The Fool is the main character of the Tarot, and generally represents the subject of the reading. In the Fool’s journey, the first person he encounters is the Magician – a cool, confident customer with powerful magic. The Magician transfixes the Fool, takes his bundle of possessions, and calls for answers from the air and the earth.
The Magician offers tools to the Fool, ways in which he can interpret and understand his world, and an understanding of the many different paths that he can now take. With the tools provided by the Fool – the sword, the pentacle, the cup and the chalice – the Fool can make any sort of life that he desires. But the tools were always in the Fool’s pack – so did the Magician give the tools to the Fool, or did the Fool always have them and just never saw the possibilities?
A youthful figure in the robe of a magician, having the
countenance of divine Apollo, with smile of confidence and
shining eyes. Above his head is the mysterious sign of the
Holy Spirit, the sign of life, like an endless cord, forming
the figure 8 in a horizontal position 8. About his waist is
a serpent-cincture, the serpent appearing to devour its own
tail. This is familiar to most as a conventional symbol of
eternity, but here it indicates more especially the eternity
of attainment in the spirit.
The Magician
