Mickey Mouse as Wizard in "Sorcerer's Apprentice" Disney's Fantasia (1940)

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" is a symphonic poem by French composer Paul Dukas (1897). The music was based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1797 poem (14 stanzas) of the same name (written exactly a century earlier). By far the most performed and recorded of Dukas's works, due to Walt Disney 1940 animated film Fantasia (1940) Mickey Mouse, young apprentice of sorcerer Yen Sid, attempts some of his master's magic tricks but does not know how to control them. Tired of fetching water by pail, apprentice Mickey enchants a broom to do the work for him, using magic in which he is not fully trained. The floor is soon awash with water, and the apprentice realizes that he cannot stop the broom because he does not know the magic required to do so. Mickey splits the broom in two with an axe, but each of the pieces becomes a whole broom that takes up a pail and continues fetching water, now at twice the speed. At this increased pace, the entire room quickly begins to flood. When all seems lost, old sorcerer returns and quickly breaks the spell. Goethe's poem ends with the old sorcerer's statement that only a master should invoke powerful spirits.

Syrian satirist Lucian of Samosata (125-180 AD) wrote a dialogue "The Lover of Lies" (150 AD) making fun of people who believe in the supernatural & contains the oldest known version of "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".

Wicked Wich of the West from Wizard of Oz (1939)

Two Witches & Cat Woodcut from Wellcome Library (1720)

Sweden 6 frimärken stamp Witch on Broom with Cat

Hans Memling Woman (1485)

Women Wearing Various Hennins from Kim Stovring

John M. Wright Mrs. Salesbury & Grandchildren (1675)

Hugo van Goes Maria Portnari (1478)

