The Fool representing suicide?

This is a great thread. And all of us calling the card the Fool, we must remember that it is not always a fool. "He was a fool, idiot, moron etc. to jump/commit suicide..." is not a correct analysis. The suicide interpretation was a good call/anology, especially now that we look at suicide differently. That is why i find it refreshing to see a deck that calls the fool something else and makes him more human like the rest of us. I think that is why i like the minors to be decorative pips, than scenes. The scenes can be deceiving especially if some of use rely on what we see and ignoring intuition.

ChristianReader said:

Wow ive never considered the fool to represent suicidal thoughts or urges!
But i can really see how that would apply. If i had to interpret the fool for why someone had these suicidal tendencies or thoughts?
need for freedom and liberation(unstable and potentially dangerous need!)
action without thought of consequences
a need to escape
to just dive into a decision almost in blissful ignorance
the fool has always been one of those cards where personally i thought this is a great card but can easily go badly in a breath if you dont think or have a grounded plan or outline.
by the way ive seen the fool come up to explain someones addictive behavior

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remember tho, the fool can also be calculating. For those who really want to commit suicide, it does take forethought and some planning. They just need the physical/mental energy to carry it out. Most do not just commit suicide out of the clear blue even tho it looks like it.

Actually, my thoughts are that the Fool doesn't mean suicide because I've always seen the Fool as being the "forever child" in that they're so inexperienced and enthused and interested in everything that they're like a baby duck---it's a new world every morning. In seeing the Fool this way, I'd say that they wouldn't be inclined to commit suicide. My experience with suicidal people has been that they've just sunken down so low by the cares and worries and cruelty of life that they don't see any other way out. The Fool I know has no feelings of that nature because he's so interested in the world and what comes next.

However, a reversed Fool could take on that meaning. And since the number of the Fool card is zero, I've read that he can appear anywhere in the other cards. If the Fool is seen as being the last card rather than the first, then it could mean suicide, I think. I don't see suicide in the cards as a rule, though, for any card or combination---so far, anyway.

about 20-30 years ago it was decided to go thru all the autopsies or death certificates for children under 13, i think that age was. and the very high percentage of what where thought accidents where suicides in children as young as 2. In some cases i think percentages reached 80%. So you can't count on the fool to be a forever child when reading for humans with all their flaws and hidden emotions.

It should be a rare call, suicide, but if your intuition is leaning toward it, I would definitely think about it.

Luna's Crone said:

about 20-30 years ago it was decided to go thru all the autopsies or death certificates for children under 13, i think that age was. and the very high percentage of what where thought accidents where suicides in children as young as 2. In some cases i think percentages reached 80%. So you can't count on the fool to be a forever child when reading for humans with all their flaws and hidden emotions.

It should be a rare call, suicide, but if your intuition is leaning toward it, I would definitely think about it.

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Yes I can think of the Fool that way. lol If you can't, that's okay, but I can think of him that way because that's how my cards speak to me. If yours don't speak to you that way, I don't mind.

I don't know where you found those percentages but I can't at all believe that 80% of the accidental deaths of children down to the age of 2 are suicides. That's rather preposterous if you think about it.

But back to the Fool as a "forever child", and my not seeing it as suicide, I do say that a reversed Fool, to my way of reading, might indicate suicidal thoughts, but not upright. I do agree with you, though, that if suicide comes to mind in the reading the original poster did, then that's what the cards must be indicating to the reader in that particular situation.

Grizabella said:

Yes I can think of the Fool that way. lol If you can't, that's okay, but I can think of him that way because that's how my cards speak to me. If yours don't speak to you that way, I don't mind.

I don't know where you found those percentages but I can't at all believe that 80% of the accidental deaths of children down to the age of 2 are suicides. That's rather preposterous if you think about it.

But back to the Fool as a "forever child", and my not seeing it as suicide, I do say that a reversed Fool, to my way of reading, might indicate suicidal thoughts, but not upright. I do agree with you, though, that if suicide comes to mind in the reading the original poster did, then that's what the cards must be indicating to the reader in that particular situation.

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I am a retired (thank the gods) nurse. The study was in one or two med mags. its been so long can't remember. Yes, the youngest ones just want to go sleep and not wake up or they can be mad at someone. Its sad. But the highest percentages where school children.

Oh I didn't mean anything about the forever child. I was just typing what my brain was saying. I see him as a school student that will eventually graduate. Like he can be the class clown or the honor student. etc.