The Magician as Advice: Use What You Have

Written by Chaya the Medium.

The Magician as advice says the resources are already on your table. Here is how to use them, and what the reversal warns against.

If you want the short answer, the Magician as advice says: you have what you need, so use it. Stop gathering, stop preparing, stop waiting for one more resource. Pick up the tools on the table and make something happen on purpose.

What the Magician advises upright

Tina Gong's the Magician guide at Labyrinthos associates the upright card with willpower, manifestation, resourcefulness and skill. In an advice position I read those meanings as an instruction: the attitude or action the card is asking of you, rather than a description of what will happen. The Major Arcana overview at Biddy Tarot is a useful second reference.

Upright, the Magician advises focused action: decide what you want, line up your skills, and take a deliberate step today. Speak clearly. Make the ask. Treat your own ability as real rather than as something you will have later.

What the Magician is not asking you to do

The Magician is not asking you to perform or to charm your way through. Skill used to manipulate is the reversal. The advice is to act honestly with what you have, not to impress.

The Magician reversed as advice

Reversed, the Magician as advice says check your intentions and your preparation. If the plan depends on spin, or you have been talking about it more than doing it, the card is asking you to get honest and get to work. A reversed card in an advice position is usually pointing at the habit that is getting in your way, not at a punishment.

The Magician as advice in love

In love, the Magician advises you to be the one who acts: say what you feel, make the plan, show up as yourself. Do not wait to be chosen.

The Magician as advice for work and money

For work and money, the Magician advises using your existing skills to create the opportunity: the pitch, the side project, the application you are qualified for. Advice from a card is reflection. For decisions with legal, medical or financial weight, take it to someone qualified as well.

One step to take this week

Write down the four things you already have that are relevant to your goal. Use one of them, deliberately, in the next three days.

For comparison, the High Priestess as advice and the Fool as advice ask different things of you. The the Magician card meaning page covers the card in full, and the Magician as a yes or no, the Magician as feelings and the Magician as timing cover the other questions people most often ask of it. You can draw a card for yourself with the free daily tarot tool. For a personal interpretation, my guide to an online psychic reading explains how readings work, and the three-card tarot listing and customer reviews are worth reading before deciding whether to order.