Lemniscate

The Seba library treats Lemniscate in 5 passages, across 3 authors (including Nichols, Sallie, Place, Robert M., Craig, A.D. (Bud)).

In the library 5 passages

This pattern, called the “lemniscate,” is the mathematical sign for infinity. As pictured here, the almost hypnotic sweep of the brim’s red outline connotes the movement of the opposites, each endlessly changing into the other

Nichols identifies the lemniscate on the Magician’s hat as the mathematical symbol for infinity and interprets its sweeping outline as a visual enactment of the Jungian dynamic of opposites in perpetual mutual transformation.

Nichols, Sallie, Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey, 1980thesis

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The shape of her hat suggests the lemniscate hat worn by the Magician. Like the Magician, she must possess magic powers, and like him, she represents an inner figure active in the hero’s unconscious

Nichols extends the lemniscate’s significance from the Magician to the Strength figure, arguing that the shared hat-shape signals analogous magical and psychological powers operative in the individuation process.

Nichols, Sallie, Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey, 1980thesis

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The Marseilles woman on the Strength trump has a hat similar to the Magician’s. She is, therefore, given the same lemniscate in this deck.

Place confirms the iconographic transfer of the lemniscate from the Magician to the Strength card and contextualises it within the Golden Dawn’s astrological correspondence system linking Strength with Leo.

Place, Robert M., The Tarot: History, Symbolism, and Divination, 2005supporting

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