The Magician (Tarot card)

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The Magician, The Magus, or The Juggler (I) is a "Major Arcana" Tarot card, commonly coming after the Fool card numbered (0).

Contents 1 Description and symbolism 2 Divination 3 History 4 Interpretation 4.1 Qabbalistic Approach 4.2 Mythopoetic Approach 5 Alternative decks 6 Trivia 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

Description and symbolism

This illustration of the Tarot card "The Magician" is from the Rider-Waite tarot deck developed by A. E. Waite for the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in 1910. Waite was a key figure in the development of modern Tarot interpretation, though not all interpretations follow his theology. Some frequent keywords are:

• Action — Consciousness — Concentration — Personal power
• Practicality — Energy — Creativity — Movement
• Precision — Conviction — Manipulation — Self confidence
• Being objective — Focusing — Determination — Initiative

A youthful figure in the robe of a magician has the face of the divine Apollo, the sun god, with a confident smile and shining eyes. Above his head is the mysterious sign of the Holy Spirit, the sign of life, like an endless cord, forming the lemniscate of infinity. About his waist is a serpent-cincture or girdle, the ouroboros, the serpent devouring its own tail. The ouroboros is an ancient symbol of eternity, eternal becoming or transmutation and transformation, but in this case it indicates more especially the eternity of attainment in the spirit. In the Magician's right hand is a wand raised towards heaven, the sky or the element æther, whilst the left hand is pointing to the earth. This iconographic gesture has multiple meanings, but is endemic to the Mysteries, symbolising divine immanence, the ability of the magician to bridge the gap between heaven and earth. On the table in front of the Magician the symbols of the four Tarot suits signify the Classical elements of earth, air, fire and water. Beneath are roses and lilies, the flos campi and lilium convallium ^[1], changed into garden flowers, to show the culture of aspiration.^[2]

Divination

When the Magician appears in a spread, it points to the talents, capabilities and resources at the sitter's disposal. Depending on the card's placement in relation to other cards, the message is to tap into one's full potential rather than holding back, especially when there's a need to transform something. There are choices and directions to take. Guidance can arrive through one's own intuition or in the form of someone who brings about change or transformation.^[3] It can mean a manipulator is floating around, usually if it's reversed. He may be a beneficent guide, but he does not necessarily have our best interests in mind. He may also represent the querent’s ego or self awareness. He can also represent the intoxication of power, good and bad.

History

In the earlier "Marseilles" woodcut images before the overlay of occult imagery of the 19th century, The Magician is identified as Le Bateleur ("The Juggler'), and is represented as a stage magician rather than a figure of real power. Visually the 18th-century woodcuts reflect earlier iconic representations, and can be compared to the free artistic renditions in 15th-century hand-painted tarots made for the Visconti and Sforza families.

Later occultists took the curves of the magician's hat brim in the Marseilles image for the mathematical sign of infinity, adding other symbols according to changing tastes. The essentials shown in the illustration (below), are that the magician has set up a temporary table outdoors, to display items that represent the suits of the Minor Arcana: Cups, Coins, Swords (as knives). The fourth, the baton (Clubs) he holds in his hand. The baton later stands for a literal magician's "wand".

Interpretation

Qabbalistic Approach

This card signifies the divine motive in man. It is also the unity of individual being on all planes, and in a very high sense it is thought. With further reference to the "sign of life" that is, the infinity symbol and its connection with the number 8, it may be remembered that Christian Gnosticism speaks of rebirth in Christ as a change "unto the Ogdoad." The mystic number is termed Jerusalem above, the Land flowing with Milk and Honey, the Holy Spirit and the Land of the Lord. According to Martinism, 8 is the number of Christ. In other traditions this card can refer to scholarly knowledge. The Fool (card 0) has learned something about the workings of the world and now sees himself as powerful. Perhaps the reputation of the Magician is derived from the Fool misunderstanding what is happening while the High Priestess (the next card) is looking back thinking the Magician is missing the point of spiritual knowledge.

