- Element
- Air
- Arcana
- Major
- Attribution
- Mercury
- Feeling shows as
- A theme running the situation
- Stage
- The feeling has found a way to act
The Magician
as feelings
They feel capable of getting your attention, and they are using that capability.
Why
The Magician is feeling with intent behind it. As a trump it describes a theme large enough to be running the situation rather than a passing mood, which is why it outweighs the cards around it.
Upright and reversed
What it is like to hold this feeling.
A reversal is not the opposite of the upright card. It blocks it, delays it, turns it inward or takes it too far, and which of those depends on the kind of card it is.
Upright
The Magician is feeling with intent behind it. They want this, and rather than waiting to be noticed they are doing something about it — the message that arrives at the right moment, the plan that happens to include you, the version of themselves they are showing. None of that makes the feeling insincere. It makes it directed. This is a card of appetite plus competence, and the honest question it raises is not whether they mean it but whether you are seeing them or seeing the presentation.
Reversed
Reversed, the skill outruns the sincerity. This is charm operating with nothing much behind it, or a person who has convinced themselves of a feeling because the pursuit is enjoyable. It can also be genuine interest that has scattered — all approach and no follow-through.
Reversed, a trump is a theme being resisted, delayed or lived out privately. The theme does not disappear when the card is inverted — it goes underground, which is generally harder on everybody than the upright version.
Where the feeling is in its arc
The feeling has found a way to act.
The Magician is the point at which wanting acquires competence. Whatever is felt now has a method attached to it, and the method is being used.
Capability is not sincerity and it is not depth. This position tells you the feeling can get results and says nothing about what it is made of.
Attributed to Mercury, the planet of skill, speech and sleight of hand. A planetary trump describes a force acting on the feeling rather than a season it is passing through, which is why it tends to be the thing driving the spread.
The same card, four situations
It does not mean the same thing for an ex as it does for a stranger.
Each reading below is built from two things that differ card to card: what the element does to a feeling, and how far along that feeling is.
Someone you have just met
A planetary trump this early says a force is already acting on the connection rather than a mood reacting to it. Whatever else this turns out to be, it will not be incidental. Here specifically, the Magician is the point at which wanting acquires competence. Whatever is felt now has a method attached to it, and the method is being used.
A relationship you are already in
Inside an established relationship a planetary trump reports the thing driving the situation, which is frequently not the thing being argued about that week. Here specifically, the Magician is the point at which wanting acquires competence. Whatever is felt now has a method attached to it, and the method is being used.
Someone who ended it, or who you ended it with
For a connection that has ended, a planetary trump insists the significance was real regardless of the outcome. It does not predict a return; it declines to describe what happened as minor. Here specifically, the Magician is the point at which wanting acquires competence. Whatever is felt now has a method attached to it, and the method is being used.
A feeling neither of you has said out loud
When nothing has been said, a planetary trump means the silence is carrying a force rather than a sentence. Something of this size is rarely held back casually, and rarely held back for long. Here specifically, the Magician is the point at which wanting acquires competence. Whatever is felt now has a method attached to it, and the method is being used.
The part most readings skip
What this card cannot tell you.
A feelings position is the one place a reader most wants to be told what they were hoping for, which is exactly why it is the easiest to misread.
- A card describes a quality of feeling. It does not identify a person, confirm that they are thinking about you at this moment, or guarantee what they will do next — and any reading that offers those things is selling certainty the deck does not contain.
- Feelings positions are the ones readers most want a particular answer from, which is exactly why they are the easiest to misread. If a card seems to confirm precisely what you hoped, that is the moment to check it against what has actually happened.
- One card is one input. A feeling that contradicts everything a person has done for six months is a card that needs the rest of the spread, not a card that has revealed a secret.
Keep going
A feeling is one position in a spread.
The full meaning of The Magician — upright, reversed, love, career, money and the symbolism the painting carries — is on its own page. If you have not drawn a card yet, the reading below deals a real one.
