Nosy Witch Questions: The Magician

The Magician: Do you practice white magic, black magic, both or neither?

That’s a slightly problematic distinction, it ties too much into the white = good and black = bad thing and I try to reject that when I notice it because I don’t want to be supporting the perpetuation of racist dichotomies.  However, I will say that I focus on protection, healing, boundary setting and keeping and less on the hexing and binding side.  That’s in large part due to the traditions and culture of witchcraft I started learning.  I am casting no aspersions on my fellow witches who came up through different traditions than I did.  My witch craft is no better or worse than other witches.  And I have nothing but respect for other crafty folks.  You do you.

The aim of my practice is to help, I don’t call myself a healer because I don’t yet feel qualified to assume that title, but I want my work to be in helping people to be better and do better.  That’s why I always say that my goal in giving you a Tarot reading is that I want you to leave feeling more empowered then before you came to me.  I want you to leave feeling like you have agency in shaping your own life and that even in the really tough shitty stuff, there are things that you can do to empower yourself.

I’m working on this exercise wherein I envision my dream client and work towards serving them and I would love to work with activists who are supporting socially just causes.  I want to work with queer folks who need guidance to get through the shit that the world heaps on our doorsteps.  I want to work with people who feel lost and need a little help to sift through the complicated stuff that life brings us.

There’s a quote from Mr. Rogers that I love:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” — Mister Rogers

I want to help the helpers so that our activists can keep on going when it gets rough.  I want to help people do that self care that is so important.

And if I had to pick a color… I would tell you that I practice rainbow magic.  Because I’m cheeky like that.

 

Daily Draw: The Magician

My daily draw for today was The Magician.  Perhaps a reminder that I need to take external

The Magician from the Universal Fantasy Tarot

action instead of getting lost in my head as I often tend to do. I’m reading it as a note to call my mom, and make sure not to neglect the physical aspects of self care.  Go to the gym, have the salad for lunch, and take a nap if I need one.

It might also be a kick in the pants to do some actual hands on magic.  Maybe a healing ritual for my mom or some charm crafting.  Something physical that I can send her that she can hold and touch.  Soak that thing with healing magic and mail it to her since I can’t be there.

Speaking of good self care and healthy eating, my wife and I made soup last night.  It’s a fantastic recipe called Soul Soothing African Peanut Stew and I can’t recommend it enough.  It’s from the Oh She Glows cookbook.  It’s a savory and spicy vegan soup/stew that is perfect for a chilly grey day (which we had yesterday and look to be having again today).

I hope all of you are having a lovely day as well.

Card of the Day: The Magician

Today’s card is The Magician from the Universal Fantasy Tarot.

I always think of Schmendrick the Magician from the book The Last Unicorn when I think of the Magician in the Tarot.  I like watching the progression of Schmendrick from his role as Mommy Fortuna’s hired entertainer to a True Magician.  In the incarnation of the Magician in the Tarot we see a master of the magical arts.

The Magician is the first teacher that the Fool meets on his journey.  And what an awesome first teacher the magician would be.

The Magician represents a connection to the natural elements of the world.  The Magician is able to work with them and ask their help.  He doesn’t control the elements, but instead works with them as allies.

In this depiction you can see him making fire magic above an altar that has the four suits of the Tarot carved in it.  His expression is almost reverent, making me think again of Schmendrick’s “magic do as you will” style of spell casting.  Although this Magician is much less haphazard.  His incantation might be more along the lines of “magic, lend me your strength”.   The art work of the card evokes the elements of earth (the vines growing by the altar), air (the lines of air he draws from the fire), and fire (… the fire, she said obviously).  I find it missing the element of water though.  It’s shown through the cup on the altar, and you could sort of imagine that the blue along the bottom of the card is meant to be water, but it’s not quite as obvious as the others.  This could be implying that this Magician isn’t as in touch with that element as some others or that the other elements are more important in this reading.