Chapters do not start on New Year or on birthdays. They start when something ends quietly enough that you do not notice for weeks — and then one day the old routine simply does not fit. If something in your life has that feeling right now, hold it in mind and turn a card.
The Magician symbolizes the power to manifest your desires through will and focused action. You have all the tools needed to create the reality you want. This card indicates great creative potential and the ability to transform ideas into reality.
Read against this new stretch, The Magician puts the weight on manifestation and power. Read against a beginning, a card describes what the new stretch will ask of you. Beginnings feel like freedom for about a week; after that they feel like a demand. Knowing which demand is coming is what turns an ending into a start.
The same card has an opposite face, and it is worth holding both. Reversed, The Magician may indicate manipulation, unused talents, or lack of direction. There may be a disconnect between intentions and actions. Reassess how you are using your gifts.
So sit with the question you arrived with — What is actually beginning here? — and notice which of the two readings you flinched at. That flinch is the reading. It is the one piece of this page that came from you rather than from the deck, and it is the only piece that can change anything.
You have the power to create your reality. Use your talents wisely and with purpose.
You do not get to choose when the chapter turns. You get to choose whether you walk in reading the page or looking backwards over your shoulder.