Wheel of Change Tarot ~ Tarot Tree Level 1

thorhammer

The first level of the Tarot Tree shows the awakening consciousness. As the numeral One, it resonates the energy of the undifferentiated power, the seed, unlimited potential as yet untapped and untried. It is populated by the Magician, traditionally number One in the Major Arcana. Here, s/he is shown not as “directed will” but “power without direction”. It is only because no direction has, as yet, been applied. The power, the will, the ego, all remains, but contained and uncertain of purpose because it is devoid of context. The Magician is unaware of the “otherness” of existence, and hence is unable to exert his/her will upon it.

This Magician stands at the threshold of a great building, the wilderness of the Fool behind him/her. The floor of the building is tiled with the images of the Major Arcana. Meaningfully, the images are unpeopled, because the person in each and every one of the cards is the Magician. From this point, this card, this beginning seed of energy, the Magician has the potential to move to any point in the Major Arcana. S/he links all of them and is the common thread running through them. This is where direction is important – s/he must make the decision as to which card to step into from here. Only the Magician has the power to magically transfer his/her Self from this threshold to any situation in the entire gamut of human experience. This potential and unequalled power is one of the main messages of the Magician.

The Magician is the centre of his/her own universe, but also its boundaries. S/he has not learnt about the rest of the world and is unaware of its existence, and in ignorance denies the forces that all things and people and events exert on all others. Sometimes this works – at other times, it is a fatal flaw. His/her face is obscured in this card to show that s/he does not know his/her Self and is therefore not able to reveal it to the world. It also shows that the Magician sees the world through a veil, a filter of egoism, which distorts reality, maybe in his/her favour . . . maybe not. The card highlights the nature of belief in Self and its importance in the act of creating an ideal reality. Its appearance might suggest that this belief is lacking, or that it is what will aid achievement of one’s goal or desire.

So the Magician is the ego, the energy that utilises the resources, not the resources themselves. S/he represents directed energy in the absence of a particular goal. The energy lacks purpose though it is directed and full of potential. The card, therefore, urges the querent to identify the area to which the energy must be applied. In this instance, it opens up as many questions as it answers, and might point to an emptiness or confusion.

\m/ Kat