Aces, The Magician and Justice - aspects of the whole
The Ace of each minor arcana suit can be viewed as an aspect of the Magician - combined together, those powerful initiators of each suits energy journey represent a contributory aspect to the Magicians Major Arcana energy.
When we see the Magician, we see someone on the start of their journey, recently transformed from the Fool, into someone who has realised that they will need to bring their skills, gifts and talents to bear on the situation to move forward toward success. Representing that toolkit, the Magician card invariably (in RWS sympathetic imagery) shows an individual wielding or surrounded by each of the tarot suits, and here we see the aspects of the Aces come to bear in a single Major Arcana card. The gestalt of those separate and distinct energies, that potential brought to bear in a single point, is an amazingly powerful push for the beginnings of any journey.
If we were to see three or four Aces appear in a spread for a client, it would be an exceptionally auspicious event, a call to recognise that now is the time to commit, to push forward, to harness that energy, and to burst forth in a process of growth and expansion - the individual aspects fall into place to say "the time is now", and we can see the opportunity in each aspect for success. The Magician, as an event, is a combination of those energies expressed in a single card, and should certainly be viewed with the same level of propitiousness, applied on a psychological level; that we are prepared to accept that things are starting to present themselves to us favourably, that the Universe is curling about us and lining us up for a surge forwards, for progression and for a host of new experiences, and that we should be ready, packed and prepared for that journey - phrases such as "better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it", "luck favours the prepared" and the "fortune favours the bold" call on us to be ready to take action when opportunity presents itself, as the opportunity itself is not sufficient to yield results - we must have the will to act to bring fruits to labour.
At the start of this physical plane journey, from the Magician card to the Chariot, we see W.H. Murrays quote embodied:
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back — concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.“
The Magician doesn't necessarily have all the answers - he has the tools at his disposal, and the werewithal to do something about the issues that are being faced, but not necessarily the applied wisdom or experience to make a connection with the deeper mental and spiritual journey at this stage of development...that will certainly come with time, but in the here and now, the transformation of opportunity to success is within the bounds of the Magicians ability to answer that call.
If we split the Majors a different way - rather than the three septs of Physical (1-7), Mental (8-14) and Spiritual (15-21), and instead seperate out the Fool and the World cards, leaving us with two sets of ten cards from Magician to the Wheel, and from Justice to Temperance, then by examining the Justice card in relation to the Magician and the Aces, we see a further echo of that influence there. Justice is on the Mental development cycle through the Majors, and is rightly read in its literal form as justice, but it's a card of balance, of seeking the right levels of input of each Minor aspect of a situation, and bringing them to bear, such as with a fulcrum, or a keystone - those points that knowing how and where to apply force, will yield the maximum results in our favour. Justice can also be read as 'you get out what you put in', and it's by harnessing that input correctly, and recognising the echo of the Aces here, that we should see Justice as another card of energy - this time, balancing the scales; input/output, emotion/logic, strength/vulnerability, offence/defence, black/white...by considering the requirements of an investment of energy in a given situation, we can renew our efforts at the turning/balance point presented by Justice, re-initiating and re-vitalising our intentions and our input, to ensure our journey through the second half of the journey of the Major Arcana is as beneficial and fruitful as the first.
[images taken from the Ellis decK, with permission]
