In fact, this 1JJ Swiss deck is the first tarot deck I ever bought and is the same deck which I used to photograph for this blog. It remains my sentimental favorite from among many dozens of tarot decks in my collection.

I did not begin reading cards at age ten, but that's when they were on my radar. I began reading and studying these wonderful cards in earnest in 1976.
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