Key 1, The Magician
Beth = B = 2 = House, Tent, Temple (location, building, architecture, geometry, adaptation of materials). Double Letter assigned to Life and Death.
Mercury = attributed to Beth. Intellect. Universal consciousness personified. Hermes (great magician and transformer) was only the messenger of a divinity higher than himself, a transmitter and channel.
Intelligence of Transparency = The mode of consciousness to let light shine through, to permit the passage downward and outward of the Superconscious Light which is above and within.
Above is assigned to Beth. The Letter is the superior term of human personal consciousness, which is the initiator and the conductor of human personality through life.
The One consciousness. The Ego consciousness.
The Director of consciousness. The Onlooker and superior personal mode of universal Conscious Energy.
The magic of building a house with the properties of Earth and Magnetic Vibration. The higher magic of building a house is of the personality, Temple of Spirit.
Magic of Light presides over life and death because it has to do with laws and principles whereby self-conscious states of mind initiate and determine subconscious reactions.
These reactions make for life and death according to the patterns which self-conscious formulates and passes down to the subconscious plane.
The greatest Magicians know themselves to be no more than channels for the Life-Power, a clear window through which the light of wisdom within the house of personality streams forth into the objective.
Magicians know to be above (within) nature and understand that the operations succeed to the degree that his thought, word, and action transmit faithfully the powers of the plane from above (within) him.
The arbor of roses over the Magician's head correspond to Beth ב because an arbor is the simplest type of shelter.
The red roses are symbols of Venus and represent desire-nature. The red roses suggest that the power which the Magician draws from above is modified (or qualified) by desire.
Every moment of waking consciousness is motivated and conditioned by types of desire. White lilies represent abstract thought untinged by desire.
The horizontal figure 8 (infinity) is symbol of the Holy Spirit and represent dominion on the horizontal plane, material affairs, and is because one of the oldest symbols of matter is the horizontal line.
The black hair of the Magician signifies ignorance, limited by knowledge.
The white crown circles the Magician's brow and represents the brain areas active in self-conscious mentation.
The uplifted right hand suggests power drawn from above (within).
The wand is a double-ended phallic symbol because the nerve-force used to maintain the reproductive functions may be purified and sublimated by certain magical procedures.
The whiteness of the wand suggests purification.
Both ends of the wand are the same which represents, “As above, so below. As below, so above.”, meaning the performance of the miracles is of One Thing. They also represent duality of all magical operations.
The down-pointing left hand makes the gesture of concentration and symbolizes direction of power to the plane below.
The pointing finger is attributed to Jupiter, the executive and determinative finger, which represents degree of power, leadership, and direction.
Concentration is the secret of direction and control of forces below the plane of self-conscious awareness.
The double gesture is known in very high grades as the descent of grace, virtue, and light, drawn from things above and derived to things below.
The suggestion throughout is the possession and communication of the Powers and Gifts of the Spirit.
The white inner robe has the same significance as the white garment of The Fool.
The serpent girdle signifies wisdom (serpent) and eternity (biting his tail) of attainment in the spirit. The color is blue-green which is the serpent-force and is the color-scale of Scorpio.
The red outer garment represents desire, passion, and activity; the color of Mars which is action (initiative).
This red robe can be slipped on and off easily which means the Magician can enter into action or abstain from action according to circumstances (power of choice).
The table represents the field of attention and measurement for the Magician to classify and arrange the four Tarot suits that signifies the elements of natural life:
| Fire = Wands | Water = Cups | Air = Swords | Earth = Pentacles |
| To Will. | To Know. | To Dare. | To Be Silent. |
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These elements on the table also symbolize the four worlds and correspond to YHVH. The table corners are squared with Ionic columns that required the use of compasses and suggest order of architecture.
The pentacle has a Pentagram (star of the Magi) which means the mind's domination over the elements.
More specifically, to bind the demons of the air, the spirits of fire, the specter of water, and the ghosts of earth.
