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Description
(2008) 5 1/2" x 10 1/2" Pencil on Paper. Processed and framed in Photoshop.

The Magus is the next card in the sequence and traditionally shows a young, dark-haired man behind a table entertaining his audience with a shell-game. The old Tarot de Marseille called him "le bateleur" which translates to "the juggler". And that's what the magus is at the lowest level, someone who manipulates his audience, imposes his will and separates them from their money - a trickster.

At the most powerful level he is man in control of the physical world - the scientist who is able to split the atom and relase energy beyond belief. More modern cards therefore surround the Magus with symbols of the four elements, a wand, a cup, a knife and a pentacle. The Magus has elements of the archetypal hero, the man who must go on a quest of transformation to learn ultimately the lesson that is embodied in the last card of the majors, the World.

That lesson consists of the understanding that control is an illusion, that true mastery does not need control, because it has synchronicity. An individual's true will is in harmony with the universe and does not need to force itself on the elementary plane. The Magus stands before the four elements, separated by a table. The World dances among the stars and the elements dance with her.

I decided to go with Harry for both the traditionally male Magus, but also for the traditionally female World. When Harry starts out he has to overcome his nemesis in order to survive. He has to impose his will and destroy or he will be destroyed himself. In short, he is forced to play Voldemort's game, because Voldemort picked him out.

I therefore drew Harry in a pose of active defense surrounded by the horcruxes instead of the elementary symbols. These are the things he must master, control and destroy. For the World I will have him again, but this time surrounded by the deathly hallows.

With these powerful magical objects Harry does not have a predetermined agenda (seek and destroy) and he can make wise choices - he refuses the power of the elder wand, and unlike Voldemort he does not want to mess with death - he only chooses his father's cloak. Also the way the hallows helped Harry had very little to do with control and force, and a lot with synchonicity, especially with regards to the elder wand which came to him by a series of amazing coincidences, a series, that interestingly Voldemort in his obsession with control never quite unravelled.

So here Harry stands at the beginning of his journey, the archetypal hero at the start of his quest, still under the illusion that only complete control and mastery will get him to where he needs to be.

Description
(2008) 5 1/2" x 10 1/2" Pencil on Paper. Processed and framed in Photoshop.

The Magus is the next card in the sequence and traditionally shows a young, dark-haired man behind a table entertaining his audience with a shell-game. The old Tarot de Marseille called him "le bateleur" which translates to "the juggler". And that's what the magus is at the lowest level, someone who manipulates his audience, imposes his will and separates them from their money - a trickster.

At the most powerful level he is man in control of the physical world - the scientist who is able to split the atom and relase energy beyond belief. More modern cards therefore surround the Magus with symbols of the four elements, a wand, a cup, a knife and a pentacle. The Magus has elements of the archetypal hero, the man who must go on a quest of transformation to learn ultimately the lesson that is embodied in the last card of the majors, the World.

That lesson consists of the understanding that control is an illusion, that true mastery does not need control, because it has synchronicity. An individual's true will is in harmony with the universe and does not need to force itself on the elementary plane. The Magus stands before the four elements, separated by a table. The World dances among the stars and the elements dance with her.

I decided to go with Harry for both the traditionally male Magus, but also for the traditionally female World. When Harry starts out he has to overcome his nemesis in order to survive. He has to impose his will and destroy or he will be destroyed himself. In short, he is forced to play Voldemort's game, because Voldemort picked him out.

I therefore drew Harry in a pose of active defense surrounded by the horcruxes instead of the elementary symbols. These are the things he must master, control and destroy. For the World I will have him again, but this time surrounded by the deathly hallows.

With these powerful magical objects Harry does not have a predetermined agenda (seek and destroy) and he can make wise choices - he refuses the power of the elder wand, and unlike Voldemort he does not want to mess with death - he only chooses his father's cloak. Also the way the hallows helped Harry had very little to do with control and force, and a lot with synchonicity, especially with regards to the elder wand which came to him by a series of amazing coincidences, a series, that interestingly Voldemort in his obsession with control never quite unravelled.

So here Harry stands at the beginning of his journey, the archetypal hero at the start of his quest, still under the illusion that only complete control and mastery will get him to where he needs to be.