Tarot · 15 July 2026 · Charlotte Himsworth
The Magician: As Above, So Below
One hand to the heavens, one to the earth: the tarot’s clearest image of the Hermetic teaching.
The Magician is card one of the Major Arcana, the first step after the Fool sets out. In the Rider–Waite–Smith deck, he stands before a table holding the symbols of the four suits: a wand, a cup, a sword and a pentacle.
The gesture
He raises one hand to the sky and points the other to the earth. It is the gesture of the Hermetic phrase “as above, so below”: the idea that what we hold in mind can be brought into form.
All four elements
With fire, water, air and earth laid out before him, the Magician has everything he needs. The card suggests that we, too, already hold the tools we need. The question is whether we use them with focus.
Mercury
The Golden Dawn linked the Magician to Mercury, the planet of mind and communication, and to the Hebrew letter Beth, meaning “house”.
A practice
Ask: “What could I create with what I already have?” Choose one resource you have been overlooking, and put it to use today.