Merlin with Wizard's Hat & Mentor to King Arthur

Merlin the Wizard

King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table

Merlin with Cap & Rod

Merlin is a wizard in Arthurian legend mentored King Arthur, & depicted in a wizard hat (1493 Nuremberg Chronicle). He is shown often with a conical cap and cloak with crescent moon & stars. The earliest depiction of Merlin appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written around 1136, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures. Because there are so many contradicting stories about Merlin, I'm sharing all my Notes on this subject. The first two items are from the web, the last five items are from books typed from my library. Blademaster (Jimmy Joe) on "Merlin The Great Wizard"     One of the most fascinating figures in the Welsh mythology and the Arthurian legend is Merlin, the great wizard, prophet and adviser to several kings, including King Arthur. Merlin wore many hats: he was a wizard or sorcerer, a prophet, a bard, an adviser and a tutor. He appeared as a young boy with no father. He appeared as an old, wise man, freely giving his wisdom to four successive British kings. He was dotting old fool, who couldn't control his lust over beautiful women, who hold him in fear and contempt. He had even appeared as a madman after bloody battle, and had fled into the forest and learned how to talk to the animals, where he became known as the Wild Man of the Woods. Merlin was the last of the druid, the Celtic shaman, priest of nature, and keeper of knowledge, particularly of the arcane secrets.     However, many later writers say that Merlin was involved in Arthur's education. According to the French writer, Robert de Boron, at Arthur's birth, Merlin gave the infant to Sir Antor (Malory called him Sir Ector) to raise the child in obscure fosterage. Antor was the father of Kay, later a knight who served as his foster brother's seneschal.     When Uther died it was Merlin who informed the barons of Logres that only a person, who could draw the sword from the stone, would be the rightful king. Merlin was largely responsible for putting the crown on Arthur's head. Some lords were discontent when only Arthur could draw the sword. Merlin was also involved with Arthur, providing strategy to win the war against the rebel barons. See Birth of Arthur (Vulgate version) and Kingship and Early Wars.     When Arthur broke this sword that had named him king in a fight with King Pellinor (Pellehen), Merlin brought Arthur to the lake where he received a new sword from the Lady of the Lake. This sword was the true Excalibur (see New Sword in Legend of Excalibur page). Merlin told the young king that the scabbard was better than the sword, because it would prevent him from bleeding from his wounds. Journal Article: "Malory's Tragic Merlin" By Donald L. Hoffman, Quondam et Futurus Vol. 1, No. 2 (Summer 1991), pp. 15-31 (17 pages) p. 15 Merlin is, surrounded by an aura of the uncanny... Thomas Wright, identifies Merlin as "the most intermediate of beings", adding that "neither devil, man, nor god, Merlin wears the masks of all three." p. 17 Arthur will marry Guinevere, and that Lancelot will come to court and fall in love with her. The reader may deduce that if Arthur had not married Guinevere, Camelot would not necessarily have been saved, but Merlin would have been proved false.. Unlike Cassandra, who merely announces events, Merlin is actively engaged in creating the kingdom whose downfall he perceives... Merlin is the hero of an existenial tragedy. p. 19 His shape-shifting, a talent traditionally possessed by magicians and demons, which Malory derives from his sources, seems nearly aberrant in his revised context. But the shape-shifting contributs to the sense of Merlin's "indeterminacy" making p. 20 it difficult to define not only his substance, but his accidents as well. Arthur is not only sure of what Merlin is, he cannot even know for certain what he appears to be. As a result, he cannot always know when he has met him, or where he can be found, for his location is as arbitrary as his appearance. He has no clear identity and no fixed address... This also allows him to achieve a detachment, a freedom, unavailable to anyone else in Arthur's world. He is a drifter as well as a dreamer. p. 24 The prophet Merlin is also, the counselor Merlin, who attepts to delay the ending he so clearly forsees. p. 27 Merlin is capable of advising Arthur of the wile of his sorceress sister, but incapable of taking steps to avoid his own tragedy. p. 28 Like Arthur, Merlin cannot escape the pedigree that (mis-)shapes him. His demonic parentage is the reason Nynyve [Nimue] gives for rejecting him... The poignant tragedy of Malory's Merlin is that he is willing to dare, to risk love knowing full well that the consequence is to be trapped in his tomb by the woman he loves and to whom he has given all he owns and all he is. Wizardology: The Book of the Secrets of Merlin (2005) by Dugald F. Steer, Candlwick Press, MA To be a wizard all that is needed is a commitment to follow these simple rules: to live like a hermit, to work like a plough horse, and to give up all worldly pleasures in order to further the good of nature and humankind. The Great