The 2 snakes upon the Magician card

jmd

I was struck the other day when re-reading Waite's 'The Tarot: a Wheel of Fortune' (Occult Review, December 1909 - I have already mentioned a depiction from this publication in the thread The Sun's 'extra' ray - a suggested explanation) how 'clearly' the wand upon the table seems like a snake - and thus, to me at least, reminiscent of Moses's Staff or wand.

The cards there depicted are the earliest imprint we have of the deck, preceding the first imprint (or Pam-A) of, likewise, December 1909.

Unlike later imprints, in which that staff may be seen more ambiguously as staff and as serpent/snake, this early rendition makes it difficult to avoid seeing it snake-like, but also, therefore, snake-turned-to-staff.

Perhaps, for those who habitually use this deck, this impression of this staff-as-snake is more common... but the point here is more that the earliest imprint we have of the deck seems to suggest an intended depiction.
 

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EarthBoy

I don't get it myself. The picture is identical to the print in Waite's The Pictorial Key to the Tarot. I have studied it closely and it just looks like a stick, or branch of a tree to me.
 

firemaiden

Well it does seem to have an eye and a sort of mouth. A wooden mouth. It looks like the saw-horse in the Marvelous Land of Oz, brought to life by a sprinkling of Mombi's special powder. Alive but wooden at the same time.

Scaareeeeee.

So, would this effect our reading in anyway?

By the way, what's to prevent us from seeing a different kind of snake? The one-eyed kind?
 

jmd

The image is of course very close to both the earliest printed decks, the illustrations in the book, and the later decks. They are all, after all, supposedly from the same originals, transformed for the printing techniques of the time.

What I saw as mildly different between the printed rendition in Waite's book and this earlier Occult Review rendition are in some ways minor, but, as for the numbering of the Sun, visually significant line differences.

The staff in the book version is more staff-like to my eyes than is the image I posted above.

Quite frankly, it is not an aspect I am going to press - rather an interesting detail that to my eyes seemed 'obvious' snake-like in this rendition only (and not in either Waite's book, nor published cards I have seen).
 

Fulgour

y

If you look closely along the shaft of the Wand'
you'll see a single small leafed twig-like branch~
but what if you imagine that it may be a Letter?

Ayin or Tsade, or a "stylized" Zayin or Gimmel?
 

caridwen

We could compromise and say it looks like a snake with rigor mortise?
 

Fulgour

A Pentatuch of Suits

caridwen said:
We could compromise and say it looks like a snake with rigor mortise?
That would surely be MOSES :laugh: but at least now
he has a stick to go with his knife ~ what next?
 

Rosanne

Nah it is a Wand/Baton/staff/Rod, just as appears on all the Wand cards. But it is a smaller one than say, the 3,4,5,6,7, etc ones.
You know Moses had a rod/staff -on it's head was a Cobra- the Royal insignia of a Prince of Egypt. When he came to the campsite in the Desert- he had only to tap the wall of the Well and the Nomadic tribe that guarded and probably had ownership of the well would have allowed Moses and his followers to use the water. That was the Power of the Rod and the fear of Egypt- not a wriggly snake. The Bible was very allegorical. ~Rosanne
 

memries

It looks like a snake to me ! I would think that would imply metamorphosis and that would be what the Magician represents anyway.
 

Parzival

The 2 Snakes

Isn't this also the Kundalini or life-force which the Magician learns to use?