EPISODE 3: THE MAGICIAN

RUN TIME: 25’ 15’’

DATE: 5/15/2020

[00:00:00 Soft piano chords accompanied by light percussion, interspersed with a gentle harp and electric guitar plucking in the background. Music plays and overlaps with Sarah’s introduction.]

[00:00:03] Sarah Cargill: Welcome to Tarot for the End of Times. A podcast where we utilize the tarot as a tool to navigate through epochs of deep change.

My name is Sarah Cargill. I’m an artist, cultural worker, and your host throughout the duration of this series.

In each episode, I’ll take a look at the archetypal figures presented in the Major Arcana from the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck to discuss what each card has to say about navigating through cycles of change, chaos, and instability.  

Throughout each episode, I’ll offer reflection questions and suggestions for exercises that might support you in inviting the energy and wisdom of these archetypes into your daily life and practice.  

If you’d like to support this podcast and the person who makes it, you can make a monthly donation through my page on anchor.fm. Your generous act of community care and reciprocity helps me to access the resources that I need to make projects like this possible and sustainable. You can also support this work by sharing this podcast with your friends and loved ones and, most importantly, by tuning in. Thanks for joining me.

[00:01:30 Music fades, introduction ends]

As the sun descends upon the horizon, bowing its head to greet twilight, The Fool casts a circle, creating a sacred and energetically guarded space where they can safely unpack their bag, lay out their tools, and begin work. It’s time for us to meet the second archetype of the Major Arcana: The Magician. The Magician unloads their knapsack and cloaks their back with the protective cloth that cradled their belongings earlier that day. They assemble their tools on a wooden altar - a goblet, a sword, a pentacle, and a wand. The Magician has in their possession all the suits of the tarot represented through the tools that they have laid before them. As their right hand points to the sky, their left hand mirrors and points below to usher in the agreement between themself and the Universe: as above so below, as within so without. In exchange for the elemental gifts of water, air, earth, fire, The Magician offers their body and practice in the form of their elemental gifts of heart, mind, body, and spirit as a vehicle for transmutation.

Upon closer inspection, you may notice that the The Magician sports an Ouroboros around their waist, a wide-spread symbol depicting a serpent eating its own tail. The Ouroboros itself represents the archetype of the alchemist and the alchemist’s command over their own cycles of death, rebirth, and reinvention. This well-placed symbol speaks to The Magician’s capacity to be their own source of power and nourishment.

The archetype of the Magician cashes in on one of their greatest resources: their will and personal power. This card speaks to how we amplify the potency of our agency by aligning our personal power with integrity, intent, and faith. The Magician asks us to use our creativity to transmute the excitement of the Fool into inspired action. Ruled by Mercury, the planet that governs our day-to-day communication and the technologies that make it possible, this archetype is skilled in facilitating a conversation between the seen and the unseen, coordinating a series of well-timed coverings and uncoverings with the Universe. The Magician simultaneously points upward and downward to serve as a conduit for the energetic loop between the realms of the immaterial with the corporeal.

We are in partnership with the Universe. Crowned with an infinity symbol that hovers over their head which, in many ways, mirrors and amplifies the symbolic function of the Ouroboros, the Magician is charged with keeping the conversation loop going between the visible and invisible while expressing their infinite potential.

In many ways, the pandemic that we are collectively living through right now demonstrates the tangibility of the invisible as we continue to witness the material, psychological and bodily consequences of something that we can’t even see. The virus renders itself visible through its many hosts, which of course, include our bodies, but also include invisibilized systems and social structures that hide its pathology under the protection of bureaucratized obfuscation. The Magician reminds us of what we miss when we dismiss the unseen.

This card is ruled by what’s typically considered in esoteric knowledge to be a masculine planet (Mercury) and a masculine element (air), therefore the quality of this energy speaks to how we exert our willpower in the material world. In contrast to what I consider The Magician’s counterpart - The High Priestess - The Magician deals with manifestation on the material plane and is therefore situated in the present moment. Much like the Mercury-ruled signs of Gemini and Virgo, this archetype is intimately familiar with the trajectory of feeling, thought, utterance, and manifestation. In the upright position, The Magician, encourages us to unite our intention with our will through our actions in order to manifest new realities.

One of the quintessential challenges that Mercurial archetypes like The Magician or the astrological signs of Gemini and Virgo must contend with is the double-edged power of the word. They carry with them, with acute awareness, that every thought and utterance is a spell that casts the vibrational conditions for our manifestations. Words carry power because they are essentially containers for and the vibrational expression of our desires and dreams. Words are, in many ways, the building blocks that structure our respective realities. The Magician points upward and downward to signal the double-edged nature of word and, with this awareness, is mindful of what they call into their energetic field and what they speak into existence. With this in mind, The Magician, knowing the power of the word and resourced with the tools and the skills that they need, presents its central question: How do I use the tools and knowledge that I have at this moment to co-create new realities with the Universe?

