2nd Card of Major Arcana
Number: 1
Tarot Card: The Magician
Symbol: The Circle
Sound/Musical reference: Om
Quote: “The universe is but one vast Symbol of God.
— Thomas Carlyle (1795— 1881)
"After silence, that which
comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music". - Aldous Huxley
“It’s amazing, ’cause sometimes when
we’re on stage, I feel like somebody’s just moving the pieces. ... I’m just
going, ‘God, we don’t have any control over this.’ And that’s magic.” Stevie Nicks
"Nowhere are we closer to the
sublime secret of all origination than in the recognition of our own selves,
whom we always think we know already. Yet we know the immensities of space
better than we know our own depths, where -even though we do not understand
it-we can listen directly to the throb of creation itself."– Carl Jung, Swiss Psychiatrist
Song: "One" (is the loneliest number that you
ever knew) - Three Dog Night
"He’s a Magic Man" - Heart
Tarot wisdom
When I first began using the Tarot, I asked which card represented the energy of the band Cheap Trick. When I split the deck, The Magician stared back at me. He’s the first numbered card (#1) and symbolizes the trickster-wizard, a bridge between two worlds: spirit and the physical. Most people think magic is for silly Fools, but on my wild and crazy spiritual bus ride with rock 'n' roll, I began to understand the deeper meaning of The Magician and creation, as well as in important link to music.
Tarot wisdom
When I first began using the Tarot, I asked which card represented the energy of the band Cheap Trick. When I split the deck, The Magician stared back at me. He’s the first numbered card (#1) and symbolizes the trickster-wizard, a bridge between two worlds: spirit and the physical. Most people think magic is for silly Fools, but on my wild and crazy spiritual bus ride with rock 'n' roll, I began to understand the deeper meaning of The Magician and creation, as well as in important link to music.
Are Musicians actually Magicians?
One day I came across a fascinating
quote in the book Healing Sounds, by sound healer Jonathan Goldman: “In
the Ancient Mystery Schools, the priests and magicians were often also the
musicians.” Priests, Magicians, Musicians. Hmmm. In upcoming posts,
quotes by numerous rock musicians reveal how they felt like shamans, mediums or
channels, and created magic when performing. Long before I read any of the
quotes from rock musicians, I was drawn into a world of the Ancient Mystery
Schools where sound was used as a tool for healing, and the vibrations could
bring us back to our sense of oneness or unity.
One is the Loneliest Number: (Not
really)
Uni-means one, and the word unity is a state of being one, the
arrangement of parts into a whole. The first time I went to the House of Blues
in Los Angeles, CA, I was in the midst of writing about my insights regarding
how spiritually we are all one. I questioned whether other fans at a rock
concert actually felt this intense mystical connection to the music and band we
were watching. Something prompted me to look towards the ceiling, and I spotted
several Eastern statues and a Hindu Om symbol, but above it all were the words
“Unity through Diversity.” I was shocked. Seeing those words and symbols gave
me tiny bit of hope that I wasn’t a complete Fool for following a path to
discover my spiritual and emotional self with rock music.
Throughout many cultures, the number
one represents unity, and its symbol is the circle. The word “band” can refer
to a bunch of musicians, or to encircle, as if with a band. To band together is
to unite a group. I think it’s pretty cool that the words “band” and “one”
create a circle. Why did rock music unite or band together
millions of people over the years? From a spiritual perspective, what purpose
has it served? Are we any closer to feeling a greater sense of unity as John
Lennon had hoped when he saw the world living as one, or are we all still
locked into the illusion that we are separate and different from one another?
EGO-Everybody’s Got One
This isn’t the ego of conceit that
swells your head to the point your ears scrape across the door jam. In
psychoanalysis, the ego is a division of the psyche that is conscious, most
immediately controls thought and behavior, and is most in touch with external
reality. Along my journey, a big BIG BIG
mirror reflected back how my ego
kept me separate from my intuition and spirit, and pushed me away from feeling
a sense of unity with other Fools. It’s been said that EGO stands for
Everybody’s Got One. Have you ever had a knee-jerk reaction to a
situation about yourself or someone else and felt fear, anger, jealousy, pride,
anxiety, etc…? Ever blame someone else for how lousy you feel, and never
consider that you've somehow created the mess? Congratulations. You’ve got an
ego too. We’ll explore more of the ego in upcoming posts.
But for now, how can we begin to
dissolve the bands of separateness created by our ego? Why not start
with the sound of the day?
Sound/Musical Reference: Om (Ohm,
Aum)
If sitting around chanting Om
seems really Fool-like to you, you’re not alone. I used to think the same
thing. But Om is an extraordinary sound if you give it a chance to work its magic
on you.
To the Hindus, the "mother
tone" Aum created the universe out of nothing. All the frequencies
and overtones of all other sounds were contained within this seed sound.
If one uses the Om sound through visual meditation and sounding of the
vibration, it is supposed to allow you to become ONE with the source of all
that is.
So, give it a try! There’s lots of
ways to use the OM mantra, and no right or wrong method, but a simple example
is to take a moment and breathe in/exhale deeply several times. Relax and
begin to hold a visualization of whatever “OM” means to you, and repeat the
sound either silently or out loud for several minutes. Where do you feel the
sound resonating in your body? You can focus on breaking the sound up into Ah
-oo- mm as in AUM if you like. Focusing on OM can have many practical
side-effects, such as feeling less stress, and a silencing of the internal
chatter of the mind. The sound helps me feel as though I've found my true
h"om."
For more ways to use “Om,”
there are numerous websites to choose from, but here are a few: