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Tarot Study: The Fool
- Thread starter MaddLlama
- Start date
Notice that the fool has a very light pack for just starting a journey. The fool will experience more than the rest of us both good and bad. The fool has no inhibitions to restrict his learning and experiences. Most of us will never understand that to truly learn and enjoy life, we need not be afraid. The fool almost unwittingly understands that a higher power will look out for him and he is protected, either way he is not afraid of anything and is starting an adventure.
"0" is the grounding in nothingness, same as the emptiness that the fool is about to step into. He's full of confidence in himself, and uncaring, because there is literally nothing to fear --one can only fear something.
He is draped in life, and surrounded by life: the sun, the earth, the flower, the dog. They all rejoice with him in "being."
The fool is the agnostic. He knows that in knowing he knows, he knows nothing at all.
Edit: In his bag, I think, is nothing but words.
lilithu
The Devil's Advocate
The dude is in love with life.Ok, so, without further ado, here is our Fool: (I apologize for the size of the picture, I'll shrink them all down by the time we're ready to move on to the next card!)
Before we get into the meanings associated with this card from books, first let's just look at the card. What does it tell you? What meaning do you get just from what is there? Are there any symbols that jump out at you? Can you form a story in your mind?
It's a sunshine day.
His burden is light.
He's taken time to smell the flowers.
Rover keeps him company.
He has no fear.
As others have remarked, the Fool is at the beginning of a journey. He is the first card in the major arcana. But it's significant that he's 0, not 1. He's about to tumble off a precipice yet doesn't seem to know it. On first glance, he does seem the fool.
Two things come to mind:
1. Lots of times great things get done - seemingly impossible things get done - because the person doesn't know how hard it's going to be when he or she starts trying.
2. There is a zen story about a man in search of enlightenment. Somehow he gets it in his head that he has to go East. So he goes. He leaves town and village. He leaves paved roads. He keeps going. He comes to the edge of a cliff and seemingly can go no further. He climbs a tree growing on the edge of the cliff and inches out along the branch, further and further East. Finally, there really is no way for him to go further without falling off the tree branch into the abyss. But somehow he knows that he has to go East if he is to attain enlightenment. So.... he lets go of the branch.
MaddLlama
Obstructor of justice
I just want to add something to this, since I found it pretty interesting and useful. I found a set of spreads based on the major arcana a while back, and for those of you who do read or are interested in reading, I'll post them along-side the threads.
Fool Spread
This spread is to help you recognize your fears in a new situation, to help you learn
Shuffle the deck and lay out the cards as above.
Card 1: This card represents you, your attitude, innocence, naivete, your inexperience in this situation.
Card 2: This card represents that upon which you have always relied, the solidity of the past that you may have to leave now. This card is certainty and routine and the familiar.
Card 3: This card represents the risk you have to take, the first step into the unknown, whether large or small.
Card 4: This card represents your fears, which can be real or imaginary, grounded in the reason of the situation or founded in panic.
Card 5: This card represents the unknown, what you have to gain, the learning you will come by, the experience and maturity that can be had, the life you can be living.
Fool Spread
This spread is to help you recognize your fears in a new situation, to help you learn
Shuffle the deck and lay out the cards as above.
Card 1: This card represents you, your attitude, innocence, naivete, your inexperience in this situation.
Card 2: This card represents that upon which you have always relied, the solidity of the past that you may have to leave now. This card is certainty and routine and the familiar.
Card 3: This card represents the risk you have to take, the first step into the unknown, whether large or small.
Card 4: This card represents your fears, which can be real or imaginary, grounded in the reason of the situation or founded in panic.
Card 5: This card represents the unknown, what you have to gain, the learning you will come by, the experience and maturity that can be had, the life you can be living.
Mr Cheese
Well-Known Member
In the beginning was God,
Today is God,
Tomorrow will be God.
Who can make an image of God?
He has no body.
He is as a word which comes
out of your mouth.
That word! It is no more.
It is past, and still it lives!
So is God.
–from Zaire
..........................................
The fool...
