The card of the Magician portrays a wiry, slender young man with curling black hair, who stands facing us at a crossroads. He is dressed for the road in a short white tunic and a deep red travelling cloak. With his left hand he points upward toward heaven. With the right he gestures at a flat rock which lies before him at the centre of the convergence of roads. On the rock four objects are assembled: a chalice, a sword, a flaming wand or caduceus entwined by two snakes, and a pentacle. Behind him can be seen a barren landscape of brown and grey rocks- a continuation of the landscape which we met in the card of the Fool. Two branches of the road vanish in the rocky distance.

Here we meet the god Hermes, guide of travellers, patron of thieves and liars, ruler of magic and divination, and bringer of sudden good luck and changes in fortune.He was the son of Zeus and a mysterious nymph Maia. His colours -red and white- reflect the mixture of earthly passions and spiritual clarity which are part of his nature.

The cup represents the Cup of Fortune, particularly fortune in love for Hermes was wise in the knowledge of the heart. The sword represents the cutting edge of the mind and its power, given to Hermes by his father Zeus. The bag of pentacles or coins marks Hermes as the god of sudden good luck and as the patron of merchants and businessmen. The caduceus is Hermes' wand of magic, entwined by two snakes which represent all opposites: good and evil, make and female, dark and light.

On a divinatory level, Hermes, the Magician, points to potential skills and creative abilities which have not yet manifested. He may appear as an upsurge of energy and an intuition of exciting new opportunities. He presages insight and an awareness of unexplored possibilities.

From June:
I found a very interesting slant on the Fool's Journey in the Mythic tarot book. Now there is an interesting idea for the Magician that I would like to share with your from this book. I am really starting to like this deck and book.

The book says that on an inner level Hermes , the Magician, is the guide. "This means that somewhere within us, no matter how lost of confused we might be at any point in life, there is something within which has foresight and resources which are often hidden from consciousness but which can divine what direction to take and what choices to make. The Magician does not come when he is called, for Hermes is a wily and playful god and does not always respond to what we think is an important situation. He has his own ideas of what might be important. He comes in the night, often in the form of disturbing dreams, or in the guise of a meeting with another person who turnes out to be somehow significant as a catalyst on the journey. Or he can appear as a sudden hunch, or the discovery that one knows more than one thought. The book which one 'accidentally' reads or the chance visit from a friend., or any of a thousand strange little 'turns of fate' are the handiwork of the Magician., the inner guide. "

I love this part. The idea that he is that inner guide that we all have. I have always felt that I have a guide and now I can picture him as the Magician!!

June
junominerva@hotmail.com