Work: As masters of the secret knowledge of fairies, elves, and a whole host of other spirits invisible to human sight, the wizard holds a position of power that must be used only for the good. It is considered a defect of manners if a person is ever aware of your wizardly efforts on his behalf. (p. 4) Robes and Tools: Without a wand to direct our wizardly work, we are like a conductor without a baton to direct an orchestra. Dressed in magnificent robes & equipped with a staff or wand, the wizard may display his arcane masterery to all. Western wizards wear simple tunics and woollen cloaks. Merlin is shown with conical hat. (pp. 9-10). Merlin's Demise: The sorceress Vivienne or Nimue weaving the wicked enchantment that imprisoned Merlin in the oak tree, causing his death. (p. 27) (YouTube: Inside of book) Manly P. Hall's The Ancient Teachings" (1928) has chapter CLXXX on Merlin symbolism—     In the Arthurian Cycle appears a strange and mysterious figure— Merlin, the magician. In one of the legends concerning him it is declared that when Jesus was sent to liberate the world from the bondage of evil, the Adversary determined to send an Antichrist to undo His labors. The Devil therefore in the form of a horrible dragon overshadowed a young woman who had taken refuge in sanctuary to escape the evil which had destroyed her family. When Merlin, her child, was born he partook of the characteristics of his human mother and demon father. Merlin, however, did not serve the powers of darkness but, being converted to the true light, retained only two of the supernatural powers inherited from his father: prophecy and miracle working. The story of Merlin's infernal father must really be considered as an allegorical allusion to the fact that he was a "philosophical son" of the serpent or dragon, a title applied to all initiates of the Mysteries, who thus acknowledge Nature as their mortal mother and wisdom in the form of the serpent or dragon as their immortal Father. Confusion of the dragon and serpent with the powers of evil has resulted as an inevitable consequence from misinterpretation of the early chapters of Genesis.     Arthur while an infant was given into the keeping of Merlin, the Mage, and in his youth instructed by him in the secret doctrine and probably initiated into the deepest secrets of natural magic. With Merlin's assistance, Arthur became the leading general of Britain, a degree of dignity which has been confused with kingship. After Arthur had drawn the sword of Branstock from the anvil and thus established his divine right to leadership, Merlin further assisted him to secure from the Lady of the Lake the sacred sword Excalibur. After establishing the Round Table, having fulfilled his duty, Merlin disappeared, according to one account vanishing into the air, where he still exists as a shadow communicating at will with mortals; according to another, retiring of his own accord into a great stone vault which he sealed from within.     It is reasonably certain that many legends regarding Charlemagne were later associated with Arthur, who is most famous for establishing the Order of the Round Table at Winchester. Reliable information is not to be had concerning the ceremonies and initiatory rituals of the "Table Round." In one story the Table was endowed with the powers of expansion and contraction so that fifteen or fifteen hundred could be seated around it, according to whatever need might arise. The most common accounts fix the number of knights who could be seated at one time at the Round Table at either twelve or twenty-four. The twelve signified the signs of the zodiac and also the apostles of Jesus. The knights' names and also their heraldic arms were emblazoned upon their chairs. When 24 are shown seated at the Table, each of the twelve signs of the zodiac is divided into two parts—a light and a dark half—to signify the nocturnal and diurnal phases of each sign. As each sign of the zodiac is ascending for two hours every day, so the twenty-four knights represent the hours, the twenty-four elders before the throne in Revelation, and twenty-four Persian deities who represent the spirits of the divisions of the day. In the center of the Table was the symbolic rose of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the symbol of resurrection in that He "rose" from the dead. There was also a mysterious empty seat called the Siege Perilous in which none might sit except he who was successful in his quest for the Holy Grail.     In the personality of Arthur is to be found a new form of the ever-recurrent cosmic myth. The prince of Britain is the sun, his knights are the zodiac, and his flashing sword may be the sun's ray with which he fights and vanquishes the dragons of darkness or it may represent the earth's axis. Arthur's Round Table is the universe; the Siege Perilous the throne of the perfect man. In its terrestrial sense, Arthur was the Grand Master of a secret Christian-Masonic brotherhood of philosophic mystics who termed themselves Knights. Arthur received the exalted position of Grand Master of these Knights because he had faithfully accomplished the withdrawal of the sword (spirit) from the anvil of the base metals (his lower nature). As invariably happens, the historical Arthur soon was confused with the allegories and myths of his order until now the two are inseparable. After Arthur's death on the field of Kamblan his Mysteries ceased, and esoterically he was borne away on a black barge, as is so beautifully described by Tennyson in his Morte d' Arthur. The great sword Excalibur was also cast back into the waters of eternity— all of which is a vivid portrayal of the descent of cosmic night at the end of the Day of Universal Manifestation. The body of the historical Arthur was probably interred at Glastonbury Abbey, a building closely identified with the mystic rites of both the Grail and the Arthurian Cycle.     