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The Magician Upright: The Magician is a forceful, dynamic
card represented by Mercury (known to the Greeks as Hermes) the messenger of
the Olympian gods and one of their
resident bad boys. As Hermes
Trismegistus, he was celebrated as the originator of written magical
incantations. He was wildly popular
among alchemists in the Middle Ages, who used texts attributed to him in their
search for a spell to turn lead into gold.
They didn't find it, which isn't surprising as Hermes is also remembered
as the trickster of the pantheon.
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| According to one legend, he was born in a really dank, foul-smelling
cave, which he didn't like much. So,
being all of a few hours old, he climbed out of his crib, crawled into the
sunshine and decided to take up a career as a cattle rustler. Like you do.
By the time he was 24 hours old, he'd already stolen his brother Apollo's
cows, hidden them in the aforementioned cave and tried the big-eyed baby
routine on the outraged owner when he came to reclaim his property. It didn't work, but hey--24 hours old. Eventually, they worked out a compromise in
which Hermes got the cows and thereby the wealth to find better digs, and
Apollo got a lute made out of an old turtle shell and some guts from one of his own cows. No, I am not kidding. |
| This card points out that opportunity has to be made rather than merely accepted. So get along, little
dogie. There's opportunity on the hoof
just waiting to be corralled. |
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The Magician Reversed: Um,
you know that big Vegas weekend you have planned? Not really the best
time for it. Hermes, messenger of the gods and our Magician, was also the patron god of gamblers.
The Magician Reversed means a really bummer night at the craps table/roulette
wheel/etc. in your immediate future. I'd
stick to the penny slots and cage a lot of free drinks--you'll need
them. In fact, you might just want to call off the
whole trip, since the Magician Reversed also indicates confusion,
indecisiveness and, possibly, the abuse of power. Add to that the fact that Mercury was the god of thieves
and tricksters and, frankly, it's not
adding up to be a great
weekend. No matter how good the spiel,
don't buy any extended warrantees, invisible rust-proofing or snake oil
in the
near future. |
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