The Magus

The Magus - This is the card that represents the action of making manifest a physical object. And it represents the spiritual truth "as above so below".
When reading the Major Arcana as "the Book of Life" this card is, in fact, Hermes the psychopomp. He is guiding the Fool through the process of rebirth. Most people need to be helped through the process because, either they aren't aware going back is an option, and. or they don't recall how they did it last time, having drunk the waters of forgetfullness.

In a spread the Magus may stand for the querent as a manifestor. We all are manifesting our current reality all the time. If reversed it may indicate that the querent is creating their lives unconsciously, rather with intent and purpose. It can also mean that something is very close to manifestation. It can mean pregnancy.

The symbolism in the cards reads thus -
First, he is standing amidst a garden of lilies and roses. The lilies represent the underworld goddess, the High Priestess. The roses represent the mother goddess, the Empress. The Magus works with both of them. The lily goddess of the underworld/afterworld may permit or deny the Fool be released from her realm, perhaps judging that he did not live well in his past life and so he must wait while the more deserving get their turn to be reborn. The Rose/Mother goddess may also accept or refuse the person seeking reincarnation. The table in front of the Magus is all of the physical plane, and it has on it emblems of the four elements of which everything on this realm is made(staves for fire, cups for water, sword for air, and the pentacle coin for earth). He wears the ourobouros, symbolic of reincarnation(the snake became associated with many lives because of an old sumerian pun, where the word -ti meant both life and rib) as a belt. He wears white and red as the colors of life and death. The infinity symbol over his head recalls to us the forever ongoingness of life, with or without the body. The wand he has upraised is really Hermes wand, the Caduceus, which is the central nervous system with the kundalini rising up from the base. Having it uplifted tells us his main purpose, in this card, is to renew physical life.