Welcome back to a walk through the tarot.
This is card number 1, the magician; the first archetype the fool has met on his journey through the tarot’s major arcana. He’s expecting tricks and illusions. They’re the only magic he knows but the tarot magician is different – as the fool is about to find out.
The tarot magician is an archetype of wisdom and knowledge. A master manipulator of creative energy.
On his table are symbols for the elements; earth, water, fire and air. The magician understands the potential power of action and possesses the essential skills and willpower that’s required for transformation.
The magician has a long history
The three kings who visited Bethlehem were known as the magi, from the Greek mágos for wise man. They were educated and connected to the world of priests.
Moses was said to be a magician, having learned the art in ancient Egypt, while Jesus turned water into wine and fed thousands with 5 loaves and 2 fishes. The line between miracles and magic is a tenuous one.
Over the centuries, the magician has had many names; sorcerer, shaman, alchemist, warlock, wizard.
He’s been called a trickster, conjurer, or illusionist, performing on both street and stage.
But, as well as seemingly magical tricks and illusions, there’s also high magic or ritual magic, the deeper more mystical practice of ceremonial magicians like Alistair Crowley who designed one of the most unique of all tarot decks, the Thoth tarot. Crowley described magic as “the art and science of causing change to occur in conformity with the will” so we can think of magic as a spectrum, with popular entertainment at one end and more mystical rituals at the other.
Lets have a closer look at the background of this card.
In early tarot, the magician is the archetypal trickster, skilled with deception, and older tarots show a variety of tools and tricks on his table.
Italian decks named him Bagatto, meaning magician, but as tarot spread across Europe, he became the Bateleur for juggler or puppeteer.
On the street, in the market or part of a troupe of travelling players, the medieval magician performed and entertained, making money through cup and ball routines or guess the weighted dice – these magicians were skilled with sleight of hand, often jugglers, and nearly always charlatans.
In the 18th and 19th centuries, tarot was adopted by the French Occultists. In the late 1700s, Antoine Court de Gebelin, claimed tarot originated in ancient Egypt. He transformed the magician from a street performer to a more occult, esoteric figure, one who represented ancient Egyptian wisdom. de Gebelin also renamed the objects on the table as symbols for the elements.
A century later Eliphas Levi introduced links between the magician and Hermeticism, which originated in ancient Greece and was attributed to Hermes Trismegistus, a magician who blended Greek and Egyptian religious thought and practice.
The Waite/Coleman Smith magician card continues this theme. Waite added the lemniscate or infinity symbol above his head and a belt shaped like the oroborous.
The magician now represented the creative energy it takes to turn thought into reality.
How to manifest desire.
Make an idea or dream become a tangible object.
He is always a sign of change.
The card, like the other archetypes the fool will meet on his journey, is rich with symbols so lets take a closer look.
The magician is shown having one arm is raised, holding a wand or tool of power. The wand appears in all the magician designs from the 15th century to the present day and is a tool for channelling energy.
The other arm points downwards. Standing between heaven and earth, he’s an intermediary between physical and non-physical worlds, a conduit for the power required to make change happen. The stance reinforces the hermetic principle of As above so Below which tells us every action has a reaction.
Above the magician’s head is the infinity symbol, or lemniscate. Like a figure 8 on its side it represents the concept of eternity or endlessness and also looks like a mobius strip which shows us continuity with no ending.
He’s wearing a white tunic for purity and a red robe for energy and passion. His belt is a serpent biting its own tail, known as oroborous. A symbol for eternity and the cyclical nature of life, it’s often used in myth to represent the infinite. It also looks like a mobius strip which shows us continuity with no ending.
image showing oroborus in the shape of a lemniscate
The card is full of red roses and white lilies. The rose represents physical material energy, while lilies stand for the spiritual and the nonphysical.
The tools on his table are the elements of earth, water, fire and air.
- pentacles are for earth and material possessions
- cups stand for water and emotions
- wands represent fire and creativity
- while swords stand for air and intellectual knowledge and power
The magician himself symbolises the fifth element of ether in which everything else exists.
He understands how each of the tools give him power with the required knowledge to manipulate action and cause change.
The elements are under his control.
The fool has all this potential too but at this stage of the journey it has not yet been fully realised, unlike the magician who represents integration.
The magician knows everyone comes from the same source and his role is to show the fool there’s so much more to himself than he currently realises, so lets look at the messages of this card.
Operating in the physical world of consciousness, the magician represents change and his role is to show the fool he too can access the creative energy needed to transform his world.
The fool has to understand and come to terms with his own duality but must learn to prioritise his inner power for positive results.;
- to do no harm
- have respect for others
- walk on the side of right and light rather than darkness
The principles of the magician’s lessons have come down to us in many ways;
- you get back what you give
- every cause has an effect
- nothing happens in isolation
- you are what you do
Creative energy is neutral but the consequences of action can be positive or negative depending on the intention.
Thoughts become realities and the fool has to learn about both positive and negative thinking because what we send out is always returned, often threefold.
The magician is telling the fool he has the power to make change happen, but he must create the conditions for this to manifest. To talk or dream about possible outcomes, is not enough.
Nothing comes from nothing.
Sitting around waiting for change wont manifest anything.
Each tarot card also contains binary oppositions.
The magician can be someone who uses their power for the wrong reasons, like dishonesty or selfishness.
Maybe manipulating people for their own gain, or they could be blocked, unable to move forward, doubting their innate talent and feeling powerless to make things happen.
The magician warns the fool not to be passive.
He’s responsible for his own future and the tools of the tarot will help him discover who he really is, but ultimately he must do this alone.
The archetypes he will meet can offer guidance and advice but he has to open the door. Take the first step. Make an effort.
There might seem to be no immediate reward but the more he practices, the sooner he’ll see results.
There’s a lot to take in with the magician.
If the fool is going to take more responsibility for himself, he needs to take time to pause, to consider the messages, but also accept the reassurance that the magician will always be there, waiting, until this lesson has been absorbed.
The next card on the fools walk through the tarot is the high priestess.
She guards the entrance to the temple of knowledge and symbolises the fool’s deeper unconscious layers, the world of emotions, dreams, and intuition so join us, as we take the next step on the journey…
images my own, copyright free from wikipedia commons or from https://pixabay.com/