The Magician is the 1st Trump in the Major Arcana representing yang energy and the masculine power. The Magician is also represented by the planet Mercury - ruling communication, wisdom, will, and action in all forms and phases. The Magician is often symbolic of having strength of will to create your own life; to make the magic real for you. This card symbolizes the ability to communicate and control your environment, to focus your energy and concentrate. The Magician is about making your will into reality, manifesting your hopes and dreams into your life. 

"Negative:  You're trying to hard to discriminate between fantasy and reality.  You're being too picky and losing sight of the whole by focusing too much on the parts.  You're keeping the two worlds too separated.  Right now, it may be appropriate for all the differences to exist without delineating them.  Some blend or clarity will come in the end; for now, it's not appropriate to try to figure out what's real and what isn't.
Reversed:  You are discriminating between your personal fantasies and your own experience of reality.  You're observing what's happening in your life and comparing that reality with your fantasy of what you wish were happening.  You might also be contrasting and comparing the various realities that are experienced as "true" by different parts of you.  You're looking at your dreams and visions and deciding which ones you wan to manifest into reality and which are better left as fantasies." - Gail Fairfield

Ah yes, who else would be The Magician in the Vampire Tarot but Dracula in his most charming and mysterious form.  This is the erotic, dream vampire.  The man who is able to sweep us off our feet by sheer force of will.  He is able to focus his powers and use his energies to create his reality.  There is no doubt or question in his mind that the world should conform to his will.  And yet he does not appear threatening or frightening, but something about his confidence and self-assurance is seductive and attractive.  We want to be part of this magical world of his.

The All Hallows Magician is a bit more of a nature spirit.  His hair almost seems to be decorated with leaves and twigs.  He has four hands, each holding a representation of one of the elements.  His gaze is calm, confident and focused.  A shadow lies across part of his face as though reinforcing the idea that there is more to this magic of his than what we see.  There is always a dark aspect to life; a hidden shadowy piece that we often choose to ignore.  It makes me wonder what the price is that we pay to create our own lives, our own realities. 

There is a comfort that can be found in feeling things are out of our control.  It is not my fault things went wrong, it is fate or the will of some omnipotent god.  But if I can control all aspects of my life then I cannot blame failure on anyone or anything else.  That is both empowering and scary.  There is no safety net in this belief system.  It can be so easy to focus on the wonderfully ability to get what we want, to create our own reality and manifest our deepest desires.  We don't tend to look too deeply at what actually happens when this occurs.  It reminds me of someone who has been overweight her entire life and has surgery to help her lose weight.  She things losing the weight will make her life perfect but instead starts to realize that most of the problems are the same and her weight loss has removed some problems and added others.  I don't think there is a magical happy ending in life.  We need to work hard for our happy endings and keep working hard once we get them to maintain them.  It might be a bit of a bummer but it's also very liberating once you accept that reality.