The mediaeval Rosicrucians were undoubtedly in possession of the true secret of the Arthurian Cycle and the Grail legend, much of their symbolism having been incorporated into that order. Though the most obvious of all keys to the Christos mystery, the Grail legend has received the least consideration. Ronan Coghlan's Encyclopedia of Arthurian Legends (1991) Merlin was begotten by an incubus, set on earth to counterbalance Jesus Christ. However, he was promptly baptized so he was not evil! Legends had giants helping Merlin building Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge). Merlin became the mentor to Arthur, drawing Excalibur from the Stone to become King. As magician and wizard, he has the gift of "omnilocality", his apparent ability to be everywhere and nowhere simultaneosly, Merlin teaches Arthur shape-shifting. John & Caitlin Matthews, British & Irish Mythology (1995), pp. 116-117 Merlin: Arch-mage of Britain; chief adviser and guardian of Arthur; magician, shaman, and mystagogue... He may be the same character as the 6th-century Welsh poet, Myrddyn, whose poems are still extant... The madness of Merlin is contained in stories concerning "Suibhne Gelt" and "Lailoken"... Merlin's death is attached to the story of Niniane or Vivienne, an otherworld woman who tricked him into revealing his magic. She then shut him up in a glass tower, or under a stone or in a hawthorn tree. This tradition is probably a garbled understanding of Merlin's withdrawal from the world into Faery or the Otherworld.... Merlin was said to be the guardian of the "Thirteen Treasures of Britain", which he kept in his glass tower on Bardsey Island. He is the tutelar of Britain which is anciently called Clas Merdin or Merlin's Enclosure. Emma Jung & Marie-Louise von Franz, The Grail Legend (1986) This book has the best resources on Merlin with five concluding chapters: Ch. XX: The Figure of Merlin (pp. 347-356) Ch. XXI: Merlin as Medicine Man and Prophet (pp.357-366) Ch. XXII: Merlin and the Alchemical Mercurius (pp. 367-378)Ch. XXIII: Merlin's Solution to the Grail Problem (pp. 379-389)Ch. XXIV: The Disappearance of Merlin (pp. 390-399) Ch. XX: With his gifts of clairvoyance and prophecy and his magic powers, Merlin far excelled the general run of humanity and— like the hermit who counselled Perceval— embodied in many respect the archetype of the Wise Old Man, i.e. of the spirit, except that he was far closer to nature than was the hermit; he was, rather, a pagan nature being, so that he could be related to the nixies, dwarfs and elves and is thus in reality a far more primitive figure than de Boron's "Devil's son", to whom his attributed role of the Antichrist does not really do justice... (p.348-349) Merlin has, in fact, received a two-fold heritage: from his pure mother the gift of foreseeing the future and from his devilish father a knowledge of the past... (p. 351) Merlin stands in the background of King Arthur's Round Table as a mysterious spiritual power. At first glance, his duall or multiple aspect and his knavish and clownish characteristics lend him a Mephistophelian quality, but his knowledge of the past and future betoken a greater degree of consciousness than is possessed by Arthur and his knights who are, indeed, remarkably unconscious and unthinking. It iis due to this greater consciousness that Merlin, like the Grail, functions as a form of projected conscience, in that he exposes the mistakes and crimes of the people. (p.355) As the Antichrist, Merlin would expand the Trinity into a quaternity... Merlin is not simply the Antichrist which is joined to the Trinity as the Fourth but is also an incarnation of the primal Father God in whom the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are embodied. This new dimension is the human and natural one that appears to signify a realization of the divine which has penetrated more deeply into our world. (p. 356) Ch. XXI: During the summer, Merlin lives in the open; when tthe winter cold sets in and he can find nothing to eat, he returns to his observatory where, fortified by his siste Ganieda with food and drink, he explores the stars and sings about future happenings. Later he teaches her to prophesy and extols her as his equal. (p. 359)... A spring gushes up beside the raving Merlin, by whose waters he is healed and is later enabled to heal others. His madness therefore should be looked upon as an initiation by means of which he comes into closer contact with otherworldly powers. As a result of his cure, he pledges himself, as many shamans do, to an isolated forest