MAGICIAN

Basic Card Symbols

Red & White coloring, the lemniscate (infinity symbol), a small wand, a table displaying a chalice, a pentacle, a staff (wand) and a sword.

Basic Tarot Story

Traveling on his way, the Fool first encounters a Magician. Skillful, self-confident, a powerful magus with the infinite as a halo floating above his head, the Magician mesmerizes the Fool. When asked, the Fool gives over his bundled pack and stick to the Magician. Raising his wand to heaven, pointing his finger to Earth, the Magician calls on all powers; magically, the cloth of the pack unfolds upon the table, revealing its contents. And to the Fool's eyes it is as if the Magician has created the future with a word. There are all the possibilities laid out, all the directions he can take. The cool, airy Sword of intellect and communication, the fiery Wand of spirituality and ambition, the overflowing Chalice of Love and emotions, the solid Pentacle of work, possessions and body. With these tools, the Fool can create anything, make anything of his life. But here's the question, did the Magician create the tools, or were they already in the pack? Only the Magician knows - and on this mystery, our eloquent mage refuses to say a word.

Basic Tarot Meaning

At #1, the Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud ("And God said 'Let there be Light!' and there was Light"). Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand (Mercury *was* the god of thieves!) and a medicine man - either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil. The 4 suits laid out before him remind us of the 4 aces, which in the Tarot symbolize the raw, undeveloped, undirected power of each suit. When the Magician appears, he reveals these to you. The reader might well interpet this card as telling the querent that they will be given a vision, an idea, a magical, mental image of whatever it is they most want: the solution to a problem, an ambitious career, a love life, a job.

Thirteen's Observations

If any card in the Tarot is the Tarot, it is the Magician. He's one of the most recognizable cards, always a favorite. He's also the only card in the Majors that refers to the minors with the "trumps" displayed upon his table. If the reader believes the Magician stands for the Querent, then the Querent either is, or is currently finding himself eleoquent and charismatic at this time. Both verbally and in writing, he is clever, witty, inventive and persuasive. People listen and agree with him. He also has an interest in science. He might be, in fact, a doctor or scientist or inventor.

Standing for someone other than the querent, the Magician could be a skillful doctor, scientist, inventor lecturer, salesman, or con-man. It's important to remember that the Magician can as easily be clever as skilful, a trickster as well as a magician. This is someone with a magnetic personality, someone who can convince people of almost anything. For better or worse, his words are magic.

Most importantly, the Magician card stands for the "reveal" - as in a magic trick. The handkerchief is draped over an empty box, the Magician waves his wand, *presto!*--now there is a dove in the box. The Magician card does the same for the Querent--only what it reveals is not birds or rabbits but NEW ideas. Emphasis on NEW. When the Magician card appears, the Querent is likely to say: "Now there's an idea! Why didn't I think of that before?" Truth is, the Querent had that idea in his head all along. The Magician merely revealed it to him. But what will the Querent do with this idea? That's a question for the next card....

The Major Arcana and the 22 Paths
Tarot on the Tree of Life Tarot on the Tree of Life

As can be seen in the diagram to the right, there are 22 paths on the Tree of Life, one for each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. There are also 22 cards in the Major Arcana of the Tarot, and each of these corresponds to a Hebrew letter and a path on the Tree of Life. The usual attributions of the Trumps to the paths is shown in the diagram, but some occultists offer slightly different assignments. Aleister Crowley transposes the Star and the Emperor, so that the Emperor corresponds to the Hebrew letter tzaddi, and the Star to heh. This is in keeping with the Thelemic teaching of Crowley's Liber AL vel Legis (The Book of the Law), where it is written "All these old letters of my Book are aright; but Tzaddi is not the Star" (chapter 1:57).

Each path expresses the interaction between the pair of sefirot it connects. As a quick, much simplified example, Trump XXI, the World, concerns the successful completion of one phase and the start of another, as well as ideas of synthesis and crystallization. The interactions of sefirot nine (Yesod - Foundation) and ten (Malkuth - Kingdom) mirror these ideas, with the generative aspects of Yesod finding their fulfillment in Malkuth. The process of Creation ends in Malkuth, and the return begins through Yesod. The path and the World both correspond to the Hebrew letter tav, and again this is highly appropriate as it is the final letter of the alphabet and means "cross," a symbol associated with the manifest world.

The above example is, of course, a greatly simplified distillation. The meanings of the paths can only be approached through much study and meditation, and the symbolism of a suitably-designed Tarot deck can help in this process. Conversely, an understanding of the Kabbalah facilitates a much deeper understanding of the Tarot.
The Minor Arcana and the Sefirot

There are ten sefirot on the Tree of Life and ten numbered cards in each suit of the Minor Arcana. This gives a simple and compelling correspondence, with all the sixes belonging to the sixth sefira, Tifereth, for example. Just as the sefirot follow a sequence from the new beginning or creative impulse in the first sefira (Kether) through to completion in the tenth (Malkuth), so the numbered cards in each suit follow this pattern from the Ace through to the Ten.

Kabbalists view the Tree as acting in or through four worlds: Atziluth (Archetypal World), Briah (Creative World), Yetsirah (Formative World) and Assiah (Manifest World). So the system can be further refined, as each of the suits of the Minor Arcana corresponds to one of the four worlds. For example, Assiah is the manifest world, corresponding to the element Earth and the Tarot suit Pentacles. So the Six of Pentacles corresponds to Tifereth in Assiah. Tifereth is the sefira of balance and beauty, and Assiah the manifest, material world; hence the Six of Pentacles in the Tarot deck has meanings associated with putting money to good use, generosity, nobility and deserved success. The correspondences between the Kabbalistic worlds and the Tarot suits are as follows:
Tarot Suit Element Kabbalistic World
Pentacles Earth Assiah (Manifest World)
Swords Air Yetsirah (Formative World)
Cups Water Briah (Creative World)
Wands Fire Atziluth (Archetypal World)

All that remains are the court cards of the Minor Arcana, which placed at fixed positions on the Tree:
Court Card Sefira
Pages Malkuth (Kingdom)
Knights Tifereth (Beauty)
Queens Binah (Understanding)
Kings Chokmah (Wisdom)

Entire suits are also allocated their places, just as the four worlds are sometimes expressed on a single Tree:
Tarot Suit Sefira
Pentacles Malkuth (Kingdom)
Swords Tifereth (Beauty)
Cups Binah (Understanding)
Wands Chokmah (Wisdom)