The Magician

We had our tarot meetup last night and covered the Magician as well as which cards best describe us. The magician channels divine power from above and below. He has a transparent intelligence where power passes through him, he has no power of his own, it is divine power. He manipulates this power, but it is not his. His astrological sign is mercury and hermes. The power of the magician is inside of you and nowhere else.

On his table he has the tools of the elements, the wand, cup, sword and pentacle. In the Thoth deck, he creates with the wand, preserves with the cup, with the sword he destroys, and with the pentacle redeems. - Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo Duquette. Lon also mentions in his book that a common "rumor" is that in this deck are 3 magicians, or magus. This, according to Lon, is a myth. Because the decks are printed in 80 cards, most decks usually use the 2 extra cards with ads or instructions. AG Mueller instead included 2 copies of rough drafts of the original Magus card which Crowley had rejected. So according to Mr. Duquette, there is only 1 magician, or magus, and no 2 wisemen or any other card or concept.

Eric reads with the Sacred Rose deck, which is pictured here. He had a great observation of his magician card he felt the sword the magician is holding in front of him seemed phallic. I found that a very interesting obeservation which brought to mind the question Wald frequently asks when we are looking at our cards and intuiting from them. Frequently he will ask after we have shared our interpretation if that particular thought or idea was something we were dealing with. For instance, when interpretting the 6 of cups, those children reminded me of a brother and sister playing, and when Wald asked about whether that is an experience I have had, the answer would be that I could see that as my brother and I playing as children. When I asked a person in our group what she saw in that card, she saw herself as the person walking away in the very left of that card - and i would venture a guess that this is an experience she has had in relation to the meaning of that card. We did not really delve into that. But it brought about the question, in regard to what Eric saw in his magician, what experience is the phallic sword referring to for him..

This brought us to a discussion about, what I would describe as the difference between what we intuit from a card versus its textbook meaning. Does that sword in the magician have a phallic meaning, probably not in a textbook way. But that does not mean that it did not have that meaning for Eric and that it was not accurate or pointing out issues of his own power related to that. What that means for Eric is up to him, certainly not something i would choose to delve into on a public blog.. LOL

This issue is a remarkable thing because this is one of the aspects that I, myself, work with all the time. It is very hard going from a book smart approach of just going with a definition or description from a book I have read to really untuiting the many different messages in front of me. This is a skill that I, myself, have been struggling and working on for the last 2 years. To truly appreciate and understand tarot is to really see not only all the layers involved in a card, but also to know that it is alive in its way, it evolves as well do, as each card describes a part of ourselves. As we evolve and grow, so does the card and how we relate to it and what it means to us.

The magician of 2 years ago meant something entirely different to me than what it would mean to me today. For instance, 2 years ago, the magician represented something I did not know or believe. I did not know that inside me lies a magician who can bring about anything I wish, and certainly even when it was shown to me, i did not believe this to be true. As I have grown as a person and with tarot, he has become my partner. Yet when Eric was working with him last night, he did not mean the same thing for Eric at that point, nor did i read him the same way in regard to Eric. Had i just been working with a book, none of this could be said. For Eric the magician was discussing and relating to him in an entirely different way.

To the same end, there are 21 ways to read a card. The card has many attributes, i.e. name, number, atrology, path, intelligence, etc.

While I am most definitely of fire, a big part of me is also air and tends to stay in that logical sword place - and i need to remember and work with other elements in order to fully hear and feel the messages which are relayed to me. This is a challenge for me.

I learned last night that while it is easy for me to see this issue come out in others, what it is really reflecting is this very issue in myself. I was recently sharing my frustration at not having that person next to me pointing this out to me and reminding me that while logic is great, my heart and intuition are also needed as balance. And yet as I write this, i realize it probably is there, just in a different way.

And how funny is it that this is also part of the message of the magician and his alchemy.

It is amazing how even when we are just going over and learning a card we can see our stories in front of us.