existence in the service of the divine... (p. 360) Jung: "The trickster is a primitive 'cosmic' being of divine-animal nature, on the one hand superior to man because of his superhuman qualities, and on the other hand inferior to him because of his unreason and unconsciousness. He is no match for the animals either, because of his extraordinary clumsiness and lack of instinct... (p. 365) Ch. XXII: Merlin is the guide and counsellor of those who in solitude prepare themselves to seek the immediate experience of the divine. It is remarkable how many features Merlin and the Mercurius of the alchemists have in common. Both are capable of infinite transformations. Both are compared, now with Christ, now with the antichrist. Both serve as analogues for the inspiring breath of the Holy Spirit, or are derided as false prophets. Both have the nature of the trickster, both are hidden away, both are the mysterious agent behind the transformation of the "King" and are connected with the gods of love. Both are associated with Saturn, and both engender or hemselves fall victim to insanity. Finally, both represent the mystery of a :divine vessel" which serves as the object of men's search. Both are connected with the experience of the divine in nature or in the unconscious. (p. 369) In an Irish counterpart to this son, from "The Book of Cecan" and "The Book of Ballymote", Taliesin says: I am the wind that blows upon the sea; I am the ocean wave; I am the murmur of the surges; I am seven battalions; I am a strong bull; I am an eagle on a rock; I am a ray of the sun; I am the most beautiful of herbs; I am a courageos wild boar; I am a salmon in the water; I am a lake upon the plain; I m a cunning artist; I am a gigantic, sword-wielding champion; I can shift my shape like a god. In these utterances, Taliesin describes himself as a kind of cosmic spiritual being, creative and divine and capable of self-transformation... The alchemist Avicenna says of him: "He is the spirit of the Lord which fills the whole world and in the beginning swam upon the waters. They call him also the spirit of Truth, which is hidden from the world.." Merlin tells the truth and lived hidden away from the world. (pp. 369-370) Ch. XXIII: The spiritual aspect of the Round Table can be seen in the way the knights made it their duty to search for the Grail. Merlin had prophesied that the empty place at this table would at some future time be occupied by that best and most virtuous knight who should succeed in finding the Grail... Instead of occupying the siege perilleux, Perceval remains in the Grail Castle, renouncing chivalry in order to submit himself entirely to the grace of God. (p. 384)... Perceval should not have taken himself into the seclusion of the Grail Castle; in order to remain in the picture, he should have brought the Grail to the Round Table, so that instead of the spirit being divorced from the world, the worl would have been impregnated by the Spirit. (p. 389) Ch. XXIV: The 9th-century legend of Alexander finds a stone at the entrance to Paradise and hears the words: "If you would learn to know its nature and power, then leave all ambition far behind." Merlin has found this stone or has himself turned into it— for which reason he renounces the world... In the "Vita Merlini" the fairy Morgana is a sister of Arthur and one of the nine faries of the Insula Pomorum (Island of Apples— Avalon). She is an evil sorceress who destroys her lover, something like Circe in the "Odyssey". in the "Lancelot" she creates a Val sans Retour (Valley of No Return) in which she confines her lovers. She has a special understanding of astronomy and necromancy. She has been taught the latter by Merlin himself, for he is passionately in love with her and has fallen completely into her power. She then turns the art against him. (p. 393) Merlin & Lao Tzu: Before his death, Lao-tse, retired to the Western Mountain, with a woman dancer. And yet— what a difference! Whereas Lao-tse gives no impression of being unfree or of languishing under a spell, Merlin's vanishing is an ill-starred and tragic destiny. Lao-tse's philosophy was an instrument of consciousness and functioned as a protection against being overwhelmed by the anima, whereas Merlin has only magical and necromantic knowledge that the fairy is able to steal from him. (p. 395) Wolfram von Eschenbach on Merlin: In the conclusion of his romance, Wolfram was able to bring the symbol of wholeness— as represented by the Grail stone and the marriage quaternio— closer to the consciousness of his age... after Merlin's disappearance, a stone, from out of which his spirit speaks, remains, as also does the Round Table. His legacy therefore is a symbol of the Self... The image of the "third table", which Merlin commanded Arthur to construct and which had to be round like the world, strikes one as containing this idea of wholeness particularly clearly. It is a highly significant thought that just this most remote of goals, the Self, is expressed by the very oldest and simplest of archetypal images— the circle... as the sphere of the earth and its orbit are held in their course by the operation of two opposing forces, so the path of mortal man is also determined by similar powers (p. 399).

