The 78 Cards
The Magician
Major Arcana, card 1. Astrology: Mercury.
Everything you need is already on the table.
The picture
A young man in a white robe and a red cloak stands behind a table. His right hand holds a white wand raised to the sky, and his left hand points down to the earth. Above his head floats the sign for infinity, a figure eight lying on its side, and around his waist is a belt made of a snake biting its own tail. On the table lie a cup, a sword, a pentacle and a wand, one for each suit of the deck. Red roses hang above him and red roses and white lilies grow at his feet, all against a yellow sky.
Upright
The Fool stepped off the cliff. The Magician is the first thing he learns on the way down: you can make things happen.
One hand takes from above and the other puts it into the world. That is the whole trick. An idea stays an idea until somebody picks up the tools and uses them. The four suits on the table are the four things you work with: feeling, thought, energy and the physical stuff of life. He has all of them, and so do you.
Mercury rules this card, the planet of the messenger, the talker, the quick hand. When the Magician turns up, the skill is there, the timing is good, and the next move is yours.
Reversed
Reversed, I read the Magician as blocked most often. The tools are on the table and nobody is picking them up. Self doubt, too many ideas and no first step, or waiting for permission you do not need. It can also be too much Magician: all talk, the clever patter with nothing behind it, or skill used to fool someone. Mercury was the god of thieves as well as messengers.
To tell which one you have, look at what is happening. If nothing is moving, the card is blocked, and it asks you to start with one small thing. If plenty is moving and it feels a bit slippery, look at who is doing the talking.
When it turns up
What is already on your table that you have not yet picked up?
The Magician has also been a Tarot Card of the Week. Read that post to see the card at work on a real week.
If you would like the cards read against your own chart, my readings are here.
Related pages
The Number 1 · The Magician as a Birth Card · The Twenty Two Paths
The 78 Cards
Every card in the deck, upright and reversed.
See every page and post in the Contents.
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