The Magician (Tarot Triptych)
Name: The Magician
Number: 1
Astrology: Mercury
Qabalah: Beth ב
Chris Gabriel March 12, 2024
Watch his hands - The Magician is putting on a show. Whether he’s holding a wand or juggling all of his tools, he has before him each of the magical weapons that form the suits of the Tarot: a wand, a cup, a blade, and a coin. I am always brought to the phrase “Play with a full deck”. The Magician is doing just that.
In Thoth, he is the Magus. The God Mercury, or Hermes. He has a big smile, and long winged heels. He shines radiant gold. In addition to the four tools of the suits, there is a Phoenix wand and a winged egg, for he is going between all opposites. Behind him is his Caduceus, the serpentine wand, and beneath him is his monkey form and shadow, Thoth Cynocephalus. Mercury effortlessly plays with his tools.
In Rider, we see him noble, robed and handsome. He has an Ourboros, the snake eating its tail for his belt, a magic wand in his hand, and infinity above him. He points to above with his wand, and to below with his left hand. Atop the table are his weapons and a great many flowers fill the bottom of the card.
In Marseille, we are given le Bateleur, a street performer. A mundane character compared to a grandiose Ceremonial Magician or Mercury . Here is a trickster hustling fools with his trade. A figure in a bar or at a fair. This is not a Magician who is going to commune with angels and demons, but a hokey fortune teller with a tacky neon sign.
The Tarot is considered by many occultists to be the first book, one written by Hermes, or under his Egyptian name, Thoth. The God who created writing and magic. So in some ways, this card is a self portrait.
Mercury is androgynous, all the more so when placed in its alchemical trinity with the Emperor and the Empress - Mercury between Sulphur and Salt.
Mercury is the spectrum between all dualities, and effortlessly flies between them. The Tarot itself is structured by these symbolic dualities, between Fire and Water, Earth and Air, the World and the Heavens. Yet in this card, they are tools or toys to the Magician.
Just as at the beginning of our studies, we are the Fool, as we master our understanding of the Tarot, we become like the Magician. Through understanding, we develop a “full deck” with which we can play.
Qabalistically, this card represents the 2nd path on the Tree of Life, that going between God and Understanding, Beth. Beth is an ideogram of a House. Consider how when playing with a deck one can build a “House of Cards”. This is the realm of the Magician.
When dealt the Magician in a reading, think upon your skills, your abilities, and how you can put them into use. This is a call to use our abilities to shape the world around us, to not be stuck in one place, but to apply our understanding!
The Tarot itself is structured by these symbolic dualities, between Fire and Water, Earth and Air, the World and the Heavens.
