Meaning and interpretation Bateleur / Magician

The historical juggler: a street artist

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.

The Trickster archetype

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 church's vision: a servant of the devil

The medieval Church viewed jugglers and their shows very unfavorably. For religious authorities, these men who created illusions and deceived the senses accomplished the work of the Devil, the great deceiver. Their sleight of hand was considered a form of black magic, a blasphemous imitation of true divine miracles.

Preachers regularly denounced these "makers of illusions" in their sermons. They reminded the faithful that only God could accomplish true wonders, and that those who claimed to make objects disappear and reappear necessarily used demonic powers. This mistrust from the Church partly explains why jugglers remained outcasts, excluded from respectable society.

Paradoxically, this religious opposition reinforced the appeal of their shows. The public came to see these "dangerous" men who dared to defy the established order. The juggler embodied a form of forbidden freedom, that of playing with reality and questioning what seemed obvious.

The view of social classes

The upper classes despised jugglers, whom they considered as vagabonds without honor. These street artists had neither land, nor master, nor guild to protect them. They lived day to day, depending on the generosity of an audience often as poor as themselves.

This social marginality was reinforced by their nomadic lifestyle. In a society where everyone had their defined place - peasant, craftsman, noble, cleric - the juggler escaped all classification. He belonged to no stable group, respected no established hierarchy. This freedom frightened as much as it fascinated.

Bourgeois and merchants were particularly wary of jugglers, because they knew their deception techniques. They knew that these skillful men could easily swindle the naive with their rigged games. The juggler represented for them everything to avoid: instability, dishonesty, the absence of social respectability.

Urban regulation: between tolerance and repression

Urban authorities adopted varying attitudes toward jugglers. Some cities tolerated them in exchange for paying a tax, called "place fee". These temporary authorizations allowed jugglers to set up in public squares during fairs or markets. The city thus collected additional revenue while controlling these suspicious activities.

Other cities, on the contrary, purely and simply forbade the presence of jugglers. Authorities feared public disorder, thefts that often accompanied their shows, and the harmful influence they could exert on the population. Jugglers were then chased away by guards, forced to seek refuge in other more welcoming places.

This legal instability reinforced the nomadic character of jugglers. They had to constantly move, adapting their itineraries to local regulations and opportunities of the moment. This life of permanent wandering deeply marked their identity and their vision of the world.

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.

The occultist transformation

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.

The awakening of the apprentice: potential within reach

Positive aspects

• Creativity and Manifestation: The Magician represents the creative impulse and the ability to transform ideas into reality. He reminds us that the four elements necessary for action are already available.
• New Beginnings and Opportunities: Symbol of promising starts, he carries the energy of initiative and beginner's luck, opening the way to new perspectives.
• Confidence: His posture affirms a quiet confidence and adaptability in the face of challenges.
• Energy and Personal Development: He invites us to exploit vital energy, to remain curious and enthusiastic, and to learn by shaping one's own path.

Negative aspects

• Manipulation and Deception: Diverted from his noble purpose, the Magician uses his skill to manipulate, deceive or feed illusions.
• Instability and Scattering: His energy, poorly channeled, can push him to scatter, to flutter or to abandon his projects before completion.
• Impulsiveness and Immaturity: Acting without thinking or giving in to the whims of the moment leads to hasty mistakes and a lack of wisdom in choices.
• Blockages and Unexploited Potential: When he doubts or turns away from his goal, his talents remain fallow and his creativity becomes blocked.

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!