Beyond Keywords: The Magician Tarot Card Meanings In Context
Go beyond keywords. Learn to interpret the Magician in any tarot reading (Rider Waite Smith system).
To move beyond keywords and truly understand the Magician card (RWS system), it is helpful to see how its meanings shift across different contexts. That is why this guide covers:
Meanings for all major life areas (general, love, career, spiritual, and intellectual matters)
Interpretations for common spread positions (situation, advice, outcome, obstacles)
Key card combinations, (e.g. The Magician and The Tower)
Journal Prompts to help you integrate the card's energy.
Waite's original meanings (from The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, 1911)
Controversies and notes
Frequently Asked Questions
The RWS Magician at a Glance
Keywords: Manifestation, Willpower, Skill, Resourcefulness, Action
Reversed Keywords: Manipulation, Trickery, Wasted Talent, Deception, Inaction
Element: n/a
Planet: Mercury
Yes/No: Yes
All correspondences given are Golden Dawn based.
A.E. Waite’s Magician Card
The Magician card from the Rider Waite Smith tarot deck (1909)
A.E Waite’s Magician card depicts a figure standing with one arm raised to the heavens, holding a double-ended wand. One of his hands is up and the other is pointing down to the earth. This posture signifies his role as a conduit of Divine Will, drawing power from the spiritual planes down into the material world.
Above his head is the lemniscate, the symbol of eternity.
Before him is a table displaying the implements of the four Minor Arcana suits: a wand, a cup, a sword, and a pentacle. This shows that, due to mastery over his lower nature, he has all of the necessary tools at his disposal to achieve his aims.
He is surrounded by a garden of roses and lilies, indicating that his desires and thoughts have been brought to bloom in the physical world.
Waite’s Divinatory Meanings of The Magician
In The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1911), Arthur Edward Waite gives the divinatory meanings for The Magician as follows:
"Skill, diplomacy, address, subtlety; sickness, pain, loss, disaster, snares of enemies; self-confidence, will; the Querent, if male. Reversed: Physician, Magus, mental disease, disgrace, disquiet."
Upright RWS Magician: It’s Modern Meanings in Context
In Life Areas
Generally: The Magician relates to a time of action, where willpower and skill can create tangible results. Launching a new project, mastering a new skill, a successful presentation, having all the resources you need.
In a Love Context: This card signifies proactive courtship and the conscious creation of a relationship. Finally asking someone out, clearly communicating your desire for commitment, winning someone's affection with your charm.
In a Money/Career Context: This card points to professional skill and successful manifestation. A successful business launch, nailing a job interview, a promotion to a leadership role, starting a skilled apprenticeship.
In an Intellectual Context: The Magician represents the skilful application of the intellect. Structuring a chaotic essay, mastering a complex piece of software, articulating a persuasive argument, a successful debate.
In a Spiritual Context: This card is about the practical application of one's spiritual path. Aligning your actions with Divine Will, "walking the talk," using focused will to create positive change for the good of ALL, practical theurgy.
In Common Spread Positions
As Advice: The active, skilful energy of The Magician advises you to take action now and use the tools you have.
As (Ultimate) Outcome: The outcome is one of successful manifestation. Your focused will and skill will bring about the desired result.
As Obstacles: The obstacle is a misapplication of skill. Progress is blocked by a manipulative person, a focus on trickery over substance, or intellectual arrogance.
As Hidden Energy: Untapped potential. Blessings (especially blessings in disguise). Covert strategy. Magical protection.
As Resources/Alliances: Expertise. Talent. Balanced training regimen.
A year or two ago now, I did a tarot reading on the Tommy Fury vs Jake Paul fight. Tommy was said to win and was represented by the Magician card, whereas Jake was King of Wands. Interpretation: Tommy’s skillset was more well-rounded.
This may seem obvious to you since he has professional boxers in his family. But do not things for granted when seeking knowledge. Like a scientist, it is wise to test your assumptions, just in case they are wrong.
Reversed RWS Magician: Meanings in Context
In Life Areas
Generally: Reversed, The Magician can point to a blockage or misuse of power. Wasted talent, creative blocks, deception, inaction due to a lack of confidence.
In a Love Context: This card often signifies manipulation or dishonesty. A partner making false promises, a smooth-talking player with no real intent, a relationship built on a deceptive facade.
In a Money/Career Context: This can mean scams or a lack of skill. Falling for a "get rich quick" scheme, a fraudulent business deal, failing a job interview due to a lack of preparation, qualifications or charisma.
In an Intellectual Context: This points to intellectual dishonesty. Plagiarism, using complex jargon to confuse people, sophistry (using clever but false arguments), spreading misinformation.
