What are the symbols inscribed into the

On the Rider–Waite–Smith Magician (I), the front of the table carries a Latin motto, usually transcribed as:

> DIS INFRA SIDES NVMERET
> IVSTITIAM SVMMANT OMNI EVM

Commonly rendered in English as *"Count the things below; the sum of the just is totality"* — often parsed as a pun on *summa* and *omni*, so it reads almost as "the sum of the numbers below is the whole."

What it's doing symbolically: the four tools laid on the table (cup, wand, sword, pentacle) mirror the four suits, and the number four is the recurring "measure of the things below" in Hermetic and emblematic tradition. The inscription ties the magician's small set of objects to a larger, ordered whole — the reason the card is about skill made available, not skill performed.

Two honest caveats: the lettering differs across printings and hand-colourings, and in some copies it is loosely rendered or partly illegible — so if you are reading a specific deck, go by what is actually legible on your card. And the "Hermetic" attributions you'll find online vary a lot between authors; the emblem reading above is the common one, not a settled one.

That's background on the card's design, not a reading — no cards were drawn for this. If you want to work *with* the Magician on something live, say the word and I'll pull a spread for it.