The second stop in the Fool’s journey is “The Magician.” The Fool has fallen off the cliff and his feet have safely hit the ground. The Fool becomes aware of his individuality self and now develops a human personality transforming him into the Magician. The Magician is a being who is living in the world. His personal magic arises from him overseeing the Earth’s major forces in his life.
The Magician begins the study of contrasts in the Major Arcana. The magician, or wise man, is clearly in contrast to a fool.
The Magician is number 1 of the Major Arcana Keys (The Fool is 0). The number 1 is the number of Beginning and the sign of the absolute Unity which is before all beginnings.
In comparing The Fool and The Magician cards you can immediately see the contrasts, The Fool is standing on a desolate cliff, the Magician in a fertile garden. The Fool is a young man who has his head in the clouds dreaming of the distant mountains across the abyss. The Magician is concerned with what goes on in his immediate vicinity and he is looking down at what is directly below him. The Fool doesn’t use his possessions. They are in a sack that he carries. The four tools of the Magician are spread in front of him on his table. They are ready to be used as soon as they are needed. The most important detail of Key 1 is the position of the Magician’s hands. With his right hand, he lifts a wand up toward the sky. His left hand is pointing with his forefinger at the fertile earth at his feet.
The Magician represents the ordinary waking consciousness of human beings. His mind is objective. The objective mind makes plans and deals with our daily problems. Its basic function is attention. To your inner consciousness, this Key says: “Be alert. It reminds us that all the power you have comes from a higher power. Acting as The Magician you must understand that you first connect with this Source of power and then act as a transformer of the energy you receive. Whatever you give your full attention to becomes stronger. Nothing can stop the mental force of someone who has mastered the art of concentration. Concentration is as easy as pointing your finger as displayed in this card.
The garden of The Magician represents the subconscious mind where the true seeker finds increased freedom. These powers of the subconscious are symbolized by the lilies and roses. The lilies stand for various qualities of truth and their white color refers to the purity of truth. The roses symbolize human desire. There are four lilies because all human knowledge falls into four main categories. Every detail of Tarot symbolism has a definite meaning.
There are five roses because every object of human desire relates to one or more of the five major senses. The Magician cultivates these flowers and improves them beyond nature. He is a transformer and transmuter of experience. The Magician observes nature until he understands the underlying principle at work. Then he applies that principle in unique ways to make a different condition.
The four tools on the Magician’s table reference how you deal with the actual conditions of humanity. The first method is symbolized by the wand. It is simply a pointer and is acting as an extension of the forefinger. The first step for the solution of any problem is to give it your full attention. Every problem contains its own solution, and that solution can be perceived by careful observation. That is the beginning of all science. Simple watching.
The cup represents the second mental tool. This is imagination. Observation collects experience. Imagination shapes what is poured into it. What we call “laws of nature” are simply man’s collected experiences made into a pattern by acts of imagination.
The third method is the sword representing action. We might know a great deal but until we do something, nothing is changed. Our action tears down something to replace it with something else. You can’t build a house unless you cut down trees. You can’t paint a picture unless you take the color out of tubes. Controlled and wisely directed destruction is the principal tool of civilization.
The pentacle represents the Magician’s finished product. Everything made by man’s ingenuity has value. Money shouldn’t be despised. Poverty is not a mark of spirituality. Money is a wonderful invention and when used correctly, a blessing. The Bible doesn’t condemn money. What it does condemn is lust for money. Lust and love are poles apart. To love anything or anyone is to have respect for that thing or person and love ensures proper regard for the right use. Someone who lusts for things is a stranger to love, seeking only selfish personal gratification not understanding the baseness of that desire.
The Magician is the beginning of the process where the limitless possibilities of the Life-Power are brought into manifestation. The Key represents the initiation of the creative process on all planes.
All your physical and mental states are the results of your mental imagery. When you thoroughly understand what is implied by the statement that any mental image tends to materialize itself as an actual condition or event, you have the clue to success in occult practice.
The title of this Key, the Magician, identifies the picture with Hermes or Mercury who presided over magic in Greek and Roman mythology. Mercury was the messenger of the gods and in this capacity, he transmitted or expressed their wisdom and power.
This correspondence to Hermes is connected also with another meaning of 1, which, as representing singleness, and therefore isolation, stands also for privacy and concealment, and thus for occult or hidden knowledge. Magic is the art of transformation, and it is closely allied to the Hermetic art, alchemy.
