Magician Wisdom Reading

Magician Wisdom Question:  What are the advantages and disadvantages of using magic, as opposed to other forms of spirituality?

I’ve always been a bit leery of the actual practice of magic:  casting spells, ceremonial magic, summoning angels or demons, spiritualism.  (Obviously, that doesn’t carry over into divination, so maybe I’m just splitting hairs!)  I wonder if using spiritual means to more or less physical ends incurs unnecessary karma, or is just not quite the right way to do things.  Thus my question.  But I didn’t want to skew things too much to my overly cautious take, so I tried to make the question neutral.

And here’s the reading:

First of all, the stones seem to be the right ones for the question:  Justice, Hierophant, and Chariot--karma, tradition, and spiritual path.  Now let’s see where they landed.

11-Justice-Aventurine on 4 of Swords.  Oh, snap!  A slam to me from the cards!  Four (en)closed plus Swords mind = closed mind!  My ideas of karma and justice are too limited!  Looking at the image of the card, magic is an organized, carefully crafted, way of pointing to the Truth with a capital while keeping much of the chaos of life out of the picture.  Yes there is organization and things that make sense “out there,” but magic brings ideas and ideals down to a human scale.  The colors of the 4 of Swords and the Magician card and the Justice stone are all very similar, medium blue with splashes of green and yellow, which make sense because they are all Air, all about mind. 

4 of Swords is Jupiter in Libra, and Justice is Libra.  This is saying that Justice is not really in the eye of the beholder, but is in the heart of the individual (Magician).  Jupiter says if you think what you are doing really is for the best for yourself and everyone, then it probably is.  Intention is what’s important, not the specific things the magician actual do.

5-Hierophant-Orange Calcite on Knight/King of Swords.  [Very brief explanation:  In the Thoth, traditional kings are called knights and ride horses, and traditional knights are called princes, and ride chariots.]  Tradition and spiritual teachers know and teach that magic can be an appropriate spiritual path for Knight/King of Swords types.  They are fire of air, people who like/need to follow an intellectual path with their full force.  This reminds me of tantra (which I’m just learning a little about), which consists of elaborate scenes and visions carefully and energetically built solely with and in the practitioners mind. 

The king’s horse and the Hierophant are a similar color, suggesting that traditional teachings are an appropriately swift vehicle for a study- and learning-minded aspirant.

7-Chariot-Amethyst landed below the group of cards (wanting to be read on its own!).  It’s here to tell us that the right spiritual path depends on who is following it.  It’s up to each individual to know what is the path that will take him/her forward.  The Cancer connection is a subtle hint to me that if I’m uncomfortable with a certain way, then by all means be cautious (even self-protective) around it.  (I’m an emotional but cautious Cancer sun.)  But I shouldn’t let my impression of what probably isn’t right for me cause me to denigrate a perfectly acceptable practice.  Just because it doesn’t work for the Queen of Cups doesn’t mean it’s not good for the King of Swords!

Well, I feel like I’ve learned something today. 

My attitude will be just a bit different than it was about the practice of magic, thanks to the Magician himself!