The Pentagram is the symbol of the Word made Flesh and the sign of the Microcosm.
The Magician's garden is fertile, productive and the antithesis to the height where The Fool stands and the garden is the subconscious plane of mental activity.
The red roses have five rose petals that correspond to the Pentagram with the number five and to the five senses. As a symbol of desire, the red roses represent the phase of subconscious response to self-conscious direction which has to do with the adaptation of the principles of abstract truth to practical ends.
The Magician is pointing downward and slightly to the right into the garden and toward the wand on the table. This is symbolic for the will from above stirs the will from below.
The white lilies have six lily petals that correspond to the Hexagram with the number six (six-pointed star) and is the symbol of the Macrocosm.
There are four white lilies that represent the laws and forces which operate in the four worlds.
All symbols of Key 0 refer to powers of the self-conscious phase of personal mental activity. The powers are directed primarily to the control of forces and forms below the self-conscious level.
The fixed energy comes from above, Superconscious Light and is modified by acts of attention. Concentration is the great secret of magical art.
True concentration is perfect transparency for the personality becomes a free unobstructed channel for the passage downward and outward of the Superconscious Radiant Energy and all magic is in the will.
The Magician is associated with Mercury which is assigned to Hod.
Above the head of The Magician is five red roses and the number five is assigned to Geburah. On the Tree of Life, Geburah is above Hod.
Beth = House, Tent, Temple (templum: circumscribed space). The circumscription of a space is created when The Magician concentrates.
The The Magician is focused on Reception instead of Non-Reception.
The Magician is pointing downward and slightly to the right into the garden (of subconscious); this is symbol of the Path of Hod to Yesod.
One of Geburah's attributes is the five-petaled rose. In the garden, there are five roses of Geburah which are reflected.
In addition, there are four lilies of knowledge.
Knowledge is associations passing through the intellect which responds to impulses from higher planes that create a network of symbols that serves as a dress for meaning.
The number one of Key 1 is geometrically represented as a point.
Power is being directed from above and The Magician is a conduit for the Life-Force.
Contrast to Key 0 (barren landscape, Ox, outside) there is Key 1 (verdant garden, House, inside).
The cup on the table is an object created by man and will be filled with mind-substance of Water. The Hebrew letter Mem מ is Water, and the subconscious ocean will fill the cup and allow the irrigation of human self-conscious with mental images. The act of attention is an act that creates a form.
Through concentration, super-consciousness can manifest in the subconscious.
The serpent (Hebrew letter Teth), the vibration, swirls/gravitates around the waist. Concentration creates The Magician centers that collect and channel Universal Vibratory Energy.
In symbolic with Mercury, the higher brain is associated with objective consciousness and reasoning. The pineal gland is associated with experience of super-consciousness.
The wand on the table represents attention and at the tip is a diamond-like crystal. This references the crystallization of the brain and found in the pineal gland.
The gemstone of the wand is yellow and sticks out slightly from the confines of the table, which is the field of attention. This signifies that concentration causes us to emerge to a higher level of awareness when the pineal gland is awakened.
The red robe hangs from the shoulders, an area connected to Mercury (Gemini) which is the junction between static organs and organs of action.
To put on the red robe is to translate concentration into a practical act and transforming the energy through action. Without the energy of the serpent and the action of the red robe, The Magician would have no strength to raise his right hand and lower his left.
To activate mercurial powers (basis of super-consciousness), The Magician must follow the advice given to him by his left hand and make concentration (which are acts of attention) a habit.
When the super-consciousness acts through The Magician and transforms the subconscious, it can mirror itself and witness, enjoy, and love itself in infinite different ways.
The Magician is the beginning of the travel that will bring him to the heights of The Hermit. Five roses and four lilies equal nine (Key Nine).
To become The Hermit, the garden (subconscious) is cultivated by the power streaming through our attention and coming from above (within).
The eyes (Hebrew letter Ayin, Key 15, The Devil) of The Magician are closed because he is not tainted by delusion.