Manifestation is sexy- it’s what sells in spiritual and coaching communities.
When people feel scarcity- in their income, their sexual stamina, their happiness, or their love life- that if you promise it to them in a big ‘quantum leap’ it instantly tempts them to hand their money over.
I’ve no doubt been tempted by this energy myself!
This sense of manifesting something quickly is an aspect of Magician energy in the tarot.
Magician energy is masculine top-down spirituality: mindset and visualization, and increasing your self-confidence so you can materialize goals. Whatever your imagination dreams up is said to be possible when the magician shows up.
Unfortunately, we often overlook that the Magician is very young in the deck. This energy is ‘starter’ energy, being only at number 1 in the grand scheme of things- the real journey is to go through all 22 arcanas.
So whereas some people in the spiritual communities have creative genius and power to activate it in the world, if they are promising to help you manifest very quickly or in a big dramatic way, they may lack the actual spiritual maturity to access the peace which extends beyond the dualities of rich/ poor, success/ failure, and worth/ worthlessness.
It gets even more interesting when we look at what the Magician archetype is historically defined as: the Bateleur- a french word for juggler, con artist, trickster, street performer, buffoon, acrobat, or tumbler. This word ‘Bateleur’ can be seen on the Marseilles Magician card still today.
Simply put, the Magician is a performer. They give a great performance, a fantastic presentation. And probably draw a lot of people to them.
But when the show’s over, they too, disappear. Their identity is all wrapped up in the show.
For manifestation to be more meaningful and long-lasting, we need to bring in the mature intensity of the Strength card to balance out this whimsical, manic Magician energy.
The Strength archetype shows a woman gently holding a lion’s mouth and letting out its roar and holding it back at will. This symbolizes the opposite of excited performative energy- the quiet one pulling the puppet’s strings from behind the curtain.
Strength is feminine, bottom-up spirituality: allowing the real gritty human shit to come up and be felt- rejection, anger, fear, defeat, sexuality- things that make us want to roar and cry. Strength takes these things and moves us in ways we must allow and feel. We must DIGEST the energy, not control and ‘perform’ it.
This leads us to the more mature aspects of manifestation- building our character, bringing forth human qualities, ways of being in the world. Cultivating traits like patience, generosity, courage, openness, and sense of humor. Growing into the radiance of your soul for its own sake, not suddenly feeling ‘worthy’ due to a high paying client.
It can be dangerous to stay only in the Magician energy, the number 1. You’ll feel in control and like you’re ruling for a while, but you’ll also be neglecting your raw humanity in exchange to keep a juggling act going, tricking yourself into thinking you can avoid feeling the primal and emotional energies that are bound to surge up in life.
If you’re interested in manifestation my best advice is to study the Magician and the Strength archetypes together, learn how they play off each other, and how they integrate. Know that the Magician’s grand experiments and highs don’t last, but thankfully neither do Strength’s intense challenges and emotional tests.
Personally I’m a water sign and so don’t connect to the fiery nature of manifestation as much as I do the yin nature of magnetism, tantrik philosophy, and devotional chanting, which I bring into my coaching. If you’d like to work or play with me here let’s connect!
Check out my creative coaching program Moon Path
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