In human personality, self-consciousness is the transformer. It, and it only can set in the forces which bring about change. The fundamental magical practice is concentrating attention on some area of your environment.
The Magician is standing in his garden perfectly still. He is a channel for a power that comes from above, and after passing through him, that power sets up a reaction below.
The bond between all things is that they are manifestations of the Life Power. All things are governed by one great Whole from which nothing can be separated. And this is being studied today through Quantum Physics. Science and Magic are once again coming together.
The white wand the Magician holds aloft is a phallic symbol. It represents the concentrated, purified nerve force used in occult magic.
Over of the head of the Magician is an arbor of roses. An arbor is the simplest kind of shelter, a house made of growing plants.
The Magician’s red roses are emblems of desire. Here they mean that the creative and constructive work of self-consciousness is always motivated by a desire for protection against his environment.
The horizontal figure 8 over the Magician’s head is a number associated with Hermes or Mercury. It also represents education and culture, traditionally under the patronage of Hermes. A horizontal 8 is the mathematical symbol for infinity, so that it may be taken as an emblem of the limitless Life-Power.
The Magician’s black hair is a contrast to the Fool’s blonde hair. Black stands for darkness, inertia, and ignorance. The band surrounding this black hair is white, typifying purity, light, and wisdom. Self-consciousness is always an awareness of ignorance. The more we really know, the more clearly we perceive the immensity of the expanse of what we do not know. Yet we limit our ignorance by our enlightenment.
The red mantle typifies action and desire. Its color is associated with the planet Mars which astrologically is given the power used in every type of muscular activity.
The girdle is a blue-green serpent that symbolizes eternity because it swallows its tail. The idea of eternity symbolized by the Magician’s girdle contrasts with the idea of time symbolized by the girdle of the Fool.
The Magician is standing behind a table representing all things he must pay attention to create his magic. The implements on the table are those employed in ceremonial magic. The wand with a spear-like head is a symbol of will and the element of fire. The cup, made of silver metal of the Moon, is a symbol of memory and imagination of the element of water. The sword, of steel, is related to Mars and stands also for action and for the element of air. The pentacle is related to Saturn, and it also represents form and the element of earth.
Self-consciousness is our first great power of creation. What you focus on you strengthen; what you give your attention to you build. If you give your attention to integrity, you strengthen and build integrity. If you give your attention to resentment, you build disharmony. If you give your attention to sorrow, you attract those who will help you to experience all the sorrow you can possibly endure. If you focus your attention on fear then all you fear will come knocking at your door.
This Tarot Key is assigned to the pair of opposites, “Life and Death.” To be attentive to the here and now is life. To be inattentive to the here and now is death.
You can’t have an experience unless you have it now. Right now, even as you read this, this very moment, this “now” is sliding away from your conscious mind. You cannot have an expansion of consciousness, you cannot have illumination you cannot have anything in that moment, that “now” is gone. One, two, or three moments ago should be out of our sphere of attention.
When you give your attention to the here and now, you will be surprised to see the world changing under your very eyes, ears, and touch. As you start absorbing “now” into your daily reality, you are going to truly “see” what is going on around you. The development of intuition begins with your ability to keep your attention focused upon the here and now.
All the magic, the expansion of consciousness, the knowledge it takes, wanting these things strongly enough, is what true aspiration is. The act of attention does not come through one form of supersensory perception because it involves all of them.
When you meet people, pay attention to them. Don’t worry about what kind of impression you are making. The best impression you can make is showing your interest in them; nothing will make people adore you more than you being interested in them. And as you act interested, you become interested. As you meet people and show them that you want to understand them, you will discover that life will develop greater riches for you. What you will receive in return is beyond expression. Paying attention to others develops the ability to see into their souls. You will more readily perceive when people are trustworthy. Paying attention will make you aware of indications that have been there all the time, for very rarely is an indication missing; rather we fail to see it because we have not trained ourselves to pay attention to people, and, therefore, we see what they express in terms of their façade instead of what they are at their present evolutionary level.
About The Author
I am originally from the Chicago area. I believe I still retain much of my midwestern sensibilities. Midwesterners are direct and honest.
My Intuitive abilities have always been there for me. I remember being in my bed when I was about three. The room was dark and still. Laying there, I just knew that I could make toys appear. I tried and tried but alas that didn’t happen. And I couldn’t understand why. I understood a certain principle that didn’t seem to work in this physical world. I always knew I was different, even then – out of place, out of time.