“The Magician I”
Where The Fool is open to all that worldly experiences are there to teach, The Magician imparts themself upon the world. It is both active and creative. The card is a suggestion that one’s quality of life is a reflection of uses (and misuses) of that which is God given. Amongst the notable symbols are representations of all suits of Minor Arcana (sword, wand, cup, & pentacle). As an archetype, this person uses all knowledge, feeling, material, and creative resources in service to his, her, or their personal will. Drawing from a deep and clear connection to the Universal Spirit, they know instinctively how to channel desire to produce tangible results. When embodying or meeting up with this character, we learn the true meaning of power.
Consequentially, when the card turns up in a reading, it’s important to remember that each tool one uses, physical or ethereal, must be adaptable to what is. The person in the reading must be, also. The sword in this case symbolizes both clarity & strategy. The cups are its’ intuitive faculty (or receptivity), emotional intelligence, relationships. Next, the wand is the creative, innovative spark & one’s capacity to take direct and effective action. Finally, the pentacles represent material resources, like the physical body or money. Not without fault, but with total awareness, the Magician manifests. These aren’t he only important symbols to consider, though.
Above the Magician’s head is a lemniscate (infinity symbol), representing, amongst other things, limitless access to both the seen and unseen realms and all that exists between. “In esoteric studies, it suggests the underlying patterns of alternation in all matter, and the profound relationship between opposites.” Next to it, we see the white candle aflame in the raised right hand, and the left hand points downward. This is a reference to the Hermetic axiom “As above, so below. As within, so without.” Additionally, it’s an obvious commentary on the connection to spirit as a pure and inexhaustible source of energy. This motherfucker is powerful, make no mistake. The Magician is both literally & figuratively The One. While The Fool is open to whatever, The Magus has discovered their agency.
Rider Waite
“This card signifies the divine motive in man, reflecting God, the will in the liberation of its union with that which is above. It is also the unity of individual being on all planes.”
A.E. Waite
Thoth
“As a creative creature,
Gerd Zeigler
he knows no
conscience.
He uses all tools, all methods, to arrive at his goal.
The
temptation to misuse his talents is great.
His ability and skill lend him
superiority and power.
He moves on the narrow border between white
and black magic.”
Evolved Expression:
Creative use of one’s internal & external resources to manifest self-satisfaction. The Magician has mastered all of the 4 elements that make up his worldly experience.
Shadow Expression:
Manipulation or deception of others by utilizing one’s resource to make a person, place, or thing appear as another.
Tarot De Marseille
Aided by superhuman forces […],
Antonio Rusoo
he knows the sacred biology.
He summons heaven on earth[…]
Almighty that man creates his own destiny
by engaging in creative forces.
Union with the universe, union of God with nature,
union between the visible and invisible.
Man, destined to rise.”
KeyWords for the Magician
Willpower, balance, illusion,
Popular Articles on The Magician
The Magician of the Tarot by Carl Llewellyn Weschcke
If you haven’t seen it already, here’s the previous card in the Tarot Profile series: “The Fool”
The next card, “The High Priestess”, is coming soon!
Bibliography
* Waite, Arthur Edward, and Pamela Colman Smith. The Pictorial Key to the Tarot: Being Fragments of a Secret Tradition Under the Veil of Divination. New Impression, Vintage/Ebury (A Division of Random House Group), 1986.
* Ziegler, Gerd. Tarot: Mirror of the Soul: Handbook for the Aleister Crowley Tarot. Red Wheel Weiser, 1988.
* Pollack, Rachel. Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Tarot Journey to Self-Awareness (a New Edition of the Tarot Classic). Third Edition, Revised, Weiser Books, 2019.
*Russo, Antonio. Tarot: Powers, Characteristics, Matches (The Tarot of Marseilles Book 1). AltriParaggi Editions, 2014.