Postage Stamps Showing Mitre Worn by Bishops & Popes

Germany 734, 20 pfenning Bishop's Mitre & Sword (issued 6-5-1954)

Belgium B122, 50 fr Cardinal Mercier (issued 6-10-1932)

Vatican 46, 1.25 lire Pope Gregory IX (issued 2-1-1935)

Vatican 134, 8 lire Pope Boniface VIII (issued 12-21-1949)

Vatican 250, 25 lire Pope John XXIII (issued 4-2-1949)

Vatican 365, 15 lire Pope Paul VI (issued 10-16-1963)

Vatican 439, 10 lire Pope John XXIII (issued 10-11-1966)

Vatican E18, 180 lire Pope Paul VI (issued 3-8-1966)

Note: Stamps were found in my 1975 Scott Postage Stamp Catalogue, Volumes II-III. With catalogue #s, downloaded them from the web using Google Images. Click on stamp catalogue # for image sources.

The mitre is a headgear or ceremonial headdress of bishops and abbots in traditional Christianity. Eight Bishops of the Armenian Catholic Church are shown wearing mitres in Jerusalem (1880). Pope Benedict XVI wore a pretiosa: elaborately embroidered mitre, when visiting Genoa (5-18-2008). In the Catholic Church, ecclesial law gives the right to use the mitre and other pontifical insigna (crosier, pectoral cross, and ring) to (1) bishops, (2) abbots, and (3) cardinals and those canonically equivalent to diocesan bishops who do not receive episcopal ordination. The principal celebrant presents the mitre and other pontifical insignia to a newly ordained bishop during the Rite of Ordination of a Bishop and to a new abbot during the Rite of Blessing of an Abbot. Found mitre in the above 8 postage stamps.

Pointed Hats in Ancient History

Odysseus wearing Pilos 5th century BC

Berlin Gold Hat circa 1000 BC

Attis with Phrygian Cap 2nd century AD

Schifferstadt Golden Hat circa 1400 BC

Skunkha King 6th Centuy BC

The Pointed Hat dates back to the Bronze Age. Though often suggesting an ancient Indo-European tradition, they were also traditionally worn by women of Lapland, the Japanese, the Mi'kmaq people of Atlantic Canada, and the Huastecs of Veracruz and Aztec. The Golden Hat of Schifferstadt (1400 BC) and the Avanton Gold Cone (1000-900 BC) were Golden Hats worn by the priesthood. The pilos shown above worn by Odysseus was a brimless, felt cap worn in Ancient Greece, Etruria, Illyria, Pannonia and surrounding regions. In the 5th century BC a bronze version began to appear in Ancient Greece and during the Hellenistic era it became a popular infantry helmet. The Phrygian cap or liberty cap is a soft conical cap with the apex bent over, associated in antiquity with peoples in Eastern Europe and Anatolia, including Phrygia, Dacia, and the Balkans. By the 4th century BC, the Phrygian cap was associated with Phrygian God Attis, the consort of his mother Cybele. Bendis, Thracian goddess of the moon and the hunt, wore a Phrygian cap (350 BC). The Three Magi following the Star of Bethelhelm brought gifts to the Christ Child is shown in a mosaic (526 AD) at Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo a Ravenna. It's interesting that Dante died in Ravenna in 1321 finishing his Commedia there. Giotto painted Dante with a Phrygian cap (1335). Dunce Cap: The word is derived from the name of the Scottish Scholastic theologian and philosopher John Duns Scotus. A dunce cap is a pointed hat, formerly used as an article of discipline in schools in Europe and the United States. In popular culture, it is typically made of paper and often marked with a D or the word "dunce", and given to unruly schoolchildren to wear. Frequently the "dunce" was made to stand in the corner, facing the wall. The hope was that no one would want to be labelled the "dunce" in the class, even for a short period of time, and thus students would avoid misbehaviour. , The "Oxford English Dictionary" (2nd ed.) records that the term "dunce cap" itself did not enter the English language until after the term "dunce" had become a synonym for "fool" or "dimwit". In fact, "dunce cap" is not recorded before the 1833 travel book America, and the Americans by James Boardman. Since dunce cap is shaped like a pyramid, could Pyramid Power be enhancing the kid's brain?

"Wizard's Hat" Rock Formation in Bandon Beach, Oregon

Wizard's Hat, Bandon, Oregon	Wizard's Hat Rock at Sunset	Rock at Dawn
There's an amazing natural rock formation "Wizard's Hat" on the beach, Bandon, Oregon (43o7'N 124o5'W). It is located on the southern western part of Oregon Coast. A key tourist attraction, this singular pointed rock on Bandon coast is surrounded by tranquil waters & lovely sand. A low tide & sunset makes this serenity scene a favorite spot for photographers & artists to capture spirit of Wizard Hat in Bandon. Len Saltiel reports on his visit to Bandon Beach (4-21-2017) that when looking at the rock from the north, it resembles a Wizard's Hat. But when looking from the south, it resembles a howling dog. Nadeen Flynn's visit to Bandon (7-3-2017) showed two photos of the rock before meeting photographer Steven Michael, who advised her to take a few steps to the side. The next two photos were WOW— "The Wizard's Hat". Nadeen Flynn: "Wizard's Hat"