The Magician is the 'first' card of the Major Arcana, and the Tableau. He is the first person the Fool meets on his journey.
Let us start by looking at the card. What do you see? I see a robed man, holding a wand, with an altar in front of him. You may notice that he has a symbol over his head: the infinity symbol. He is in ritual garb, and you may also notice that his number is one. Do you remember the bag the fool had over his shoulder? The things you see lain out on the altar came from that bag.
The Fool had a bag laden with junk. This 'junk' has infinite potential. Who knows what he might do with it. When he comes to the Magician, the Magician focuses the Fools pure potential, so that it can manifest into something tangible. An altar.
Think back to when you made your first altar. You took a whole bunch of junk that had no real meaning, then focused those energies into a place of worship. They were no longer just 'junk.' Now they are a place for you to do magic and to worship your chosen deity.
At #1, the Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud ("And God said 'Let there be Light!' and there was Light"). Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand (Mercury *was* the god of thieves!) and a medicine man - either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil. The 4 suits laid out before him remind us of the 4 aces, which in the Tarot symbolize the raw, undeveloped, undirected power of each suit. When the Magician appears, he reveals these to you. The reader might well interpret this card as telling the querent that they will be given a vision, an idea, a magical, mental image of whatever it is they most want: the solution to a problem, an ambitious career, a love life, a job.
