The Magus

Mercury himself, winged at heel and standing on air, with the caduceus rising behind him. He juggles the instruments of the art, wand, cup, sword and disk, with a winged egg, a scroll and a stylus among them. At his feet crouches the cynocephalus ape of Thoth, the mocking shadow that distorts every word into a lie.

Beth, the house, on path 12 from Kether to Binah. The Word goes out from the Crown and finds a house in Understanding: this is the Logos, the creative utterance, and the reason the card belongs to Mercury and to Thoth, inventor of writing.

Mercury, the messenger: mind, speech, exchange, sleight of hand. Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo, is exalted in Virgo, and is the planet of Hod on the Tree.

One, the Point of the Naples arrangement: position without extension, the will before it has any content. Beth is 2, the first duality, the house that shelters the point.

The Magician as the ego's power of conscious direction, and the Trickster who is the same power turned to deceit. Jungian readers see the conscious will, the persona of competence, and the ego's first separation from the unconscious.

Waite's static magician at an altar becomes a figure in full flight; Harris painted three versions and Crowley describes him as a movement rather than a person. The ape of Thoth, absent in Waite, makes the shadow of language explicit.

More in the astrology chapters: ☿︎ Mercury.

Harris painted the Magus three times. The card above is the one Crowley chose; many printings include the other two as extra cards.