La MAGA
Laura and I were hungry and looking for a cheap taco place. We’d surfed all morning in Sayulita and had forgotten to eat, so when a ratty guy with a nose ring asked if we wanted to check out the t-shirts he was selling, we balked. But they looked cool, handprinted, and I was a little delusional from the morning.
I shuffled through the rack as Laura said, “They’re tarot prints, in Spanish,” which I hadn’t realized—El Loco, El Emperador, etc.—and then I came across one that made my laugh: La Maga.
La Maga?
It means “the mage” or “the magician” in Spanish.
We both laughed. More like, La MAGA!
La Maga is a major card in any traditional tarot set. If drawn right-side up, it symbolizes manifestation, power, and transformation. In many sets, La Maga is typically depicted standing before a table with the four suits of the tarot (pentacles, swords, cups, and wands), representing mastery over the elements and the ability to bring ideas into reality. La Maga often has one hand pointing to the sky and the other to the earth, symbolizing a conduit between higher realms and the material world, emphasizing alignment between thought and action. When drawn right side up, La Maga is a harbinger of manifesting potential and ambition into new forms, new things, and new worlds.
However, when La Maga is drawn reversed (upside down) in a tarot reading, its meaning shifts from empowerment and mastery to manipulation, illusion, or unfulfilled potential. If drawn upside down, La Maga suggests that someone (including yourself) might be using charm or intelligence for dishonest purposes—trickery, fraud, or illusion. When La Maga appears reversed, it indicates the presence of someone who talks a big game but lacks the ability or intention to follow through. It represents the smell of smoke and mirrors and the taste of snake oil.
Overcoming the allure of La Maga reversed, it is said, requires a renewed kind of discipline to align thoughts and action. It requires avoiding shortcuts and requires having confidence in your own abilities.
Which is all to say, I bought the shirt. It’s a light green cotton t-shirt with a red print of a magical-looking woman. Under her, it reads: LA MAGA.