Mythopoetic Approach

Some schools associate him with Hermes, especially Hermes Trismegistus, a syncretic Egyptian/Greek figure that came from combining Hermes and Thoth, a god of the moon, knowledge, and writing. In this aspect, The Magician guides The Fool through the first step out of the cave of childhood into the sunlight of consciousness, just like Hermes guides Persephone out of the Underworld every year. He represents the potential of a new adventure, chosen or thrust upon one. A journey undertaken in daylight, in the Enlightenment Tradition. He brings things out of the darkness into the light. He explores the world in order to master it. He is solar consciousness. He's associated through the cross sums (the sum of the digits) with Key 10, The Wheel of Fortune (Tarot card), picking up on Hermes as a Trickster figure and a god of chance, and Key 19, The Sun, bringing us back to Apollo and to enlightenment. He embodies the lesson of “as above, so below.” The lesson that mastery in one realm may bring mastery in another. He also warns of the danger of applying lessons from one realm to another. He transcends duality. He’s learned the fundamental elements of the universe, represented by emblems of the four suits of the tarot already broken apart and lying on the table before him. Similarly, in the Book of Thoth deck, he is crowned by snakes, another symbol of both infinity and dualism, as snakes have learned from Gilgamesh how to shed their skins and be reborn, thus achieve a type of immortality, and blind Tiresias split apart coupling snakes and as a result became a woman, transcending the dualism of gender. In the X/1999 Tarot, made by CLAMP, The Magician is Kamui Shirou (the main character of the story). According to the Silent Hill supplement, Book of Lost Memories, the character of Valtiel stands for The Magician. A boss character in The House of the Dead is named for this tarot card. It is the Masterpiece of Dr. Curien.

Alternative decks

The Vikings Tarot depicts Tyr as the Magician, he is lifting his arm that was severed by the Fenris wolf. The Osho Tarot calls this card Existence and depicts it as a naked figure viewed from the back sitting on the lotus of perfection, gazing at the beauty of the stars. In the Shining Woman Tarot, the magician is a shaman.

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• A boss in the video games House of the Dead and House of the Dead 2 is named after this card. He is a gargoyle looking humanoid who uses pyrokinesis to attack. He is the final boss in the first game (he is also noted in the first game for killing Dr. Currien, who was his creator and the main antagonist in the first and third games) and makes an appearance in the second, where he protects the final boss in the game, the Emperor. He is mentioned in the third installment, House of the Dead III, but does not make a direct appearance. He does, however, make a direct appearance in the very recent House of the Dead 4: Special. He is one of the few boss characters in the House of the Dead series that is capable of intelligent speech.
• In the game Persona 3, The Magician is a young man named Kenji who is in love with a teacher. Junpei, a member of your party, is also aligned with The Magician arcana. The Magic teacher says that THE MAGICIAN represents action and initiative, but also immaturity.

Notes

References

• A. E. Waite's 1910 Pictorial Key to the Tarot
• Most works of Joseph Campbell.
• Lewis Hyde, Trickster Makes this World: Mischief, Myth, and Art (1998).
• Juliette Wood, Folklore 109 (1998):15-24, The Celtic Tarot and the Secret Tradition: A Study in Modern Legend Making (1998)

External links

• Magician cards from many decks + iconographical articles
• The History of the Magician Card from The Hermitage.

Major Arcana
0 The Fool	I The Magician	II The High Priestess	III The Empress	IV The Emperor	V The Hierophant	VI The Lovers	VII The Chariot	VIII Strength	IX The Hermit	X Wheel of Fortune
XI Justice	XII The Hanged Man	XIII Death	XIV Temperance	XV The Devil	XVI The Tower	XVII The Star	XVIII The Moon	XIX The Sun	XX Judgement	XXI The World
Tarot • Minor Arcana

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1910 book Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Arthur Edward Waite. Please feel free to update the text.