[00:07:51]

Each Major Arcana reflects themes of karmic lessons that we encounter at various stages of our journeys. Karmic lessons are the types of lessons we agree to learn before we incarnate into bumbling humans on this earthly plane.The karmic lesson of The Magician involves remembering that on the flip side of agency is responsibility. We cannot express the fullness of our agency without taking on the responsibilities that come with it.

When the Magician appears in reverse, it is time to take inventory of the relationships and situations in your life that rob you of your personal power and drain you of your resources. How and to whom have you given your power away to? What keeps you from owning your power and how might you be getting in your own way?

You’ll recall from the first episode that the word “chaos” comes from the Greek word for “void”. As the architect of the void space, the Magician shapes and directs the energy of chaos to build a partnership with the Universe. I’ll speak from personal experience and say that it is much [speaks through a light chuckle] easier to work in partnership with the Universe than it is to work against it. There is a decided difference between the Universe working through you vs. it working despite you, and there are consequences for getting in the way of what the Universe has in store for you. The Magician card in reverse is an invitation to reclaim our personal power by picking up our tools and co-creating in partnership with the Universe.

Sometimes, we might give away our power when we feel threatened, unsafe, or fearful and insecure about the inevitability of impermanence and change. We might allow others to act on our behalf as a way to maintain the false security that the status quo brings. The Magician in reverse asks us to take back our personal power by examining the ways in which we habitually and maybe even unconsciously betray ourselves with our own illusions. There is a difference between alchemy and magic tricks.

[00:10:22]

The Magician in reverse reflects the energies of manipulation and underutilized talents. Another way to work with this inverted energy is to take an honest assessment of how you may be misusing your power and your resources. Now, we all do it - we are human beings [chuckles] and we are all capable of inflicting harm. You see, the shadow side of resourcefulness is manipulation, and when we have unmet needs paired with unchecked power, we can resort to manipulative tactics to get ahead.

Misuse can manifest in innumerable ways. Sometimes, this manipulation looks like abusing situational power derived from imbalanced relational dynamics to unload the work that YOU need to do onto others. Other times, it might look like attempts to enforce unnatural timelines by cutting corners and attempting to trick the Universe into giving what you want faster. You might even trick yourself into believing that the illusion you spun is what’s actually happening. Do not trade in your vision for an illusion. These forms of misuse only block us from entering into true partnership with the Universe, or what some folks call “flow.” There are no shortcuts to building trusting partnerships. It is only a matter of time before we find cut corners obstructing our path forward.  

[Gentle transition music plays. Light harp and piano chords accompanied by sparse bass beats.]

[00:12:16]

Because the Magician is an archetype that represents and is the embodiment of a resourceful manifester, I think it’s worthwhile for us to visit the subject of manifestation for a moment. While I can only claim expertise in my own experiences, I’ve noticed some common threads that link my personal practices and experiences to more broadly held beliefs about how manifestation works.

When it comes to manifestation, there’s an ongoing negotiation that occurs between the right amount of exertion and release.Those who are familiar with Buddist teachings might recognize this negotiation through the lens of what’s called “Right Effort.” The Magician is tasked with learning how to ride out this ebb and flow with confidence and trust, by exerting effort and will when necessary and then, when it’s time, stepping away from the alchemical process by releasing egoic attachment to results. Constantly peeking in the oven leads to an uncooked pie. Hovering too close over the sizzle and pop of grease might take an eye out [gently chuckles]. The Magician knows that stepping away is a crucial and challenging part of the manifestation process because it requires faith in the invisible and trust in the larger unfolding. Sometimes, dear listeners, the Universe will lock a few doors to keep your ass out the kitchen. Within the context of manifestation and Law of Attraction, part of the work involves learning how to trust that what is for us will find its way to us, one way or another.

The Magician understands that, within their partnership with the Universe, the Universe always holds up its end of the contract but will adjust the terms of its behavior based on whether or not you’re upholding your end of the deal.

When we jump out of our lane and exert unnecessary and frenetic effort or control either by trying to force something that is no longer working or fast-forwarding the natural unfolding of your timeline, you end up messing with your karma, interrupting other people’s karma, and undermining a thing that simply has more influence than you alone ever will - and that “thing” is divine timing.

[00:14:54]

Unlocking the energy of plenty, attracting blessing, and manifesting your desires is less about desperately grabbing and more about dialing into the frequency of abundance. As chaotic as the Universe is, I take solace in knowing that matching frequencies tend to gravitate towards each other. Like tends to match like.

When we try to rush things based on our limited view of the full picture, we end up tuning into the frequency of lack because desperation is a vibrational expression of lack. This is often exacerbated by and manifests in the form of rushed, short-sighted decisions that ultimately delay or completely block our blessings.

