Post by Senbecc on Mar 11, 2007 18:59:14 GMT -5
The Magician
This is a card of unusual magical powers that has the ability to bring you anything that your heart desires. You only have to wish for something and it is right there in front of you. You may need to be highly discriminating lest you wish for the wrong thing, person or job or whatever, because once possessed, it may no longer be desired. Events seem to unfold at a rapid pace with this card and you may find some difficulty keeping up with the speed with which changes occur in your affairs and situations. Many decisions will need to be made during this time and it is up to you whether you adapt and go with the flow as many of your choices now will put you on a new path and then you will enjoy many new and different life experiences. The Magician can do anything. The Magician can have any position he wants, the person he desires or anything his imagination can conjure up. If he wishes to be the President of a country or the Prime Minister of a country, he can do that. All he has to do is desire it and wish for it and make it happen. If he seeks the most desired woman in the land, he can have her, marry her, have children with her. Nothing is beyond his power, which has no boundaries and no limitations. He can have wealth, title, power, prestige, love, glory, fame, anything at all that he wants or feels he needs. He has mystical and magical qualities and a power that is so subtle, it sometimes appears to go undetected. His powerful abilities are beyond comprehension and understanding by the average human being. He is unfathomable, unreachable, unless he wants you closer by his side. If this card should represent you, then you are being made aware of what your real and true talents are and that this is a favourable time to pursue your dreams. Should this card represent someone else, it may be wise to consider what it is that this person wants from you. Do they want you in their life, or out of their life. It is their wish that will come true, not yours, unless you too are also a Magician.
www.newagestore.com/research/TarotReference/Default.asp?Card=2
The Magician tarot card sits at number 1. He is 1 and at one with himself and all creation.
The Magician symbolises new beginnings, initiative and the ability to perform right action at any given moment. He is master of his own destiny.
Adeptly he chooses from the tools at his disposal, the sword of discrimination, the baton of energy, the cup of emotion or the coin of wisdom and wealth.
He uses them so deftly that it is as if he performs magic.
By being wholly in tune with his environment and with others he never makes one error of judgment. He is precise, exact and therefore appears to perform tasks in a far more efficient manner than others.
To fully understand the Magician close your eyes and imagine a simple scenario. Let a scene unfold in your mind’s eye. Any situation that you like, either a real one that you have experienced or a total fantasy. Now bring the Magician into play. What is happening in your imagination? Are there other people involved or is it purely a personal quest? What choices are you making? Who is directing the scene? Yourself or some inner voice that inhibits a natural response? How does the Magician react?
Let me guide the meditation for you. Close your eyes and imagine that you walk into a room and come upon a small child that is distressed? What is your reaction? Do you use the cup of emotion and rush over to embrace the child and comfort? Or does the Magician in you quickly take in the entire scene and note that the child is screaming because the house is on fire? How does the Magician react now? Does he stop to cuddle or does he quickly scoop the child up and run from the building, not caring if the child yells or kicks?
In every scenario in our life we are constantly bombarded with choices that need to be made. This is where we need to use the sword of discrimination and choose right action. The sword is intellect but the baton is response, the energy to get on with the task in hand. The cups bestow us with compassion while the coins ground us, ensuring that amidst activity we remember to stop and eat or rest.
The Magician is calm but can also be feisty.
Go back to our imaginary scene with the small child. Let us now imagine that we have entered the wrong house by mistake and that the child is completely unknown to us. Does this change our perspective? What thoughts are running through your mind as you read this? In your mind’s eye are you dithering because the child is unknown and that the parents might be cross if you touch their child? Or are you enraged that the child is unattended while the house burns down? Do you still pick the child up and rush from the building, or do you also call out to see if anyone else is around?
When the Magician in us leaps into play we always perform correct action. Often we amaze ourselves.
“I just did it,” we find ourselves saying, and wonder how we achieved such a perfect rendition of a piece of music, or sailed through closing a complicated business deal without getting confused or stressed.
The only down side of living in harmony with the Magician within us is that lesser mortals are inclined to become envious of our apparent ease with which we handle complex situations. Never let them put you off. More worthy individuals will offer praise, applause and appropriate reward for our skills.
The Magician within us is self confident but never arrogant.
In practice during a reading the Magician symbolises not only new beginnings but also the questioner’s ability to take initiative in any projects in which they are currently involved.
I see the card well placed for many prosperous business men showing that they are literally *on the ball* and excellent decision makes and coordinators. They do not get stressed in their work but thrive on challenge, which is why they are so successful.
For one woman I saw the card wonderfully placed within the spread indicating renewed strength after a serious illness. “I have a true interest in life again,” she said excitedly. “My mind feels so alert, and my body isn’t tired any more.”
When reversed the Magician tells the opposite story.
The reversed card indicates an inability to act spontaneously and a sense of constantly *getting it wrong*. In its wake come feelings of failure and inadequacy.
Often the reversed Magician shows that the questioner does not know what to do next in their life, what action to take or which interests to pursue.
For one young woman it indicated that she did not know how to deal with the problems arising in her relationship. “I don’t know what to do next,” she admitted. “Trying to reason with him doesn’t seam to work. Not even sleeping with him helps. Perhaps I should leave him, but that doesn’t seam right at the moment either.”
www.toniallen.co.uk/themagician.html
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....
www.aeclectic.net/basics/magician.shtml