To expand upon what has been said. The Fool card represents the beginning and the end. For that is the number zero, everything and nothing. This is the card of the transcendant nature of being, the God above God, this is the Tao..the nameless, ineffible one, the Sethian Monad.
(18)
The disciples said to Jesus,
"Tell us how our end will be."
Jesus said,
"Have you discovered, then, the beginning,
that you look for the end?
For where the beginning is,
there will the end be.
Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning;
he will know the end and will not experience death."
(4)
Jesus said,
"The man old in days will not hesitate
to ask a small child seven days old
about the place of life, and he will live.
For many who are first will become last,
and they will become one and the same."
--Gospel of Thomas
"But many who are first will be last,
and the last first."
--Matthew 19:30
“If we do not yet know about life,
how can we know about death?"
--Confucius (Analects)
"As the end of a thing
corresponds to its beginning,
so it is not possible to be ignorant
of the end of things
if we know their beginning."
--Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
What does this mean? The is a unique card in that it contains the entire deck, every card, every element, every cosmic force (trump/picture cards) personall situation (suit cards) are all contained in the Fool. This is the Ain sof of the kabbalist, the liomitless light, the all nothing, the endless potential.
He-Who-Is is ineffable. No principle knew him, no authority, no subjection,
nor any creature from the foundation of the world, except he alone.
For he is immortal and eternal, having no birth; for everyone who has birth will perish.
He is unbegotten, having no beginning; for everyone who has a beginning has an end.
No one rules over him. He has no name; for whoever has a name is the creation of another.
He is unnameable. He has no human form; for whoever has human form is the creation of another.
He has his own semblance – not like the semblance we have received and seen,
but a strange semblance that surpasses all things and is better than the totalities.
It looks to every side and sees itself from itself. He is infinite; he is incomprehensible.
He is ever imperishable (and) has no likeness (to anything). He is unchanging good.
He is faultless. He is everlasting. He is blessed. He is unknowable, while he (nonetheless) knows himself.
He is immeasurable. He is untraceable. He is perfect, having no defect. He is imperishably blessed.
He is called ‘Father of the Universe’.
–Eugnostos the Blessed
The fool unlike every other card can be placed, in theory, in any place and every path upon the kabbalistic tree of life.
Emptiness, the energy of the Crown sefira, is not a static, gray, and dull place of death. Think of this emptiness as the most fertile ground. Think of the empty darkness of a woman’s womb before impregnation. Think of the darkest night of the year, deep in winter, before the light increases to lead the natural cycle to the fullness and ripeness of spring. Think of the quiet, still place you reach in meditation, before your soul starts speaking to you and revealing the mysteries of the universe. This emptiness is eternal, outside boundaries of time, space, and events.
Emptiness is what lies behind you, past events in your life that are but memories, but fragrances of flowers bloomed and faded. Emptiness is what lies before you, future events not yet known, lands yet to be explored. Emptiness is the present, it is you right now.”
- Avram Davis & Manuela Dunn Mascetti (Judaic Mysticism)
Traditionally the fool is placed on the tree at path 11, (0+11=11, the standard placement is due by and large because of arbitrary numbers). This is a path going downwards from kether to chockmah, crown to wisdom
a path between metatron and Raziel
Today is God,
Tomorrow will be God.
Who can make an image of God?
He has no body.
He is as a word which comes
out of your mouth.
That word! It is no more.
It is past, and still it lives!
So is God.
–from Zaire
..........................................
The fool...
To expand upon what has been said. The Fool card represents the beginning and the end. For that is the number zero, everything and nothing. This is the card of the transcendant nature of being, the God above God, this is the Tao..the nameless, ineffible one, the Sethian Monad.
(18)
The disciples said to Jesus,
"Tell us how our end will be."
Jesus said,
"Have you discovered, then, the beginning,
that you look for the end?
For where the beginning is,
there will the end be.
Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning;
he will know the end and will not experience death."
(4)
Jesus said,
"The man old in days will not hesitate
to ask a small child seven days old
about the place of life, and he will live.
For many who are first will become last,
and they will become one and the same."
