The Magician is the second card in the Tarot Deck. The Magician is a fascinating archetype of creation, manifestation and will.
Lets look at the picture below. The picture is from the Rider Waite Tarot deck which was first published in 1909. It is a great deck for beginners because every card has a picture describing its meanings. It is also a ‘deep’ deck because the creators of it put multi layered meanings inside it.
We see a young man standing with confidence. He looks at us and he means business. He seems determined. One hand is raised above him holding a wand and the other hand is pointing to below. In front of him is a table with four items and around him are beautiful flowers of roses and lilies.
SYMBOLS
Body Posture
‘AS ABOVE, SO IT IS BELOW’
The Magician draws the energy from above (from the Divine Creator) and grounds the energy making it manifest in the physical world. He is a channel for energy. He has the ability with all of this power to reach his full potential.
Confidance
The Magican is confident because he believes in himself. He knows that his thoughts create his reality.
Symbol above Head
This is the Gnostic symbol of Infinity. Of eternal life and spirit. We are more than just our ego and body. When we connect to the Infinite and understand our physical finite time on the planet, it inspires us to make the most of now.
Snake Belt
The belt which is also a snake is called the ‘Ouroboros’ and is an ancient symbol of a snake eating its own tail. It represents the cycles of eternity and the power of transformation (like a snake shedding its skin). The Magician is able to transform himself in order to manifest what he wants.
Red Robe
The Red Robe represents desire. We need to have emotional desire behind what we want. You can imagine that the universe probably wont deliver you a Soul Mate if you keep going around saying in a bored monotone voice, ‘I want a Soul Mate’. You have to feel the desire, feel the passion and act emotionally like you ALREADY have your Soul Mate.
Inner White Garment
The white inner garment represents purity and clarity of mind and thought. If you have purity of mind coupled with desire you can get what you want in life.
Wand
The Wand is double ended which means power can come from above or below. The Wand symbolizes the tools needed to bring down the energy of Divine Creation and do with it what you want.
Flowers
The flowers are red roses representing passion and white lilies representing abstract thought.
Four Items on Table
The four items represent the four elements which have been used since ancient times to describe the building blocks of the universe – Earth, Air, Fire and Water.
They also represent esoterically four areas of internal power which The Magician must untilise:
To Will (represented by the wand)
To Know (represented by the cup)
To Dare (represented by the sword)
To be Silent (represented by the pentacle)
Number
The number of The Magician is 1. 1 is the first letter. It is the beginning. It is the number of the ego, consciousness and thinking.
Astrology
The planet Mercury is associated with The Magician card. Mercury was the Roman messenger god and the equivalent of the Greek God Hermes. Hermes apparently was the founder of the hermetic art of alchemy. The hermetic axiom, ‘That which is below is as that which is above, and that which is above is as that which is below, for the performance of the miracle to the One Thing’. In other words we are a microcosm of the macrocosm and our duty on this planet is to exalt the Creative Force through good deeds.
Mercury the metal is the alchemy symbol of the spirit of the divine concealed in matter.
The finger pointing to the ground according to Palmists is the finger of Jupiter which is all about leadership and direction.
Kabbalah
The creators of the Tarot deck were members of the Golden Dawn, a group that had many teachings based on the mystical Kabbalah of the Jewish nation. When I say Kabbalah forget about monotheism, Judaism, God, and religion for a moment. Kabbalists are mystics in a sense. They believe God is neither male nor female and in fact has many aspects. Their systems are all about learning why we are here, the mystery of the universe and what the big plan is.
Inside the Rider Waite deck is a multitude of Kabbalistic meanings. I will briefly explain a few of the Kabbalistic meanings within The Magician card. Believe me when I say you could learn for the rest of your life about Tarot and Kabbalah and still only scratch the surface. I’m keeping it superficial but easy to understand.
The Magician is represented by the letter Beth from the Hebrew alphabet. Beth is the first letter with a sound (Aleph had no sound). The shape of the letter ב looks like a house. Kabbalist’s believe that the physical body is the house of the Divine on earth.
Beth is also the first letter in the book of Genesis (called Bereshith in Hebrew which means, ‘In the beginning’). The Magician is all about the beginning – the actual action. The Fool (card number 0) is about the moment before the action.
Here is a photo from my volume of Bereshith (בראשית)ץ) showing the very first words in Genesis.
KEYWORDS / KEY PHRASES
Making the Impossible Possible
Action, Concentration, Power, Awareness.
Conscious control of ones mind in order to manifest desires. Inspiration. Creation. A channel for creating. An achiever. A person with the ability to manifest. Applying the force of your will to make manifest that which you want. Creating Miracles. The Shaman/Magus – the mediator between the worlds of above and below.
MESSAGE FROM THE MAGICIAN
The Magician wants to tell you that you CAN manifest what you want. It is possible.
Ask yourself these questions:
What do I want to manifest in my life?
How can my manifest what I want?
How can I master the focus I will need to get what I want?
Do I believe that my thoughts create my reality?
Do you believe you are the Co Creator of your life?
Do you know that if you focus your mind, direct your will and power and ask for assistance from something greater than yourself you can achieve amazing things?
THE MAGICIAN REVERSED
When I see a reversed card I simply see the energy blocked or inhibited in some way.
How would The Magician be inhibited?
Imagine creative energy being blocked. Imagine a person who does not believe or does not want to accept that there is a universal energy that is behind them every step of the way. Imagine having the energy but not doing anything with it.
If you get The Magician reversed for yourself or someone else some questions to ask might be…
Is it hard to focus or manifest what you want?
Perhaps you have the power to manifest but you fear doing it?
Do you feel your mind is all over the place with destructive thoughts and a lack of clarity?
Has the inner shaman inside you perhaps gone a little crazy?
If you get the Magician reversed it might be a good exercise to ask for HELP. You do not need to be religious or believe in God to do that. You can simply pray to the creative energy that creates the universe to come and help you get unstuck.
Also choosing to say, ‘I can and I will’ with emotion behind it can pull you out of the stagnant state.
TO SUM IT ALL UP…
Check out this short 10 minute video of Oprah Winfrey below where she describes the Power of Attraction which is the essence of The Magician for me. The Power of Attraction has been spoken about in the book and movie, The Secret and to me sums up the abilities of The Magician. The Magician knows that it in within his power to manifest what he wants but he ALSO knows that he cannot do it alone, and he enlists the support of the Divine.
I personally do not like the word God. I grew up Irish Catholic and lets just say there has been much abuse of the religious powers in that country so early on I had bad feelings towards that particular word. So I tend to call the Divine by other names such as Life-force or Great Spirit.
When I get into Magician mode I ask this universal energy to work with me for the greatest good.
So don’t forget that you have the power to manifest your desires if you use the Magician energy of FOCUS, WILL AND ACTION.
Anyway – have a listen to Oprah and start thinking about how you can MANIFEST the life you want…