I - Le Bateleur

[BreathingSince72]

“Embody the image and you become a BATELEUR, you enter directly into the state represented by the Arcanum, a state of ready openness where all things are possible.”

From Seeing the World: Tarot Signposts on the Path to Perception by Jean-Claude Flornoy and translated by David Vine p 69

Before him on the table, the tricks of his trade. Oh and the Bateleur can be quite the trickster! His sleight of hand can twist the fate of the unsuspecting observer with ease. Now you see it, now you don’t. The Bateleur is fully present and can presently make a fool of anyone. Though he could, it is not likely that he would...a man’s got to eat, after all.

Presently, we see this card from the Claude Burdel by Yves Reynaud and the Jean Dodal by Jean-Claude Flornoy. When reading in the TdM, it is common to regard a character who is looking to the left as one who is remembering. In this case, the gaze likely has more to do with distraction than with remembering. His left hand is holding a wand above shoulder height, while his right hand holds a tiny object below his belt line. The combination of the raised left hand and the eyes concentrating on something to the left really do have the effect of making the viewer forget about his right hand. What is he holding? I’ve read suggestions that this might be an acorn, fruit of the sacred tree of the druids...a hint that sacred teaching is encoded in the tarot. But then, it may simply be the form that hides beneath the cups and astonishes the viewer when they cannot guess under which cup it hides.

Let’s return to the opening quotation about embodying the image. How does the Bateleur occupy his space ? What do these objects on the table mean? The most obvious answer is that this street performer occupies his space in a way that commands attention, or at least intrigue. The items on the table, in the most literal sense, are tools he uses for his performance...his props. But I would like to suggest that if this character is one who is open to all possibilities, then these objects may represent all of the gifts, talents, or resources needed to meet those possibilities.

When you look at the Bateleur, what do you see? How do you occupy your space and how open and prepared are YOU to meet all possibilities?

[Joan Marie]

I'm go with the idea of street "magicians" here for a minute because that's what he reminds me of.

Magicians rely on an audience who value their own cleverness, a lot. Many people who would stop and watch a magician perform tricks with props, feel pretty certain they can see how the trick is done. This is how the Shell game, (with the ball and 3 cups) or its counterpart 3-card Monte work. People always think they can walk up and outsmart the guy who is doing this all day every day. It's hubris.

I guess it would depend on the position of the card as to whether it was telling me I will succeed by letting other people think they will, taking advantage of their ego (a bit Machiavellian) OR is someone doing this to me? Am I the one about to trip over my own ego and fall into the trap of one who is cleverer than me?

[The Hermits Haven]

To carry on the imagery of the street magician, I'd have to agree with the sense of hubris and deceit with Le Bateleur. Magicians thrive on the ability to trick and deceive their audience. It's the very goal, and feeds into their ego further. The magician shows us there's nothing in his hands, reassuring the audience that he is trustworthy, all while the key to the trick is hidden up a voluminous sleeve.

Everything is not always as it seems with le Bateleur.

[Charlie Brown]

Everything is not always as it seems with le Bateleur.

One practice that I like is, when appropriate, to draw an extra card underneath Le Bateleur in order the see what he's trying to hide under the table.

[Diana]

One practice that I like is, when appropriate, to draw an extra card underneath Le Bateleur in order the see what he's trying to hide under the table.

--- and said table has only three legs.

The magic "wand" and the little "round thingy" that he holds in his hands are found again in the arcanum of Le Monde (World).

Le Monde XXI TdM.jpg (78.07 KiB) Viewed 2517 times

Edited to add: The Bateleur is not a magician. A Bateleur was more like a public amuser. If anything, he would be an apprentice alchemist. Just starting with his first attempts but clumsily. He doesn't have a teacher yet, a master who can instruct him. This should perhaps be expanded upon in another post when I have the time.

The Bateleurs were pals with the Troubadours who played such an important role in the society of the time.

Magician is a Golden Dawn thing. They liked magicians. They even dressed up like them sometimes.

[Charlie Brown]

In English, the word magician is sufficiently broad to cover both cards, although it's true, to my understanding, that the word bateleur is, absent context, probably best translated as juggler. The problem with that is, in English (or certainly American English at the very least), the term implies solely the manipulation of balls, etc. in the air.

