The Magician.

Ongoing exploration of the Tarot

Previously I discussed the Fool, the Zero card, in this ongoing exploration of the Tarot. I have already written about the Magician archetype, as part of my exploration of masculine archetypes.

The deck I am using is the Knapp-Hall Tarot from 1929, a more traditional deck using symbols for the minor arcana, images for the major arcana; most modern decks use images for all the cards. The Magician is a master of symbols.

I like these cards because there is a focus on traditional Western iconography. Many new decks depart in all sorts of directions, much of the imagery specific to the card rather than the Western tradition; even familiar with esoteric iconography, without the book associated with it, it would be hard to make any sense of the card.

His hat is the Lemniscate, similar to the eight (8), symbol of infinity. He holds Mercury/Hermes’ caduceus (which is a symbol of the Tree of Life,) raised in his left hand, connected to the right hemisphere of his brain, pointing “above”, to the astral realm and to God. His right hand points down, to the earth, “as above, so below,” also drawing down the divine to earth. The crown is Kether from the Cabala, the beginning, the source, the crown of the Tree of Life, which creates Chokmah as the first manifestation. There are red roses in the background, symbol of desire, in this case the desire for knowledge and understanding, to know thyself, to seek and find the Philosopher’s Stone.

On the table is a wand, a sword, a cup and several coins. These are the tools of the Magician. Wands symbolize fire and the creative spirit, masculine initiative, the will to build and to achieve. Cups symbolize water, the emotions, love, passion, fertility and the feminine. Swords symbolize air, the intellect and the astral realm, the written and spoken Word, for ill or for good. The Coins symbolize earth, the wealth and riches of matter, not just the earth but all the whirling matter of the Universe, prosperity, the senses and the body.

He is dressed in primarily red, the color of desire, but his sleeves are white, symbolizing purity of action, while the green symbolizes his creative transformation of the earth and a connection to all living green things. The gold detail is the wealth created by his work.

The feminist “Motherpeace” tarot, as you might expect, pretty much rejecting everything traditional, Western and Masculine, from 1978

From the Thoth deck, not a magician but the god Mercury, retaining much of the western traditional iconography, completed in 1943

The Haindl deck, 1990, retaining some of the Western tradition but also iconography from indigenous cultures.

The magician is masculine, the first manifestation. Some women in the modern age have rejected this, thinking it some manifestation of toxic patriarchy. But considering the Tree of Life in the Cabala, Chokmah follows Kether, which is pure being, the infinite light, while masculine Chokmah is Force, energy given motion; it is not until that Force passes through feminine Binah, that it can become Form.

The prime-ultimate human model of this is the family. The decline of the West is written in the attack on the family. Families are the foundation of community, which is the bulwark against the potential chaos of society. Civilization cannot be sustained without strong families and communities. Feminism, Liberalism, Marxism and Globalization, however they began, they are not civilization building but civilization destroying.¹

The magician’s impulse is purely creative, he is the builder of civilization.

It should be said, any power can be misused. John Michael Greer wrote an excellent book about the rise of Trump’s first administration, called The King in Orange, discussing in detail how the legacy media is sorcery, sorcery being that which uses power not for the betterment of society but to manipulate and control people and society. The legacy media, and not a few on the left here on substack, are using words as a kind of spell casting, to confound, to confuse, and to create caricatures of their enemies,² which is the means of justifying ill treatment against them. Sorcery takes reality and manipulates it, inverts it, to overturn society as the means to dominate it. Covid, trans and woke are sheer sorcery.

It is unfortunate that the “occult” and the tarot has been so demonized, because there is a lot here that is useful in combating the sorcery we are beset with, destroying the West and America. Demonizing Western esotericism has left a lot of people vulnerable to attack. If you are beset by black magic, it might be useful to know some white magic. Though it is very clear, the sorcery of legacy media especially, no longer has control over America, because ever more Americans have come to recognize when they are being manipulated.

Magician energy is fundamentally creative, it is mastering the creative process: imagine what you want to create, intend to follow through and will it into being. It is about looking deep within, drawing out what is useful and sharing that with the world to make life on earth better. It is about speaking the truth clearly and with authority. It is about building, sustaining and restoring. It is about being at ease in this life, tending to your soul and the soul of others, creating the life you want for yourself, in service to those you care about most.

1. The Shock Market Crash

Mark’s piece is about the importance of family as the foundation of society, and an exploration of the forces aligned against the family and community.

Harrison’s piece is about how modern Western financial markets have intentionally destroyed the family and community.

Pathocracy Rising: How Economic Systems Breed Deviants

2. The sorcerers here on Substack I call out most often are

Walter Rhein

,

John Pavlovitz

and the folks at

The Contrarian

. Reading them is literally nauseating. The

Librarian of Celaeno

also put together a good list, as did

Yuri Bezmenov

Cringestack in Review, Part I

How To Make Millions from Trump Derangement Substack AND Win the Pulitzer Prize