Here is part of A. E. Waite's description of
his Magician card in
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot.
A youthful figure in the robe of a magician, having the countenance of divine Apollo, with smile of confidence and shining eyes. Above his head is the mysterious sign of the Holy Spirit, the sign of life, like an endless cord, forming the figure 8 in a horizontal position. [. . .] In the Magician's right hand is a wand raised towards heaven, while the left hand is pointing to the earth. [. . .] This card signifies the divine motive in man, reflecting God, the will in the liberation of its union with that which is above. It is also the unity of individual being on all planes, and in a very high sense it is thought, in the fixation thereof.
And here is Éliphas Lévi's description of the same card in
Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie -- as translated by none other than A. E. Waite.
א Being, mind, man, or God; the comprehensible object; unity mother of numbers, the first substance.
All these ideas are expressed hieroglyphically by the figure of the JUGGLER. His body and arms constitute the letter ALEPH; round his head there is a nimbus in the form of ∞, emblem of life and the universal spirit; in front of him are swords, cups and pantacles; he uplifts the miraculous rod towards heaven. He has a youthful figure and curly hair, like Apollo or Mercury; the smile of confidence is on his lips and the look of intelligence in his eyes.
The more of Lévi's work I read, the more I find him to have been the ultimate source of what I had previously thought to be Waite's own innovations.