For Golden Dawn derived magicians, Crowley, etc. have used the term magus as a descriptor but Sorcerer or Wizard would be the most applicable terms in common use today. His magic is "an extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source." (Merriam-Webster) The stock-in-trade of Le Bateleur: slight-of-hand tricks, the old Ball & Cup, dexterity illusions. etc. do, in English, fall under the rubric of "street magic." The implements for these tricks: doctored card decks, false bottom boxes, and the like, are purchased at places called "magic shops."

[Diana]

In English, the word magician is sufficiently broad to cover both cards, although it's true, to my understanding, that the word bateleur is, absent context, probably best translated as juggler. The problem with that is, in English (or certainly American English at the very least), the term implies solely the manipulation of balls, etc. in the air.

That's the huge linguistic problem. There is no way one can translate Bateleur. It's specific to the language of the times and bateleurs no longer exist. Juggler is the best people came up with. They'd have been better off not trying to translate it. I'm serious.

The very early cards (the ones that the TdM drew their origins) did sometimes depict in a more forceful manner that the guy was sort of, like Joan Marie described him, a "street magician". But really, it's more correct to say "a public amuser" but that's not a name for a card, is it.

I was just trying to make a point with my post for people who may be reading this thread, even in the future, and who may not realise that the RWS and Thoth Magician cannot be equated with the Bateleur in the Tarot of Marseilles. They have rather different roles.

[Diana]

I was highly unsatisfied with my post that I made above. I thought there must be something more to know about the Bateleur than that he was a sort of entertainer/magician/juggler/mountebank/trickster. We could throw Loki in while we're about it.

And at last I found something of interest. It was in French, so I translated it for you. I also found something else but am too tired to translate something else tonight (even with google's great help, it takes time. Also it's soon midnight). I'll find time at a later date.

THE BATELEUR

In the Middle Ages, the bateleur was a kind of entertainer/mountebank with no well-defined character. In the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, these entertainers were very popular, even honoured, either in the public square or in the castles. As a generic name, these public entertainers were called jugglers. They were nomads, and sometimes accompanied the trouvères (translators note : a trouvère was a medieval epic poet) or the troubadours, sometimes they travelled alone. They also did sleights of hand and also sometimes exhibited wild or exotic animals. Showmen, they were what we now call fairground artists. Jugglers and bateleurs were an essential element of public festivals and also great seigneurial feasts. The word "basteleur" seems to have been created around the thirteenth century.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth century, the bateleurs had not yet entirely disappeared. Mezeray (Translator's note: I assume they mean this guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A ... C3%A9zeray) tells us that on some days the fools went down the streets on wagons, and mounted on "scaffolds", singing saucy buffoonery, shouting mockeries, grimacing in all kinds of postures, and in all manner imitating the profession of the bateleurs. There were, in fact, professional bateleurs and were, along with other similar professions, members of the fairground corporation. They were popular entertainers, forming part of the comic theatre of the time, but not the most disciplined and distinguished part. Now, in the Middle Ages, comic theatre, although it had not yet found its way, was very popular. It spoke against the rigours of Parliament, survived the Mysteries, and even became a battleground for political parties.

Corporations didn’t exist only in Paris, but also in Toulouse, Rouen, Orleans, and elsewhere. The fairground bateleurs formed one of these corporations. Comic theatre having been born on the public square, we see here the great role played by bateleurs and jugglers at a time when farce was so popular, and before the advent of the real comedy.

It should be noted that the bateleur was no more than the juggler a character of theatre. Harlequin, for example, is a jester of the Italian comedy (Commedia dell'arte), which designates his costume of disparate pieces. The bateleur is also a jester, but born in France and without any special costume or genre or genre. His job is to make people laugh, but he obeys no rules, and does not constitute any type. With the disappearance of the theatre corporations, bateleurs ceased to exist.

[Diana]

Of course, what is curious about our Bateleur, is that one doesn't get the impression that he has an audience. He's out there on rugged terrain with no sign of human activity anywhere.

What are you doing there in the countryside, young man ? Did you carry the table on your back ? On a mule ? It's not the lightest of tables.

And who or what are you performing for ?