837: Dr. Steffan Taut - The Ancient Art of Magic

The Magic Word Podcast

I have always loved art. I began my college career as an artist before moving to journalism, but my fascination has always remained with the visual arts. I love going to museums and when something attracts my attention, I often do deep research into the subject until I have reached satisfaction. One such personal pursuit has been my longtime passion for studying “The Juggler” (aka “The Conjurer”) by Hieronymus Bosch. I have given lectures on this painting to magicians and to museum docents. So imagine my great thrill to meet and to have this meaningful conversation with Dr. Steffen Taut from Dresden who is an expert in ancient magic art.

Thanks to an introduction by Richard Hatch at the recent Magic Collectors Expo, we sat down to record a scholarly talk about our mutual passion and more. This should be like listening to a college professor after class talking with one of his students. I know you will learn a lot from this week’s episode and I guarantee you’ll enjoy it, or you get your money back!

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During the first half of our conversation, Dr. Taut talks about Djedi, magician to Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops), as well as some of the “magic” he created (like severing and restoring the head of a bull, and switching heads between a duck and a chicken), plus how some of the court magicians were less than ethical in their conduct. Dr. Taut also goes into some detail about the Westcar Papyrus which has only been discovered some 200 years ago but tells us so much about Egyptian magic in Pharaoh’s courts.

The second part of our chat goes into the 1502 painting by Hieronymus Bosch known to us today as “The Conjurer.” There is a lot of symbolism in this painting and an interesting history of what was going on with the Church at the time that led to Bosch creating this painting.

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"In Praise of Folly" by Desiderius Erasmus as recommended by Dr. Steffen Taut in this week's episode. Click on the link to visit the Amazon store and support The Magic Word Podcast.