The Fool, going left or right?

Edward Tarot Hands

I noticed that in some older decks, especially Marseille type, The Fool is walking off to the right of the card whereas in most of the more modern decks she/he is starting her/his journey to the left.
I have always thought that the right would signify the future and the left would signify the past, based on the linear a to b way we see things.
Seeing as one of the meanings of The Fool is the beginning of a journey it seems odd that She/he should be heading off in a direction to the left so it makes more sense the way it's pictured in the older decks
Does anyone know if there was a reason for this change of direction and also if my assumption of the left/right past/future connection is right?
c
 

Thirteen

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I have always thought that the right would signify the future and the left would signify the past, based on the linear a to b way we see things.
Great question! My thoughts about this...While we read left-to-right (so heading left would be "backwards"), the Golden Dawn crowd, leave us remember, assigned Hebrew letters to the cards and the kaballistic tree of life. And Hebrew is read right-to-left ;)

Also, the Fool is at the top of that tree of life (the Crown). So while the cards travel from 0-to-21 (from innocence to worldly, root to leaf), the tree travels up from 21-to-0 (from earthly leaf to spiritual root). So, if we go mystical on this, the Fool is leading us back, as it were, to the spiritual beginning from which we descended and seek to return.

That, at least, is my admittedly limited (in tarot scholarship) explanation (sounds good, doesn't it? ;) )
 

Edward Tarot Hands

Great question! My thoughts about this...While we read left-to-right (so heading left would be "backwards"), the Golden Dawn crowd, leave us remember, assigned Hebrew letters to the cards and the kaballistic tree of life. And Hebrew is read right-to-left ;)

Also, the Fool is at the top of that tree of life (the Crown). So while the cards travel from 0-to-21 (from innocence to worldly, root to leaf), the tree travels up from 21-to-0 (from earthly leaf to spiritual root). So, if we go mystical on this, the Fool is leading us back, as it were, to the spiritual beginning from which we descended and seek to return.

That, at least, is my admittedly limited (in tarot scholarship) explanation (sounds good, doesn't it? ;) )


Great answer! So we can assume the older decks without their affiliation to the qabalah would be correct and qabalah decks could be read both ways
thanks for that!
 

Tanga

As Thirteen outlined... our preferred idea of left being the past and right being the future...
is not I think - something that was originally inherant in the rendering of the cards...
(pre -the addition of Qabala and everything else to them).

But then, I couldn't say as I'm not an historian in Tarot.
Perhaps asking in the history section would bring the attention of more people who might know?.
 

Thirteen

Great answer! So we can assume the older decks without their affiliation to the qabalah would be correct!
Well, remember also that many older decks also lacked numbers. So the Fool wasn't #Zero or even #1. And often the image had the dog attacking him, getting him by the trousers. So...in that instance, is he going into the future, or being driven into it, or running from what's behind him? ;)
 

Edward Tarot Hands

As Thirteen outlined... our preferred idea of left being the past and right being the future...
is not I think - something that was originally inherant in the rendering of the cards...
(pre -the addition of Qabala and everything else to them).

.

No but it's interesting that after the golden dawn cards the fool seems to have changed direction
 

Thirteen

No but it's interesting that after the golden dawn cards the fool seems to have changed direction
Valid point! Whatever the GD thought of the old decks, they certainly micromanaged the significance and symbolism of every tiny detail in their tarot cards. So while there might or might not have significance in the Fool trotting off to the right in older decks, I'd say that the Golden Dawn (and Waite) absolutely wanted the Fool going left for whatever esoteric reason.

Then again, in older decks, the "Le Mat" or "Le Fou" card doesn't have him about to step off a cliff, either. Maybe going left takes you over that cliff? ;)
 

ncharge

As Thirteen outlined... our preferred idea of left being the past and right being the future...
is not I think - something that was originally inherant in the rendering of the cards...
(pre -the addition of Qabala and everything else to them).

But then, I couldn't say as I'm not an historian in Tarot.
Perhaps asking in the history section would bring the attention of more people who might know?.

In fact, I often read the cards the other way - from right to left. I don't know why. It just feels right sometimes.
 

Barleywine

Valid point! Whatever the GD thought of the old decks, they certainly micromanaged the significance and symbolism of every tiny detail in their tarot cards. So while there might or might not have significance in the Fool trotting off to the right in older decks, I'd say that the Golden Dawn (and Waite) absolutely wanted the Fool going left for whatever esoteric reason.

Then again, in older decks, the "Le Mat" or "Le Fou" card doesn't have him about to step off a cliff, either. Maybe going left takes you over that cliff? ;)

Paul Foster Case says the sun in the card stands "at an angle of forty-five degrees in the eastern heaven" because "the spiritual sun never reaches the zenith, for from the zenith it would have to descend, and the idea here intended is that infinite energy never can reach a point in manifestation whence it must begin to decrease in power. On this account, too, the Fool faces North-West, toward a direction which, for Masonic and other occult reasons, has for milleniums (sic) been symbolic of the unknown, and of the state just prior to the initiation of a creative process."