In a Spiritual Context: This can mean using spiritual practices for manipulative or egotistical ends. A disconnect between one's stated beliefs and one's actions, using spiritual language to deceive others.
In Common Spread Positions
As Advice: A warning against deception or inaction. It is time to question an offer that seems too good to be true, or to stop procrastinating and develop the skills you need.
As (Ultimate) Outcome: The outcome is defined by failure through inaction or deceit. A project will fail due to a lack of skill, or you will be the victim of a scam.
As Obstacles: The obstacle is deception or a lack of ability. A con artist, a lack of self-confidence, or your own wasted potential is blocking your progress.
As Hidden Energy: The manipulative energy of The Magician is a hidden threat. A person's desire to deceive is not obvious, or your own lack of skill is unconsciously sabotaging you.
As Resources/Alliances: Help comes from exposing a lie. Seeing through a deception or admitting your own lack of skill is the path forward.
The RWS Magician in Key Card Combinations
Combinations with Major Arcana
The Magician & The High Priestess
The Magician (↑) & The High Priestess (↑): Action guided by intuition. Practical magic. A secret skilfully brought to light.
The Magician (↓) & The High Priestess (↑): A manipulator trying to extract secrets. A refusal to listen to intuition. Wasted talent.
The Magician (↑) & The High Priestess (↓): Acting skilfully but on superficial information. Ignoring a secret. A poor decision based on gossip.
The Magician (↓) & The High Priestess (↓): A project failing from both deceit and misinformation. A toxic situation of lies and secrets.
The Magician & The Emperor
The Magician (↑) & The Emperor (↑): A successful business. A well-planned project. A charismatic and authoritative leader.
The Magician (↓) & The Emperor (↑): A leader who is all talk and no action. A con artist in a position of power. A stable company weakened by lies.
The Magician (↑) & The Emperor (↓): A brilliant but chaotic freelancer. A great idea that fails due to a lack of discipline. Skilful rebellion against a tyrant.
The Magician (↓) & The Emperor (↓): A project failing from both a lack of skill and a lack of structure. A manipulative tyrant.
Combinations with the Suit of Cups
The Magician & The Ten of Cups
The Magician (↑) & The Ten of Cups (↑): Consciously creating a happy family life. A successful community project. A charismatic and beloved family leader.
The Magician (↓) & The Ten of Cups (↑): A happy family threatened by lies. A manipulator within a community. A false display of happiness.
The Magician (↑) & The Ten of Cups (↓): A skilled person who cannot find emotional fulfilment. A successful career that leads to an unhappy home life.
The Magician (↓) & The Ten of Cups (↓): A family built on a foundation of lies and deceit. A community project that fails due to manipulation.
Controversies & Notes
The Mediator of Divine Will
Many modern interpretations reduce The Magician to a simple icon of personal power or a motivational cheerleader. From the perspective of Western Esotericism, this disregards important philosophical issues like fate vs free will and karma/cause & effect.
The Magician is not the source of power, but its conscious mediator of it. His function is a theurgic one: to consciously direct spiritual forces from the higher planes into the material world, using his consciously trained will. Will trained towards what? Attunement with the Divine Will. In doing this, he lives out his souls’ purpose for incarnating.
His path is not necessarily one of conducive material circumstances. That depends on his karma. But it is the right one for his soul, and to the initiate of white magic, this is the most important thing. This is not to say that the white magician neglects his physical circumstances. Just that, on the whole, he will not use occult means to improve his material circumstances. It is not an absolute rule; it is a rule of thumb to keep him on the Right Hand Path.
Master of the Four Elements
The implements on the table (Wand, Cup, Sword, and Pentacle) are not just a random collection of props. Their inclusion in the Rider-Waite-Smith artwork is a declaration that The Magician has achieved mastery over the four occult Elements within his lower self. He can command his will and passion (Fire), navigate his emotions (Water), structure his intellect (Air), and affect the physical world (Earth). This self-mastery is what gives him the power to shape his reality in accordance with Divine Will.
Frequently Asked Questions about The Magician Tarot Card
What is The Magician's elemental correspondence? Air. This links the card to things like the realm of the mind, intellect, communication, and conscious thought.
Is The Magician a card of occult magic? Yes. Waite drew inspiration for his depiction of The Magician card from Eliphas Levi, a fellow initiate of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Levi believed that the Tarot de Marseille was a deck made by initiates. In this deck, the Magician is a street illusionist (stage magician) and Levi would consider this an esoteric allusion only understood by initiates. Waite however made this idea more explicit by drawing what is more obviously a Hermetic magician. He changed the juggler table to the theurgist’s ritual table, the stage magician’s props to magical tokens and the rest of the scenery to aspects of ritual magic more generally.