--Gospel of Thomas
"But many who are first will be last,
and the last first."
--Matthew 19:30
“If we do not yet know about life,
how can we know about death?"
--Confucius (Analects)
"As the end of a thing
corresponds to its beginning,
so it is not possible to be ignorant
of the end of things
if we know their beginning."
--Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
What does this mean? The is a unique card in that it contains the entire deck, every card, every element, every cosmic force (trump/picture cards) personall situation (suit cards) are all contained in the Fool. This is the Ain sof of the kabbalist, the liomitless light, the all nothing, the endless potential.
He-Who-Is is ineffable. No principle knew him, no authority, no subjection,
nor any creature from the foundation of the world, except he alone.
For he is immortal and eternal, having no birth; for everyone who has birth will perish.
He is unbegotten, having no beginning; for everyone who has a beginning has an end.
No one rules over him. He has no name; for whoever has a name is the creation of another.
He is unnameable. He has no human form; for whoever has human form is the creation of another.
He has his own semblance – not like the semblance we have received and seen,
but a strange semblance that surpasses all things and is better than the totalities.
It looks to every side and sees itself from itself. He is infinite; he is incomprehensible.
He is ever imperishable (and) has no likeness (to anything). He is unchanging good.
He is faultless. He is everlasting. He is blessed. He is unknowable, while he (nonetheless) knows himself.
He is immeasurable. He is untraceable. He is perfect, having no defect. He is imperishably blessed.
He is called ‘Father of the Universe’.
–Eugnostos the Blessed
The fool unlike every other card can be placed, in theory, in any place and every path upon the kabbalistic tree of life.
Emptiness, the energy of the Crown sefira, is not a static, gray, and dull place of death. Think of this emptiness as the most fertile ground. Think of the empty darkness of a woman’s womb before impregnation. Think of the darkest night of the year, deep in winter, before the light increases to lead the natural cycle to the fullness and ripeness of spring. Think of the quiet, still place you reach in meditation, before your soul starts speaking to you and revealing the mysteries of the universe. This emptiness is eternal, outside boundaries of time, space, and events.
Emptiness is what lies behind you, past events in your life that are but memories, but fragrances of flowers bloomed and faded. Emptiness is what lies before you, future events not yet known, lands yet to be explored. Emptiness is the present, it is you right now.”
- Avram Davis & Manuela Dunn Mascetti (Judaic Mysticism)
Traditionally the fool is placed on the tree at path 11, (0+11=11, the standard placement is due by and large because of arbitrary numbers). This is a path going downwards from kether to chockmah, crown to wisdom
a path between metatron and Raziel
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Mr Cheese
Well-Known Member
For another attribution, that was used by the inner members of the Golden dawn, and not really published, we find the fool journeying upwards from physicalness of Malkuth toward a journey home to kether...
We also find the fool at path 31, shin , has the meaning of eating the apple in the Garden of Paradise (very fitting!), Guilt
a tooth are also associated with Shin
I'll explore this card further in the other group
Examining things such as how the Fool is actually a devotee of the Goddess in gher guises as Venus...
....
Working with Gray’s system we can see this card is path 31. The marriage of Sandelphon and Rapahael.
Gray mentions in his talkign tarot that the fool could actually be put on any path. Here he places it between the Mercurial Air of Raphael the medicianal physical healing Angel and The Malkuthian Sandelphon. Sandelphon of course is the feet of metatron so to speak.
Gray makes it clear to note: why is Malkuth and sandelphon not “earth” whereas Uriel is earth at position 7, netzach. Well because malkuth, the earth is the combination of all four elements, not merely one.
Some of the earliest sources on Sandalphon refer to him as the prophet Elijah transfigured and elevated to angelic status.[1] Other sources (mainly from the midrashic period) describe him as the “twin brother” of Metatron, whose human origin as Enoch was similar to the human origin of Sandalphon.[2] Whatever his origin, Sandalphon figures prominently in the mystical literary traditions of Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity, notably in the Midrash, Talmud, and Kabbalah.
The name Sandalphon is of uncertain derivation. It is possibly derived from the Greek prefix sym-/syn-, meaning “together”, and adelphos, meaning “brother”; thus approximately meaning “co-brother”, since the modern Greek word for “co-worker”, synadelfos (συνάδελφος, has these roots. This probably refers to Sandalphon’s relationship to Metatron, though this derivation shows uncertain Semitic influences.[3] Another possibility is it coming from the Greek sandalion, meaning “sandal”; thus meaning “one who wears sandals”.
Sandalphon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archangel Sandalphon and the Earth - Magical Correspondences
Archangel Raphael and the Planet Mercury - Magical Correspondences
Raphael (Standard Hebrew רָפָאֵל, “It is God who heals”, “God Heals”, “God, Please Heal”, Arabic: رافائيل, Rāfāʾīl) is the name of an archangel of Judaism and Christianity who performs all manner of healing and another one of Islam.
Moving from manifestation into the intellectual scintellation of mercurial energy we get a clear picture. Here we see a distinction as Gray mentions between a fool and an ignoramus.
The Mecurial Hod energy is one of the intellect largely. It is here where we find Thoth and Hermes. It is here where ritual magick is often seen to draw its energy from. The energies of Hod and Malkuth we find in the Toledano Kabbalistic system as representing Animal and vegetable consciousness from yesod to tifferet whereas Malkuth representing all things physically manifest, can be seen as mineral consciousness. It is then the goal of the seeker to move beyond this.
Arguably then the fool card or Grail seeker is clearly moving from a slow mundane consciousness, that of mineral to a place of animals and vegatables. This is stil;l a place of survival, of home and food and land and wife and husband…. but we need our feet on the ground if we are to have our head in the clouds.
Thus by crossing the bridge, the gap over the abyss, which of course seems very much like daat to me… we find the Grail seeker faces the challenge of living in a mineral realm or embracing others, one which involves intellectualisation, which of course is sink or swim…but then isnt intellectualisation always?
http://magdelene.files.wordpress.com...qblhtarot2.jpg
http://magdelene.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/qblhtarot2.jpg
We also find the fool at path 31, shin , has the meaning of eating the apple in the Garden of Paradise (very fitting!), Guilt
a tooth are also associated with Shin
I'll explore this card further in the other group
Examining things such as how the Fool is actually a devotee of the Goddess in gher guises as Venus...
....
Working with Gray’s system we can see this card is path 31. The marriage of Sandelphon and Rapahael.
Gray mentions in his talkign tarot that the fool could actually be put on any path. Here he places it between the Mercurial Air of Raphael the medicianal physical healing Angel and The Malkuthian Sandelphon. Sandelphon of course is the feet of metatron so to speak.
Gray makes it clear to note: why is Malkuth and sandelphon not “earth” whereas Uriel is earth at position 7, netzach. Well because malkuth, the earth is the combination of all four elements, not merely one.
Some of the earliest sources on Sandalphon refer to him as the prophet Elijah transfigured and elevated to angelic status.[1] Other sources (mainly from the midrashic period) describe him as the “twin brother” of Metatron, whose human origin as Enoch was similar to the human origin of Sandalphon.[2] Whatever his origin, Sandalphon figures prominently in the mystical literary traditions of Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity, notably in the Midrash, Talmud, and Kabbalah.
The name Sandalphon is of uncertain derivation. It is possibly derived from the Greek prefix sym-/syn-, meaning “together”, and adelphos, meaning “brother”; thus approximately meaning “co-brother”, since the modern Greek word for “co-worker”, synadelfos (συνάδελφος
, has these roots. This probably refers to Sandalphon’s relationship to Metatron, though this derivation shows uncertain Semitic influences.[3] Another possibility is it coming from the Greek sandalion, meaning “sandal”; thus meaning “one who wears sandals”.Sandalphon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archangel Sandalphon and the Earth - Magical Correspondences
Archangel Raphael and the Planet Mercury - Magical Correspondences
Raphael (Standard Hebrew רָפָאֵל, “It is God who heals”, “God Heals”, “God, Please Heal”, Arabic: رافائيل, Rāfāʾīl) is the name of an archangel of Judaism and Christianity who performs all manner of healing and another one of Islam.
