The Magician and the Fool are conceptually the same card
It’s raining outside. My washing machine is broken, and clothes are trapped in gray water, apathetic and heavy. As I retrieve the soaking jeans, I think of the snake bathing ritual S. told me about several months ago. This rite involves washing live rattlesnakes in aromatic water infused with medicinal herbs. It is performed by a Native American tribe in the desert somewhere in the Southwestern United States as part of a rainmaking ceremony.
—How would you wash a snake? Do they scrub them or gently pet them underwater? Do you think snakes enjoy bathing? I asked.
S. didn’t know. She mentioned that the anthropologist who wrote about this tradition was schizophrenic:
— That’s what we call people whose spiritual states we don’t understand. White supremacist culture wants us to think that human beings have to be stable and productive all the time, added S.
—Isn’t schizophrenia about hearing voices?
—Dude, when don’t you hear voices?
—Right.
Later, S. sent me a document containing various intriguing stories, including details about Aby Warburg, the anthropologist, and The Dance of the Snakes ritual. This tradition doesn't consist solely of bathing rattlesnakes: it involves throwing them onto sand drawings representing storms and clouds. Purified snakes are regarded as agents that provoke rainfall. “Living and zoomorphic saints of rain”, the author writes.
According to Warburg, the people of the Hopi Tribe exist in a "singular state of hybridity and transition... They live between the world of logic and the world of magic, using symbols as their guiding force." While it is true that in the meteorological magic rite they replace the lightning they seek to evoke with the snake, their practices extend beyond mere metaphorical substitution. For the Hopi Indians, the snake has not transformed into a visual or symbolic representation; it remains a living, untamed symbol, the antagonist of the ceremony. The snake is no longer sacrificially killed as in ancient times. The act of transubstantiation is carried out through a mimetic procedure, where the snake is held in the underground shrine for 16 days of the ceremony and then released as a "messenger" to the open plain. The snake dance is not merely an aesthetic exercise for its own sake, but a magical ceremony that is meant to produce a real effect.
Humans as symbolic beings. Today, as I was picking prickly pears at the market, a man approached me, handing me a silver coin the size of my palm. One side of it said "1 dollar 1851" while the other side depicted an Indian wearing a war bonnet with the word "liberty" inscribed on it. The man told me about the law of attraction, energy exchange and other concepts that would have nauseated me if I'd heard them from a hippie from Tulum, but somehow made perfect sense when articulated by this señor. “This coin is a symbolic gift from me to you.” He wanted 50 pesos for it. At first, I hesitated. I had just been fired, I had no interest in coin collecting, and this giant shiny thing appeared obviously fake. But then…It’s a symbolic exchange, and money isn’t real either. After selling me the coin, the man asked me out of the blue: “What instrument do you play?” Perplexed, I responded, "Synth...". “Don't be surprised. I can recognize a musician when I see one. I’m a pianist myself. I play blues and jazz.” He caressed the air as if playing a piano. The last thing he said was that the Indian on the coin would protect me if I ever got in trouble. Was he a wise man or a lunatic? I’m convinced that the Magician and the Fool are conceptually the same card.
When I returned home, I googled what happened in the US in 1851:
Great Flood of 1851: Extensive flooding sweeps across the Midwestern United States. The town of Des Moines is virtually washed away, and many rainfall records hold for 160 years.
Purification comes through water.
In 1921, Warburg organized a lecture at the Swiss neurological clinic in Kreuzlingen where he was kept as a patient. This talk was part of his self-healing program and focused on exploring the essence of terror, specifically in relation to snakes. The Native Americans —the central theme of his lecture —served as a mask through which the anthropologist presented a daring proposal: exorcizing fear through symbols. For Warburg, who had battled his own demons for years, this lecture represented a declaration of victory over his fears. After leaving the clinic, Warburg began signing documents as "Warburg redux." Redux is a term that was used in the Roman Empire to describe the goddess Fortuna in her role as a protector.
How would you wash a snake? Would you scrub it or gently pet it underwater?