The Magician

Tarot - The Magician

Major Arcana key number one is called the Magician. This is a Magi or alchemist. A studier of the sciences of astrology and chemistry. Often a scientist who is working to create something rather than one who is only studying a subject. Each Magician can be a specialist in slight of hand but where modern magicians maintain a entertainment value showing us tricks of misdirection and the oddities of perception the traditional Magi was much more of a Wizard in that the work was to create new things out of elementals. Raw ores and mixtures of his own preparation were the tools of his profession. While he was called an herbalist the character of Cadfael is many times a magician in that his preparations were used to heal and tell the truth of a situation in what appeared to be mystical revelations.

Somewhere on almost all the Magician cards is a symbol of eternity. My experience says that this is to show the person is an expert in understanding the past and uses that to make manifest the desires and dreams of the querant. This can be positive or negative depending on the actions of all involved. Any individual that can help you make your dreams come true can be represented by the Magician.

The Magician may be a "seer". Dice are often found on the card to represent the ability of the Magician to foretell the future. Dice or "bones" were used from very ancient times to predict the needs and outcome of the future. The Thirteenth Warrior shows two "oracles" using bones to divine the needs of the group and what will successful for the group. Putting markings on the bones and eventually shaping the bones into cubes led to the dice we know today.

As a psychopomp the Magician is acting as a soul or spiritual guide or counselor. In this the Magician gives recommendations to clients on what would work for them based on his observations. In this he fills the role of the Greek god Hermes. As the god of travelers, merchants, thieves, alchemists and fortune tellers Hermes was a protector. The Magician often provided unguents and potions to the travelers. Being a scholar the Magician would have access to amulets, charms and signs to protect merchants and businesses from the evil eye, black magic and all sorts of wicked enchantments. Often the local thieves would go to a Magician to get spell protection or seeking the invisibility they needed to carry out their thefts. Woe be it to the thief who tried to steal from a Magician. A notable exception to this is that the magician had nothing to do with the religious pilgrims that traveled to Rome.

The Shaman, Witchdoctor, Herbalist, Healer, Village Teacher, Astronomer, Astrologer or any fortune teller may be represented by the Magician. For me it usually comes up when someone other than the querant is active in working to make the desire of the querant come to reality. When reading for other fortune tellers I find it frequently comes up as the querant. I often use it as the significator when I have a reading for myself done.

Merlin was probably the best known Magician. He contains all the attributes we associate with the card but in a couple of respects Merlin goes far beyond the symbolism. Merlin was often absent when advice was most needed. For the purposes of teaching Arthur to rely on his own abilities this is necessary for the story but as an archetype it adds a dimension that goes beyond the true definition.

A tarot reading with only three cards called "A Dice Throw" is based on the Magician. First take out all the minor arcana aces through sixes. Shuffle and deal two cards. Add the numeric value of these. Take this sum and use the corresponding Major Arcana, that will yield the essences of the question. I find this isn't as effective as most others as it doesn't account for the first 10 number cards and can't yield the Fool. It seems like a lot of extra work for a less than complete set of possibilities. I also don't know of anyone who uses this so if there is someone who does please let us know how you address these matters.