f. silvestris
Venicebard, I appreciate the time and trouble you've taken in starting your thread - I'll stop badgering you about individual points and leave you to set your ideas out fairly. Best, Felis
MM ~ Raven Grimassi also included it in Wiccan Magick as the earliest example of the Magician with the four tools of Western Occultism. When I wrote him about it, however, he replied that while it is true that the original card was lost long ago, in the early 19th century, images were discovered of several of the cards, including the Magician. He says, "I'd have to check my notes as I do not recall if they were engravings or actual cards, but I do recall that color was absent. The reconstruction of the Magician card by Scapini was actually coloring the card, not designing it. People apparently misunderstood the report that Scapini reconstructed the missing Magician card to mean that he created its current imagery. All he did was add color to the old image." All of this may sound farfetched to a lot of you, but it is at least worth looking into. I have a lot of faith in Mr. Grimassi, he's very ethical and has no need to fabricate this since there are many other things proving the antiquity of magic and Witchcraft. In the 1970's, everyone thought Tarot was Egyptian and you couldn't tell them otherwise. Let's stay open. BB, Stellaf. silvestris said:Stella, I think you might have the Magician card in the Cary-Yale deck printed by US Games in mind – I’m afraid that’s not an original card, Stuart Kaplan commissioned newly painted cards to ‘complete’ the deck (you’re in good company – Rachel Pollack included one of the new cards in Vol 1 of 78 Degrees of Wisdom as an example of a Renaissance trump).