Iconography

• On the table are the Minor Arcana (wand, pentacle, sword, cup).
  • Signifies the classical elements (fire, earth, air, water).
  • “lie like counters before the adept, and he adapts them as he wills.”
• Conduit between physical and spiritual
  • pointing up and down (“As above, so below.”)
  • macrocosm (the universe as a whole, understood as a living being) and microcosm (the human being, understood as a universe) are inherently intertwined
  • double-ended white wand
• Infinity and ouroboros: eternity
• White robe: purity and inexperience
• Red mantle: willpower and passion vs. egotism, rage, revenge
• Garden: manifestation and cultivation of desires
  • Rose of Sharon and lily of the valley
  • demonstrates the “culture of aspiration”
  • or his ability to cultivate and fulfill potential
  • described by Waite as flos campi and lilium convallium, in an apparent allusion to the biblical Song of Songs.
• Associated with Mercury (planet): Gemini and Virgo (astrology signs)

Meaning

• energy, potential, manifesting one’s desires, tapping into one’s talents
• reversed: unfocused, unmanifested potential & talents
  • black magick, madness, mental distress
  • “important interpretation”: connects “archaic society” shamanism with “technological society” schizophrenia
  • degree experiences & abilities are unrecognized and supressed
• “As above, so below.”
  • Meeting of physical and spiritual worlds
  • Conduit converting spiritual energy into real-world action.
  • He is a metaphysical lightning rod: channels macrocosmic energy into the microcosm

Leander

Waite

• associated w/ the divine motive in man
• interpreted through Gnostic lens
  • linked to number 8 (infinity)
  • Ogdoad: spiritual rebirth into a hidden 8th celestial realm

Etc

• Infinity: symbol of the Holy Spirit
• prophetic, theophanic aspect of the Trinity
  • theophany: a visible manifestation to humankind of God or a god.

Sallie Nichols, Jung and Tarot: An Archetypal Journey (1980)

But the magic of human consciousness is a two-edged sword. We can use it to shape a brave new world or crack open a Pandora’s box of hidden devils to destroy our world and all life on this planet. The temptation to misuse power is a hidden aspect of any archetypal figure; but since the powers of the Magician are so primitive and subtle, this temptation is his special bête noire. It is perhaps in recognition of this fact that the Magician’s “black beast” is specifically pictured in card fifteen, where we shall meet him as the Magician’s shadow, the Devil.

In Jungian terms, the shadow is a figure appearing in dreams, fantasies, and outer reality that embodies qualities in ourselves which we prefer not to think of as belonging to us, because to admit to these would tarnish our image of ourselves. So we project these seemingly negative qualities onto someone else. Such a person seems to always haunt our dreams, disturbing the atmosphere by saying or doing inappropriate or even downright devilish things.

In the Waite version, for example, only the positive yang aspects of the Magician are shown. No motley Trickster at the crossroads, this magus appears against a backdrop of pure, golden light among lilies and roses. He wears priestly robes and a solemn expression. In his right hand he holds aloft a wand indicating that his powers are under conscious control and are dedicated to the heavenly spirit above. With his left hand he points earthward, dramatizing the Hermetic maxim “As above so below.” It is worth noting that, although this Magician’s wand has two poles, both of them are white…“White above and white below” suggests a static, sterile universe ruled by rigid perfectionism.

The one that started it all. I had a passing interest in tarot years before, but when the Touchstarved demo came out with the heavily occult associations, I was hooked.