Moving from manifestation into the intellectual scintellation of mercurial energy we get a clear picture. Here we see a distinction as Gray mentions between a fool and an ignoramus.
The Mecurial Hod energy is one of the intellect largely. It is here where we find Thoth and Hermes. It is here where ritual magick is often seen to draw its energy from. The energies of Hod and Malkuth we find in the Toledano Kabbalistic system as representing Animal and vegetable consciousness from yesod to tifferet whereas Malkuth representing all things physically manifest, can be seen as mineral consciousness. It is then the goal of the seeker to move beyond this.
Arguably then the fool card or Grail seeker is clearly moving from a slow mundane consciousness, that of mineral to a place of animals and vegatables. This is stil;l a place of survival, of home and food and land and wife and husband…. but we need our feet on the ground if we are to have our head in the clouds.
Thus by crossing the bridge, the gap over the abyss, which of course seems very much like daat to me… we find the Grail seeker faces the challenge of living in a mineral realm or embracing others, one which involves intellectualisation, which of course is sink or swim…but then isnt intellectualisation always?
http://magdelene.files.wordpress.com...qblhtarot2.jpg
http://magdelene.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/qblhtarot2.jpg
Last edited:
blackout
Violet.
The fool lives purely by intuition & c0'incidence.
His journey is light of foot and spirit,
and he is guided by no path but the One
that Unfolds naturally before him with each step.
The fools trusts in the UniVerse for provision,
and sees signposts clearly where others will surely find none.
The fool is carefree...
does his own thing,
enjoys entertaining others he finds along the way,
does not take anything seriously,
but the moment itself.
The fool knows intuitively
that all but the present moment
is illusion.
The fool does not mind "playing the fool".
(for his own reasons)
He does not mind "looking the fool" to others.
He knows wisdom, as the sunshine,
and as such, has no need to look to others
for inner fulfillment.
The fool does not seek for acceptence
or persue conventional knowledge.
Though he may have natural preferences,
his "bag" is not full of "shoulds" and "should not's".
Nor does he carry with him
a load of "this is this" and "that is thats".
The fool does not commit him/herself
to any human companion--
who might nag about the proximity of the edge of the cliff,
want to take another direction,
or simply talk too much.
The fool after all... is no fool at all.
Just noticed-
the Word "f00l" = two staffs (f & l) and two zero's (00).
To me, the fool represents the duality
of living life fully alive in each moment,
and dying to it, in the very same breath.
"0" is the edge... and the open center.
You either live life peering over the edge
wondering at the unknown...
or you jump in...
and live a life of Wonder.
His journey is light of foot and spirit,
and he is guided by no path but the One
that Unfolds naturally before him with each step.
The fools trusts in the UniVerse for provision,
and sees signposts clearly where others will surely find none.
The fool is carefree...
does his own thing,
enjoys entertaining others he finds along the way,
does not take anything seriously,
but the moment itself.
The fool knows intuitively
that all but the present moment
is illusion.
The fool does not mind "playing the fool".
(for his own reasons)
He does not mind "looking the fool" to others.
He knows wisdom, as the sunshine,
and as such, has no need to look to others
for inner fulfillment.
The fool does not seek for acceptence
or persue conventional knowledge.
Though he may have natural preferences,
his "bag" is not full of "shoulds" and "should not's".
Nor does he carry with him
a load of "this is this" and "that is thats".
The fool does not commit him/herself
to any human companion--
who might nag about the proximity of the edge of the cliff,
want to take another direction,
or simply talk too much.
The fool after all... is no fool at all.
Just noticed-
the Word "f00l" = two staffs (f & l) and two zero's (00).
To me, the fool represents the duality
of living life fully alive in each moment,
and dying to it, in the very same breath.
"0" is the edge... and the open center.
You either live life peering over the edge
wondering at the unknown...
or you jump in...
and live a life of Wonder.
Last edited: