Editing The Magician (tarot card) (section)

== Iconography ==
[[Image:Jean Dodal Tarot trump 01.jpg|thumb|''Le Bateleur'', from the [[Tarot of Marseille]]]]
[[Image:01 Le Bateleur, Oswald Wirth Tarot Deck 1889.jpg|thumb|right|''Le Bateleur'' from [[Oswald Wirth]]'s 1889 tarot deck]]
In French ''Le Bateleur'', "the [[Charlatan|mountebank]]" or the "[[sleight of hand]] artist", is a practitioner of [[stage magic]].  The Italian tradition calls him ''Il Bagatto'' or ''Il Bagatello''.  The [[Mantegna Tarocchi]] image that would seem to correspond with the Magician is labeled ''Artixano'', the [[Artisan]]; he is the second lowest in the series, outranking only the Beggar.  Visually the 18th-century woodcuts reflect earlier iconic representations, and can be compared to the free artistic renditions in the 15th-century [[Visconti-Sforza tarot deck|hand-painted tarots]] made for the Visconti and Sforza families.  In the painted cards attributed to [[Bonifacio Bembo]], the Magician appears to be playing with [[cups and balls]].{{sfnp|Butler|1975}}

In esoteric decks, occultists, starting with [[Oswald Wirth]], turned ''Le Bateleur'' from a mountebank into a [[magus]].  The curves of the magician's hat brim in the Marseilles image are similar to the esoteric deck's mathematical sign of infinity. Similarly, other symbols were added. The essentials are that the magician has set up a temporary table outdoors, to display items that represent the suits of the [[Minor Arcana]]: Cups, Coins, Swords (as knives). The fourth, the baton (Clubs) he holds in his hand. The baton was later changed to represent a literal magician's [[wand]].{{sfnp|Butler|1975}}

The illustration of the tarot card "The Magician" from the [[Rider–Waite tarot deck]] was developed by [[A. E. Waite]] for the [[Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn]] in 1910. Waite's magician features the infinity symbol over his head, and an [[ouroboros]] belt, both symbolizing eternity. The figure stands among a garden of flowers, to imply the manifestation and cultivation of desires.{{sfnp|Gray|1988}}