C.G. Jung, on The Magician

The Magician as a Unifying Symbol

The magician has preserved in himself a trace of primitive paganism; he possesses a nature that is still unaffected by the Christian dichotomy and is in touch with the still pagan unconscious, where the opposites lie side by side in their original naïve state, beyond the reach of “sinfulness” but liable, if assimilated into conscious life, to beget evil as well as good with the same daemonic energy…

Therefore, he is a destroyer as well as a savior. 

This figure is therefore pre-eminently suited to become the symbol carrier for an attempt at unification.

Collected Works Vol. 6

Psychological Types

Page 266

Magicians in the Collective Unconscious

In so far as through our unconscious we have a share in the historical collective psyche, we live naturally and unconsciously in a world of werewolves, demons, magicians, etc., for these are things which all previous ages have invested with tremendous affectivity.

Equally we have a share in gods and devils, saviors and criminals; but it would be absurd to attribute these potentialities of the unconscious to ourselves personally.

Collected Works 7

Two Essays in Analytical Psychology

Paragraph 275

The Magician in Dreams

Whenever such an unacceptable content appears [in dreams], we must consider carefully whether it is a personal quality at all.

“Magician” and “demon” may well represent qualities whose very names make it instantly clear that these are not human and personal qualities but mythological ones.

Magician and demon are mythological figures which express the unknown, “inhuman” feeling.

They are attributes not in any sense applicable to a human personality, although, as intuitive judgments not subjected to closer criticism, they are constantly being projected upon our fellow men, to the very great detriment of human relations.

Source

From the Pictorial Guide to the Tarot, 1911

The Magician

A youthful figure in the robe of a magician, having the countenance of divine Apollo, with smile of confidence and shining eyes.

Above his head is the mysterious sign of the Holy Spirit, the sign of life, like an endless cord, forming the figure 8 in a horizontal position.

About his waist is a serpent-cincture, the serpent appearing to devour its own tail.

This is familiar to most as a conventional symbol of eternity, but here it indicates more especially the eternity of attainment in the spirit.

In the Magician’s right hand is a wand raised towards heaven, while the left hand is pointing to the earth.

This dual sign is known in very high grades of the Instituted Mysteries; it shews the descent of grace, virtue and light, drawn from things above and derived to things below.

The suggestion throughout is therefore the possession and communication of the Powers and Gifts of the Spirit.

On the table in front of the Magician are the symbols of the four Tarot suits, signifying the elements of natural life, which lie like counters before the adept, and he adapts them as he wills.

Beneath are roses and lilies, the flos campi and lilium convallium, changed into garden flowers, to shew the culture of aspiration.

This card signifies the divine motive in man, reflecting God, the will in the liberation of its union with that which is above.

It is also the unity of individual being on all planes, and in a very high sense it is thought, in the fixation thereof. With further reference to what I have called the sign of life and its connection with the number 8, it may be remembered that Christian Gnosticism speaks of rebirth in Christ as a change “unto the Ogdoad.”

The mystic number is termed Jerusalem above, the Land flowing with Milk and Honey, the Holy Spirit and the Land of the Lord. According to Martinism, 8 is the number of Christ.