Editing The Magician (tarot card) (section)

== Divination ==
Like the other cards of the [[Major Arcana]], the Magician is the subject of complex and extensive analysis as to its occult interpretations. On the broad level, the Magician is interpreted with energy, potential, and the manifestation of one's desires; the card symbolizes the meetings of the physical and spiritual worlds ("[[as above, so below]]") and the conduit converting spiritual energy into real-world action.<ref name="Esselmont">{{cite web|url=https://www.biddytarot.com/tarot-card-meanings/major-arcana/magician/|title=Magician Tarot Card Meanings|work=Biddy Tarot|last=Esselmont|first=Brigit|access-date=2 March 2021}}</ref>

Tarot experts have defined the Magician in association with [[The Fool (Tarot card)|the Fool]], which directly precedes it in the sequence; [[Rachel Pollack]] refers to the card as "in the image of the trickster-wizard".{{sfnp|Pollack|1997|p=30}} A particularly important aspect of the card's visual symbolism in the Rider–Waite deck is the magician's hands, with one hand pointing towards the sky and the other towards the earth. Pollack and other writers understand this as a reflection of the [[Hermeticism|Hermetic]] concept of "as above, so below", where the workings of the [[Macrocosm and microcosm|macrocosm]] (the universe as a whole, understood as a living being) and the [[Macrocosm and microcosm|microcosm]] (the human being, understood as a universe) are interpreted as inherently intertwined with one another. To Pollack, the Magician is a metaphysical [[lightning rod]], channeling macrocosmic energy into the microcosm.{{sfnp|Pollack|1997|pp=31–33}}

According to [[A. E. Waite]]'s 1910 book ''[[The Pictorial Key to the Tarot]]'', the Magician card is associated with the divine motive in man. In particular, Waite interprets the Magician through a [[Gnosticism|Gnostic]] lens, linking the card's connection with the number eight (which the [[infinity symbol]] is visually related to) and the Gnostic concept of the [[Ogdoad (Gnosticism)|Ogdoad]], spiritual rebirth into a hidden eighth celestial realm. Said infinity symbol above the Magician's head is also interpreted as a symbol of the [[Holy Spirit]], the prophetic and [[Theophany|theophanic]] aspect of the [[Trinity]].{{sfnp|Waite|1979}}

Like other tarot cards, the symbolism of the Magician is interpreted differently depending on whether the card is drawn in an upright or reversed position. While the upright Magician represents potential and tapping into one's talents, the reversed Magician's potential and talents are unfocused and unmanifested.<ref name="Esselmont" /> The reversed Magician can also be interpreted as related to [[black magick]] and to madness or mental distress.{{sfnp|Pollack|1997|p=34}} A particularly important interpretation of the reversed Magician relates to the speculated connection between the experiences recognized in archaic societies as [[shamanism]] and those recognized in technological societies as [[schizophrenia]]; the reversed Magician is perceived as symbolizing the degree to which those experiences and abilities are unrecognized and suppressed, and the goal is to turn the card 'upright', or re-focus those experiences into their positive form.{{sfnp|Pollack|1997|pp=34–35}}