The Magician Tarot Card Keywords
Upright Keywords
Creation, Manifestation, Magic, Action, Conscious, Experimentation, Abilities, Inspiration
Reversed Keywords
Trickery, Dishonesty, Narcissism, Manipulation, Over Confidence, Illusion, Fakery
The Magician Tarot Meaning
The Magician is the Major Arcana’s first step into the conscious realm. After The Fool’s leap into the unknown, the first energy he comes into contact with is The Magician. This is where he learns how to wield all the forces available to him. We can see this in many illustrations of The Magician, as a figure stands in front of a table ladened with the four classical elements, represented by the four Tarot suits.
You’ll most likely see a wand being held aloft, to help channel the power of the universe down from above and into the physical realm below. You’ll see a sword to represent the element of air and things like communication, inspiration and knowledge. There’ll be a cup to represent the element of water and the emotional and intuitive energy and a pentacle to represent the element of earth and its grounding, physical properties.
With these tools The Magician sets to work, wielding them, mixing them together and seeing what he can create from seemingly nothing at all. This card is an energy designed to inspire us to think about the power we wield and how we can use it to create, find wonder and be more conscious of the impact we have on the world.
The Magician Upright Meaning
The Magician is an archetype that is focused on development of any kind. It’s an energy that encourages experimentation in the hope of transformation. Think of a scientist locked away in their lab mixing different chemicals together, testing their reaction and then making small adjustments to the formula in order to aid the scientist to create what they want to achieve. That’s the sort of energy The Magician upright brings to the table.
The use of the four classical elements – Fire, Water, Earth and Air – are to remind us that this ‘magic’, this ‘power’, this ‘energy’ that we work with when we step into The Magician, is based in the physical realm. We have everything we need at our finger tips and now it’s time to play around with them to see what we have the power to conjure.
When The Magician upright appears in your readings, it could be a call to spend some time experimenting and exploring. The Magician upright is a perfect card for personal development and working to grow, heal and transform the self. At this stage, with The Magician, you’re just gathering the tools you need and thinking about how to use them. Results from your experiments will vary, but the value lies in the act of conducting the experiments in the first place.
Journal Prompts for The Magician, Upright
What does the next level look like for me and what needs to change to get there?
How can I use what’s already available to me to help me get to where I want to be?
What knowledge and or skills could help me with my personal development or to reach my goals?
“The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary” – Christopher Priest
The Magician Upright Meanings | Love, Career & Finances
In a Love reading, The Magician Upright can represent a a relationship that motivates and inspires you. But, with the Magician’s tricky nature, it also suggests a need to always be looking deeper than external actions, look for the motivations behind the actions to gauge genuine and honest gestures.
In a career reading, The Magician Upright can indicate a desire to level up, to really open up and show others what you are capable of achieving. It may also be a call to retrain or work on honing a skill that could help you land that promotion or a job with more responsibility and/or career development.
When it comes to finances, The Magician Upright could symbolise a need to be more conscious of spend and/or current finances. With The Magician, there may be room to experiment with new financial investments, but be on guard for opportunities or offers that look ‘too good to be true’.
The Magician Reversed Meaning
The Magician reversed can reveal the card’s trickier personality traits. We all love a bit of slight of hand magic as a source of entertainment, but if it’s used against us it could cause us to be cheated, frauded or have the wool pulled over our eyes.
With The Magician reversed, it’s best to be vigilant, watch every move, be hyper aware of what is happening around you so that you don’t fall victim to a falsity. When we turn this energy inwards though, like we often do when a card is in a reversed position, we channel all of this into our sense of self, our sense of being and perspective on our own abilities. This can cause common limiting beliefs like imposter syndrome and not feeling good enough to do the things you feel called to do. We doubt our abilities to manifest the things we want most and downplay our own magic.
When you get The Magician reversed in your readings there’s two areas to look at. The internal world and the external world. With the external world, look out for opportunities or offers that seem to promise the world. More than likely these will be a way to trick you into a position you have little power in. With the internal world, assess and explore any limiting beliefs you may have about your abilities and skills, question any thoughts that come up that say things like “You’ll never…” or “You’re not good enough to…”. These thoughts are not facts, they are a symbol of a need for Magician energy in your life that will lift you up.
Journal Prompts for The Magician, Reversed
How might I be doubting my own power and abilities right now?
How might I be being manipulated right now and for what purpose? – Could be internal or external
Where am I lacking a sense of wonder and sources for inspiration? How could I resolve this?
“You have all the tools right under your nose to manifest your goals. It’s all just a matter of focus” – Theresa Reed a.k.a The Tarot Lady
The Magician Reversed Meanings | Love, Career & Finances
In a love reading, The Magician reversed could suggest someone is not quite as they seem, especially if they seem to be without flaws or fit everything you’ve wanted in a partner perfectly. It’s worth keeping a sharp eye on whether the person seems to be adapting to what you want rather than being fully themselves.
In a career reading, The Magician reversed could symbolise a limiting belief that is keeping you stuck in a role or job that you’ve now outgrown. Your power is bigger than the container you’re stuck in and it’s time to explore how you can break out and unleash it to aid with transformation and career development.
In a financial reading, The Magician reversed could suggest you’re not being honest with yourself when it comes to how much you do or do not have. In some cases, this can be caused by The Magician’s need to bury their head in the sand and not accept what they’re either fully capable of affording due to fear and/or lack of confidence.
The Motivation of The Magician
When reading The Magician – whether in the upright or reversed position – it’s worth keeping the card’s archetypal motivations in mind. The Magician first and foremost is motivated by a need to transform and make dreams a reality. It wants to understand fully how things work so it can use this knowledge in the transformative work it is designed to do.
The Magician is also a bridge. As the second card in The Fool’s Journey, The Magician creates a connection between The Fool soul/spirit and the spiritual understanding of the physical world in The High Priestess. It is a bridge between the inner and outer world and channels the energy that surrounds us into physical manifestations.
The Magician | Esoteric Correspondences
Astrological Sign
Mercury
Mercury is the planet of mind and intelligence. The Magician channels this through its ability to take what’s in the mind and make it a reality.
Elemental Energy
Elemental Fire
The Magician has the element of fire because of its passion for creation and embracing personal power through its use of the wand.
Numerology
Number 1
Within numerology, the number 1 is the number of creation. Even its shape mirrors the wand that The Magician holds aloft.
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