The Magician
Magus
The master of hidden powers, and their temptation.
The Magician: what does it mean in analytical psychology?
The magician is a form of the wise old man, the knower of the forces behind appearances, who can turn them to healing or to harm. Jung placed him among the figures of the mana-personality, whose power is fascinating and dangerous to identify with.
In The Red Book a chapter is headed “The Magician,” and its magician is Philemon, the guide of Jung’s own visions.
The Magician: where does it appear in myth and tradition?
Hermes Trismegistus, Simon Magus, Merlin, Faust, Prospero, and the first card of the Tarot, the Magician with the four instruments on his table.
From the Sources
Jung writes that it is the figure he calls the magician that draws to itself the mana, the autonomous value, of the anima.
“Actually it is the figure of the magician — as I will briefly call it — that draws the mana to itself, i.e. the autonomous value of the anima.”
C. G. Jung, M.D., LL.D., Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, 'The Relation of the Ego to the Unconscious', Part II, Chapter IV, 'The Mana Personality', p. 253. Authorized translation by H. G. and C. F. Baynes; London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, 1928 (Internet Archive OCR text). The text, read in part
Jung notes that Goethe sought to solve the problem of mastery through the figure of the magician, the embodiment of ruthless human will who makes a pact with the devil, and Nietzsche through the master-man.
“Goethe and Nietzsche try to solve it by the idea of mastery, the former through the figure of the magician, the embodiment of ruthless human will who makes a pact with the devil, the latter through the master-man, the superior wise one without a devil and without a god.”
C. G. Jung, M.D., LL.D., Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, 'The Relation of the Ego to the Unconscious', Part II, Chapter IV, 'The Mana Personality', p. 264. Authorized translation by H. G. and C. F. Baynes; London: Bailliere, Tindall and Cox, 1928 (Internet Archive OCR text). The text, read in part
Each passage is quoted from the text named, which the press fetched and read, and was checked word for word against a fresh copy of it; the link opens that copy. Passages are given as printed, without the editors’ footnote numbers, and with words broken across lines joined.
Where to Read
- “The Mana-Personality,” in Two Essays on Analytical Psychology, CW 7
- “The Phenomenology of the Spirit in Fairytales,” CW 9i
- The Red Book (2009)
Jung’s writings are cited by the volume of the Collected Works (CW), Bollingen Series / Princeton, 1953–79.
Related Symbols
In the Glossary: Hermetic.
Also among Parents and Elders
“Learn as much as you can about symbolism; then forget it all when you are analysing a dream.”
Cite This Entry
“The Magician.” In Symbols of the Psyche, the Symbolarium. The Thinking Press, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/symbolarium/psyche/magician.
Symbols That Share Its Terms
The Ascent · The Vessel (Vas hermeticum) · The Caduceus (The staff of Hermes)
Nearby in the alphabet: The Lion: Royal and devouring power. The Lotus: Rising from the mud, to open on the water. The Maiden: The girl carried below and returned. The Mandala: The circle with a centre, a picture of wholeness.