Consider, for a moment, the concept of entrainment. Entrainment is, in essence, a physical phenomenon that describes when two different frequencies or rhythms synchronize with each other. The basic concept of entrainment is that it’s easier to move with the grain rather than against it. One famous example that demonstrates this phenomenon is the grandfather clock experiment. When you put multiple grandfather clocks together in the same room, ticking independently of each other, after a little while, you’ll eventually find the pendulums of these independent clocks calibrated to each other and ticking in sync. We see this same principle when folks who live together sync up menstrual cycles, or when we find ourselves unconsciously tapping our feet or bobbing our heads to music. Humans also use entrainment as a way to regulate distress by attuning to the nervous systems of our caretakers and intimate companions. This is what we call co-regulation. We might also call this flow.

I name these examples to demonstrate how a seemingly woo-woo concept is actually something that we encounter in our day-to-day lives. Abundance and manifestation works in a similar way. When we entrain ourselves with the rhythm of the Universe, we can learn to calibrate ourselves to the frequency and gentle pulse of abundance. The energy of abundance that’s sort of free-floating in the Universe then finds its match in us and reveals itself in material form.

Now, I would remiss if I did not add an addendum to this conversation about manifestation. There’s a fundamental question directed toward White spiritualists that I occasionally see making its rounds within spaces and groups that center Black conjurers, rootworkers, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPoC) witches that is worth considering, and the question is this: Did you manifest it, or is it White privilege? I think that there’s a way to hold both frameworks in such a way that reflects the complexity that this crucial question invites.

Within a social justice and liberation framework that centers the realities and needs of Black queer femmes, the principals of manifestation, Law of Attraction, and Right Effort can still provide a useful lens through which we assess what work is ours and what work isn’t. To this end, our now beloved ancestor Toni Morrison said this: “The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being.”

[00:19:06]

We all know that Black and Indigenous folks and People of Color have to exert more effort to get a fraction of what White people are born into, but I also think that it’s worthwhile to use the principles of manifestation to check in frequently and ask yourself: Is the work that I’m currently engaged in a distraction? Who or what am I actually investing in by agreeing to this labor? When I contextualize the Law of Attraction and manifestation within the framework of Black queer femme liberation, I am able to prioritize the kind of work that I need to do to usher in the reality I desire while disentangling my labor from the demands, expectations, and distractions of White Supremacy. So, I often ask myself if the effort that I’m exerting serves my larger purpose or if it serves to justify my existence to someone who 1. refuses to see me and my inherent worthiness and 2. is audacious enough to demand that I prove my worthiness by doing their work? So, yes, the rhetoric and principles of the Law of Attraction and manifestation is often misused, particularly within White spiritual circles, to victim-blame people for circumstances outside of their control. By inviting nuance and multiple layers of awareness into my spiritual practice, I am able to be more mindful of what I say yes to and to whom I lend my magic.

I want to offer a few ways to invite and work with the energy of the Magician in your daily life. As I’ve mentioned throughout this episode, The Magician is about personal power, agency, and will. On an energetic level, our personal power is located, stored, and projected from our Solar Plexus. The Solar Plexus spins in and through the middle of the torso, right where the gut is located. Our physical ailments are often somatic manifestations of energetic misalignment, dissonance, or drainage. While this is not professional medical advice, digestive issues can indicate that your Solar Plexus is somehow obstructed or compromised. It’s often an indication that there’s something that’s blocking your access to personal power.

A fantastic way to activate and nourish your Solar Plexus while feeling like a magical human is by cooking a nutritive meal for yourself, and you get to define what nutritive means. Facilitating the alchemical process that turns ingredients into a loving meal is an effective method to reconnecting with your power in a joyful, personalized way.

Another way to call upon the wisdom of the Magician and work with the principles of manifestation is by writing down or stating your desires as though they are already yours. So, go ahead. Take a moment to embody the baseless confidence of a cis straight white man. You won't be punished for your presumptuousness [lightly chuckles]. Using present tense language - for example, “I am loved for who I am” rather than “I wish to be loved for who I am,” - is an effective way to tune into the frequency of that which you wish to manifest. In some ways, using language that implies you don't have something - so, future tense language - sends the vibrational signal of lack and perpetuates the cycle of scarcity.

Again, as above, so below. As within, so without. In a Universe that holds infinite possibilities, the energy of the thing that you want already exists both outside of you and within you. Manifestation is what happens when we take the frequency of our desires that already exists within us and project that frequency into the Universe through intention and decisive action so that it can find its match. Then, through our partnership with the Universe is reflected back to us and made manifest. This is what it means to speak our desires into existence. And, of course, on a practical level, living as though you already have the thing also helps you to institute tangible actions that, over time, create meaningful change.  

As we come to a close, I invite you to take inventory of what’s most important for you at this time in your life and, based on where you are right now, assess what meaningful change might look like. What if you were to redirect your focus from the big milestones and epiphanies, towards the micro-choices you make everyday? I invite you to treat the small shifts that you make today as potent incantations - expressions of your intention, agency, alignment, personal magic, and partnership with the Universe. Thanks for listening. 

[00:24:59 Outro music fades in, plays until the end]