Transversal communication

pp. 95-122

in: Inna Semetsky, The edusemiotics of images, Rotterdam, SensePublishers, 2013

Abstract

This chapter centers on the image of The Magician, Major Arcanum I (Figure 4.1) that immediately follows the unnumbered Fool/Zero in a Tarot deck. Often perceived as a mystical or even magical spooky craft, the value of Tarot in the context of education and counseling is by now established (e.g., Semetsky, 2005, 2009b, 2010b, 2011). The origins of magic as a form of semiosis … are connected with the early history of semiotics. But according to the criteria valid for normal communicative acts, magic is based on a semiotic fallacy, a misjudgment of the pragmatic effects of signs and their semantic object relation. Viewing magic as a semiotic fallacy … is inadequate without taking the complementary perspective of magic as a potentially effective form of communication, according to which it may be seen as a semiotic therapy.