The Magician
Every month I use a different tarot deck from my collection for my personal daily card drawing and every day I pull a card at random. I make journal notes and sometimes, if there is time, I pull more cards in context to that card. A few weeks ago, I had a complete meditation all about the magician as I was driving somewhere that simply put, was a reflection on the fact that I have everything I need to create a good life. It was not a surprise to me when I pulled the Magician card the next day because the world of tarot is filled with all kinds of serendipity like that.
Today I pulled the Magician card again. My deck of the month for May, by the way, is The Light Seer’s Tarot and if you don’t have this deck, I strongly suggest you consider getting a copy. It has a fresh and modern feel, having left behind all of the medieval references and still allowing the beautiful bones of the classic Rider-Waite-Smith meanings to show. Kudos to its creator and artist, Chris Anne Donnelly. https://lightseerstarot.com/
So, if you are already an experienced tarot reader and I say to you “Magician”, your mind will immediately call in any number of key words that represent the possible meanings of this card such as: initiation, skills, guidance, self, ego, originality, and even charlatan, trickster or manipulator (if ill-dignified). If you are brand new to tarot, Reading Tarot 101 simply starts by having us look at the picture and describing what it calls to mind. I tend to do both.
The image in the Light Seers Tarot shows a figure sitting and gazing down into what appears to be a whirling vortex of – what, exactly? Energy? Light? The person shown has their hands held in such a way that it’s clear they are working with the energy or maybe even causing the flow of energy to occur as swirls of light seem to emerge from their hands. I love this version of the card because this is often how I see energy work in my mind’s eye. But also, because I have been reading tarot for many years and from many decks, I also see in my mind’s eye the picture of each emblem of tarot laid out on the table before the magician to be tools at his disposal for whatever he may wish to will into being.
In some ways the Magician sums up what I believe is one of life’s important lessons, the notion that life doesn’t just happen (although for many people, it does) but that we have creative power over at least a portion of it. Chris Anne has thoughtfully provided users of her deck with a workbook that not only gives an overview for each card but provides a number of questions that we can ask ourselves when this card appears. (The Field Notes). On different instances of pulling the card you may find yourself drawn to the same question or different questions.
When this card first appeared a few days ago, I wrote about how magic often appears in my life in the form of strange little coincidences or simple wishes quickly and easily granted. Today I was more drawn to ask myself one of the suggested questions about what tools do I have at my disposal that I am not fully utilizing. For example, in support of my health I feel that I can probably get back to the gym safely as I have been vaccinated. Taking good care of my physical health is only one aspect of being a powerful magician in my own life. The physical body would be the ‘pentacle’ aspect. I could extend this meditation further to include areas in my life for the other three emblems – swords (thoughts and communication), wands (spiritual and creative power), and cups (emotions) and how I could ramp up on each of them as well.
I will leave you with this final thought. The Magician will mean different things to different people so I invite you to ponder how he may be showing up in your life. Shuffle through your favorite deck, find the Magician, and take a minute to ponder on how you are either already using this energy in your life or ways that you can invoke it. Expect the unexpected. After all, being the Magician card, there’s bound to be some magic in here somewhere!
