Tarot del Fuego - The Magician - 1

Where the Fool was the supreme Shiva-Shakti completely fused, the Magician is Shiva, still at one with his consort, but with emphasis now on his own attributes, as distinct from hers. Astrologically speaking, the Magician is Mercury/Hermes, messenger of the gods. The construction of houses was once the sole domain of his priests, hence the Magician's association with the Hebrew letter, Beth (house). Mercury also governs logic/rational thought, communication, the sciences, astrology/astronomy, music, and transportation. Paul Foster Case points out in his Tarot: A Key to the Wisdom of the Ages, that the ancient god was considered a magician and a great worker of miracles whose staff, the caduceus, is still the seal and signpost of the medical professions to the present day.

He was, nevertheless, only the messenger of a divinity higher than himself - merely the transmitter, not the originator, the channel rather than the source. 

This brings us back to the matter of the attributes of the Shiva principle that I alluded to earlier. Just as Mercury is regarded as transmitter, Shiva is regarded as the Transcendent Light of Consciousness. Where before, Shiva-Shakti was completely self contained and without difference of time or distance, utterly still and silent, Shiva has unfolded from that field of potential as Light. Light radiates. Thus, Consciousness transmits itself. This transmission carries on throughout the entirety of the Major Arcana. This Light is what will set into motion, by means of the full unlimited array of the powers which are at the disposal of Spirit, the entire process (described in the previous entry) of alternating Involution and Evolution.

Upon the Magician's table are the implements used in the working of ritual magick, representing each of the four elements. Incidentally, the Magician himself also represents the Air Element. This is represented by the three birds behind his shoulders. The Magician's intent, the Light of Consciousness, injected into the four elements gives rise to the existence of the entire universe. This act of impregnation is underscored by a tattoo of the iconically fertile rabbit on the Magician's arm. His magical staff is alive and growing fruit, symbolic of the miracle of life initiated by the transmission of the Magician. The laurel wreath on his head symbolizes victory and rulership. The plants to either side of him, what look to me like a red lily and blessed thistle, are being peppered by particles of conscious Light from which they obtain their sustenance.


In a reading, the Magician can represent such things as drive, initiative, intention, focus, skill, cunning, construction/building/the trades, craft, spellwork, etc.